Welcome to Skagit County

March 18, 2026

Skagit County Commissioners to Review Second Draft Agritourism Code Changes

The Skagit County Commissioners will host a work session to review changes to county code regarding agritourism regulations on Tuesday, March 24, at 10:30 a.m. in the Commissioners' Hearing Room. The public is welcome to join the meeting or watch via TV21 or Zoom at the link on the Commissioner's webpage.

The documents below include the second draft of agritourism code amendments. The draft reflects input from the Planning Commission, Agricultural Advisory Board, and the Agritourism Community Advisory Group. Changes from the first draft are described in detail in the staff report below.

The agritourism documents and draft proposal can be viewed on our website:

The Skagit County Commissioners will host a public hearing on the updated agritourism proposal on April 13, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners' Hearing Room. Interested residents can provide comment during the hearing in-person at 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon, or via Zoom at the link on the Commissioners' website. Written comments will be accepted at the public hearing or may be submitted in writing to pdscomments@co.skagit.wa.us or mailed to 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon, WA 98273. The comment period on the second draft will be open from March 26, 2026, to April 15, 2026, at 4:30 PM.

More information can be found in the Notice of Availability linked above and on the project website.

Agritourism Study Background

Skagit County has been studying agritourism in the county and the impacts to our community since 2021 in an effort to evaluate how and if county code regulates agritourism businesses effectively. The Planning Commission recommended an agritourism proposal to the Skagit County Commissioners in December of 2023. During the public outreach process in 2024, the County Commissioners received substantial feedback from local businesses and farms, community members, and county code enforcement staff regarding the new regulations and decided to remand the proposal back to the Planning Commission for further study.

The Commissioner's resolution to remand the agritourism proposal back to the Planning Commission included specific directions to guide additional evaluation of the proposal, including additional public review and comments from the Agricultural Advisory Board. The Commissioners then requested the Planning and Development Services Department create a community advisory group (CAG) to ensure a variety of impacted stakeholders are involved in the drafting of agritourism code. The purpose of the CAG was to provide policy recommendations to PDS staff for drafting agritourism code language that responds to the Board of County Commissioners' remand criteria outlined in Resolution #20240132.

This effort supported the ongoing work of the Planning Commission in collaboration with the public and the Agricultural Advisory Board to develop a revised agritourism recommendation for the Board of County Commissioners. The goal of the CAG membership was to include representatives from large farms and small-to-mid-size farms across each commissioner district, along with three agritourism operators, and representatives from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the Family Festival of Farms, and the Skagit Tourism Bureau.