Kittitas County, Washington

Kittitas County, Washington, population 47,935 (2019) is located between the crest of the Cascade Mountains and the Columbia River, roughly 50 miles east of Seattle. It is connected to the Puget Sound metro area by Interstate Highway 90, which partly explains its fast growth rates. Much of Kittitas County is protected in the Wenatchee National Forest, the Yakima Firing Center Military Reservation, and four wildlife preserves. Nevertheless, the County wants to protect its resource base in the face of increasing growth. In December 2009, the County adopted a TDR program designed to preserve farms, forests, and floodplains. The TDR code, Section 17.35, has been amended at least four times since then.

In the Kittitas County TDR ordinance, sending areas must be a privately-owned parcel (or multiple contiguous parcels) meeting any of the following criteria.

  • Farmland when the following requirements are met
    • Within one of five agricultural, forest, or rural zoning districts
    • At least 20 acres in size
    • Located within the Agricultural Production District
    • Qualified for current use taxation
    • Possessing a full market value higher than its resource value.
  • Forest land when the following requirements are met
    • Within one of three forests of rural zoning districts
    • At least 20 acres in size
    • Privately owned
    • Has Timber Management Plan compliant with state guidelines
    • Possessing a full market value higher than its resource value.
  • Frequently Flooded Area
  • Designated as a sending area in a TDR agreement with a city

To participate, an easement must be recorded on the sending site requiring the property to be maintained in the use and condition that qualified the land as a TDR sending site. While the easement restricts future development, a landowner may reserve some on-site development potential. The number of TDRs available for transfer is calculated by multiplying the maximum density of the current zoning by the site area minus any development potential that the landowner has chosen to retain. However, the number of development rights cannot exceed one TDR per 20 acres.

Although the easements are considered permanent, Kittitas’s TDR ordinance includes a process for opting out if the County Commissioners make three findings.

  • The owners have suffered a demonstrated hardship beyond their control.
  • They have purchased equivalent TDRs.
  • The outcome would result in an equal or greater public benefit than maintenance of the original easement.

Eligible receiving areas include the following.

  • Cities where growth is encouraged under the Growth Management Act and the Countywide Planning Policies
  • All city receiving sites are designated through city/county agreement
  • Sites in Urban Growth Areas with a density greater than six units per acre
  • Unincorporated sites outside of Urban Growth Areas where applications have been submitted for upzonings to densities higher than one unit per 20 acres
  • Unincorporated sites applying for Cluster Plats or Planned Unit Developments
  • Areas under application for Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment associated with a rezoning    

TDRs are listed as a condition of approval for qualifying comprehensive plan amendments; the TDRs are not required until issuance of final plat approval or permits if no land division is involved. Transfers to receiving sites within incorporated cities are regulated by agreement between the city and county. Exchange rates for all other receiving sites are as follows:

  • Urban Growth Areas                 1 TDR = 2 additional units
  • Planned Unit Developments     1 TDR per 20 acres of receiving site
  • Rural Rezones                          1 TDR per 20 acres of receiving site

The ordinance allows Kittitas County to offer cities amenity funding as an incentive for them to enter into an agreement creating TDR receiving areas.

Prior to ordinance adoption, 480 acres of the 1,465-acre Parker Ranch were preserved when the owners sold TDRs as part of a pilot project funded by the State of Washington in cooperation for the Kittitas County government.