PORT TOWNSEND — The Board of Jefferson County Commissioners will reduce taxes by 90 percent on a Quilcene property owned by the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group.
The reduction comes from a transfer in the property’s designation from open space agricultural property and designated forestland to open space, sometimes referred to as Open Space Open Space.
“Transferring to Open Space Open Space saves them compensating tax of probably close to over $30,000,” Jefferson County Chief Deputy Assessor Sherrie Shold said. “We actually suggested to them that they do this transfer. It works for everybody. It works for them, it works for the environment, it works for just everything all around, so we’re good with that.”
The reduction’s legal grounding is found broadly in the Open Space Taxation Act of 1970 and locally in the county’s Open Space Program, passed by resolutions in 1991 and 1995.
The program incentivizes property owners to maintain open space on their property to benefit to the public or the environment. Property owners seeking to place their properties in the program must do so through the county’s Department of Community Development (DCD), which uses the Public Benefit Rating System (PBRS) to assess it.
The PBRS assessment is looking for things like high- and low-priority resources, granting of public access, transfer of develop rights, shorelands and buffers, said David Wayne Johnson, DCD’s associate lead planner.
For a property to qualify for reduced taxes, it must receive at least five points on the PBRS assessment tool, which allows for a maximum of 12 points.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group’s (HCSEG) Quilcene property received 12 points, David Wayne Johnson said, and that qualified them for the maximum tax reduction.
The property qualified for four points in the high-priority resource category because it has high-priority shoreline and floodplains. The group qualified for another three points as it will provide public recreational access. The tax agreement will include a requirement that the organization install signage.
At Monday’s meeting, HCSEG Habitat Program Director Gus Johnson requested that the requirement for signage installation be delayed until 2028.
“We’re getting close to obstructing our restoration process there, that’s going to really occur over the entire property,” Gus Johnson said. “While we’re down there, we’ve got excavators rolling around and everything else, we don’t really want to have that open to the public.”
The organization expects to start construction on its restoration project next summer with the hope of completing it in 2028, Gus Johnson said. The organization would help to amend the agreement to meet that request, he added.
The commissioners requested that the amendment be made as they passed their motion.
The 54-acre property was previously two parcels, a 30-acre parcel and a 24-acre parcel, designated forestland and open space agricultural land, respectively. The DCD already has processed a boundary line adjustment turning the two parcels into one, David Wayne Johnson said.
The request for removing previous designations and adopting an open space designation was enough to grant the property six points in the PBRS’ transfer of development rights category.
Two other Quilcene properties applied for the Open Space designation. One of the property owners requested to pause their application before the hearing. The other will see a continuation of the hearing as the owners seek to obtain documentation from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which may improve their rating and tax reduction bracket.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
