The public will have a chance to weigh in next month on a proposal to lower taxes on roughly 60 acres of wetland in north Yelm.
The land is part of a 76.96-acre property, located at 17825 138th Ave. SE in Yelm and owned by Roland and Cindy Gorgas.
The property owners are asking the Thurston County Board of Commissioners to approve their application for a property tax reduction under the county’s Open Space Tax Program.
The program allows owners of certain types of high-quality undeveloped land to receive a hefty property tax reduction in exchange for maintaining their land in a rural, undeveloped state.
“This is a very effective conservation tool for keeping open space in our rural parts of Thurston County,” said Ashley Arai, Thurston County director of community planning and economic development, during a board agenda setting meeting on Nov. 4.
A 15-acre portion of the property is used to operate the Gorgas’ business, Forest Dog Farms. The majority of the property is freshwater emergent wetland populated by several animals and plants that the state has identified as wildlife species of local importance, including Coho salmon, the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, and the Oregon white oak.
The board’s approval of the Gorgas’ application would enroll the 15 acres of the Yelm property used for Forest Dog Farms into the Open Space Tax Program for farm and agricultural conservation, and the remaining 61.96 acres for wildlife habitat conservation.
Enrollment in the program would come with a 50% reduction in the property’s assessed value for tax purposes.
Property owners who enroll land in the Open Space Tax Program must stay in the program for at least nine years or be required to pay back taxes, interest and other penalties. But Arai assured commissioners that those penalties have rarely been necessary.
“We don’t see a lot of properties leaving the Open Space Tax Program,” she said.
The Thurston County Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Gorgas’ application in August, during which three community members opposed the application based on concerns about the tax burden shift to nearby landowners.
The shift in tax burden “has proven to be minimal” throughout the history of the program, according to the Thurston County Planning Commission, which ultimately voted 6-1 to recommend approval of the Gorgas’ application.
The Board of County Commissioners’ public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16. The board expects to take final action that same day.
The Gorgas’ application is the first Thurston County has received since it updated the program guidelines in July. The program was first enacted in 1996.
