When Jodie and Greg Sharp set out to construct a barn for their horses and an arena the size of a football field, they didn’t think county permits were necessary.
The Battle Ground residents built the structures on 11.5 acres they own near Daybreak Park without construction or conditional-use permits. Jodie Sharp believed the barn and arena qualified as an “agricultural use” and didn’t require permits for construction as long as they were only used for personal use.
Sharp, a former city of Vancouver planner with 30 years in the field, later learned her understanding of the code was wrong.
The county’s code allowed the barn construction without a permit but not the arena. Structures like chicken coops, milking barns and hay barns can be constructed without permits, assuming they will be used for farming activities or animal shelter and have limited human occupancy, said Jim Muir, the county’s chief building official.
“They built it assuming a riding arena could be built as an agricultural use exempt of permits,” Muir said. “It’s not uncommon for people to misconstrue agricultural uses.”
The arena does require a permit, whether it will be used for personal or commercial use, Muir said. Sharp said the code is unclear about whether arenas can be considered agricultural uses.
The ambiguity that caused the mix-up has prompted the county to take action in order to make the rules and regulations easier to decipher.
An equestrian subcommittee of the county’s rural lands task force is reviewing the code regarding equestrian uses. The code mentions but doesn’t define exactly what constitutes riding stables and equestrian facilities, county planner Jose Alvarez said. The task force will establish those definitions, determine what type of review is required and identify conditional and permitted uses, he said.
The committee will not, however, change which zones horse stables and other structures for horses are allowed.
The commissioners created the task force to address issues that arose when the county expanded its urban growth boundary years ago. For example, some of the land that fell within the new growth boundary included horse facilities not allowed under the county’s code, Alvarez said. The county grandfathered in the existing structures and uses, he said.
“We recognized we didn’t define our terms in our codes,” Alvarez said. “We wanted to be more clear about that and be more consistent with our building code.”
The task force committee will meet with the county commissioners and planning commission on Jan. 6 to review the proposed changes to the county code. A public hearing has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 20, with a decision by the commissioners to follow on Feb. 15.
Sharp’s situation was first brought to the county’s attention a couple months ago when somebody alerted officials of the unpermitted construction. The tipster accused Sharp of using her position as a former city employee to dodge county permitting requirements. Muir said the county responded to the complaint immediately and did not give Sharp preferential treatment.
The county did decide, however, to allow Sharp to wait until the revisions are made before requiring she obtain permits. That way Sharp doesn’t obtain expensive — and possibly ultimately unnecessary — permits.
That also gives Sharp some time to determine the intended use of the barn and arena.
For now, the barn and arena are being used for personal use, Sharp said. Eventually, the complex may be used by Sharp’s son-in-law who trains horses, which would, under the county’s code, make the barn “commercial.” That’s why Sharp said she followed the county’s building requirements for commercial facilities.
“I probably should have gone through the conditional-use permit process, but I knew the county was in the process of reviewing the code, and I thought the building process would take longer than it did,” Sharp said. “I’m ready to get all of the permits.”
While Sharp believes the proposed changes are a step in the right direction, in her view, there’s more that could be done.
“My big problem with the code is there’s only two uses: agricultural facility or full commercial facility,” Sharp said.
The county’s code doesn’t provide any middle ground for operations like Sharp’s, which she considers semi-commercial. She would like to use the facility to train horses but will never hold public events like other commercial facilities, Sharp said.
“The revisions that they’re proposing do make it clearer, but I still think they need a middle category,” she said.
Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman@columbian.com.
