Should Sammamish have urban farms?

July 8, 2009

By J.B. Wogan

When Kurt and Amy Monsen received a city permit June 5 to turn their backyard into a small farm, they didn’t know what kind of controversy they would generate.

The Monsens cut 43 trees and poured about $21,000 into the project before their homeowners association ordered them to stop.

“We had no idea that this was going to happen,” she said.

The Monsens’ 1.89-acre property would have had two horses, two goats, a barn, a holding area for chickens, an orchard and a garden, according to Amy Monsen.

A horseshoe-shaped wall of existing trees would have blocked neighbors’ view of the backyard, where all the livestock would have been kept; a sprinkler system would have prevented clouds of dust from reaching neighbors’ yards.

“We wanted to be as self-sufficient as we could,” she said, explaining that the goats would provide her family with milk. The horses would have served as a responsibility for her three children: Hanna, 13, Alise, 11, and Bjorn, 7.

After receiving approval from the King Conservation District, a building permit from the city and approval from the homeowners association’s architectural committee, the Monsens became a lightning rod for criticism from neighbors.

“Please, don’t get me wrong, farms are beautiful and my family enjoys driving through our picturesque neighboring farm communities,” wrote Kristi Calvert Lee in a June letter to the Sammamish Review. “However, we chose to live in a residential neighborhood.”

Residents came to the June 16 City Council meeting in droves, complaining that the Monsens’ proposed changes would ruin the aesthetics of the neighborhood.

The Monsens have already cut down 43 of their 165 trees and plan to plant the garden and orchard, albeit without a holding area for goats or a barn for horses. As they resolve any lasting issues with their neighbors, the controversy has raised questions about what the city code allows on a residential property.

Community Development Director Kamuron Gurol pointed out that the Monsens’ application meets the standards of city code and would still be permitted today.

The development code allows residents to keep large livestock as well as minks, foxes, birds and other animals on the property, given that it meets the city’s size standards and that the animals are kept in appropriate holding areas.

“We don’t have a whole lot of regulations regarding the keeping of farm animals,” Gurol said, adding that his department hears a handful of complaints each year about farm animals, if that.

City Manager Ben Yazici said the Monsens’ conflict with neighbors over having a small farm was the first of its kind in city history.

But as Calvert Lee’s letter indicated, some residents feel that the city has become too urban to allow for the likes of horse manure and chicken coops.

Yazici said he agreed that the code, which comes largely from King County’s development code, didn’t reflect the nature of Sammamish as an urban area.

“It’s clearly written for rural King County. We need to change the code,” Yazici said. The Planning Commission will debate the issue and offer a recommendation to the City Council, Yazici said. In the future, the city code might not allow for the kind of application submitted by the Monsens, he said.

But City Councilwoman Michele Pettiti said she thought any kind of major code change was too extreme.

“If they want to raise a few goats, I think they should. It adds to the character of the city, for one thing,” said Pettiti, who keeps four horses on her 2.5-acre property.

Pettiti said that the city should spend time updating the city code to make sure it’s based on the best available science of today. Even so, she wouldn’t want to see farms disappear from the area, she said.

Julie James, who keeps 16 chickens in her yard, said she doesn’t want to see the city code restrict against agricultural uses on a person’s property either.

“I think if you took that away, Sammamish would lose what Sammamish is,” James said. “We’re still just a country city.”

James lives in The Ridge at Pine Lake and has lived in Sammamish since 1984.

She acknowledged that 16 chickens might be more than normal.

“It’s probably too much. I went a little overboard, but nobody’s complaining,” James said.

Pettiti said she didn’t think the Monsen controversy was a city issue. Instead, it was a private dispute between residents in a private homeowners association covenant.

Residents at the June 16 City Council meeting suggested that the city verify with permit applicants that the applicant was abiding by its homeowners association covenant.

Gurol said no such action would take place.

“It would both be impractical and they’re outside our authority. We don’t have any authority to enforce a private covenant,” Gurol said.

Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.

Amy Monsen and her three children Bjorn, Alise and Hanna (not pictured) at their home, where they hoped to keep horses, chickens and goats. Photo by J.B. Wogan

When Kurt and Amy Monsen received a city permit June 5 to turn their backyard into a small farm, they didn’t know what kind of controversy they would generate.

But after irate neighbors complained to the City Council and had the Monsens’ plan for a private farm nixed, the city is considering ways to restrict what kind of agriculture projects are appropriate in Sammamish.The Monsens cut 43 trees and poured about $21,000 into the project before their homeowners association ordered them to stop.