KEN GRAHAM: FROM THE PUBLISHER

A bout half a mile from my house in the South Touchet valley is a small business called Octopus Garden Honey. It's run by a couple named Paul and Susan Hosticka. They are beekeepers and they make wonderful honey there, which they sell at farmers markets and other venues. (The have a Facebook page if you want to learn more.)

Each day, when I drive to Waitsburg, I pass near another business called Monteillet Fromagerie. It is run by a couple called Pierre Louis and Joan Monteillet. The Monteillets raise goats on their property and make wonderful cheese and other products. They also sell their products at farmers markets.

Both of these businesses are great assets for Columbia County, and we are very fortunate to have these dedicated entrepreneurs living and working here.

Octopus Garden Honey and Monteillet Fromagerie are both homebased businesses, and they are both located in zones that Columbia County has designated as a combination of agricultural and residential. The Monteillets are located in an AR-1 zone, and the Hostickas (and I) are located in an AR-2 zone. The primary difference between AR-1 and AR-2 zones is that AR-1 allows a smaller minimum lot size.

In AR-1 and AR-2 zones, personal residences are one of the primary designated uses. It is perfectly legal for people who operate home-based businesses in those two zones to produce their products on their property. But zoning regulations prohibit them from inviting the public onto their property to buy their products, or any other products. That is a commercial activity that is not permitted in a residential zone. That limitation is written into Columbia County's zoning ordinance, and it's also written into the county's Comprehensive Plan, which the county is required to have by the Washington State Growth Management Act.

The Hostickas don't invite customers to their home to buy their honey (or if they do, it's enough of a secret that us neighbors don't know about it). The Monteillets, however, have expanded the facilities adjacent to their home to include areas that they hold open to the public to sell their products (and other products) and to hold events. This is a direct violation of the county zoning ordinance, and they were notified of their violation by the county early last year.

Every city and county in the state of Washington, and nearly every other city and county in the United States (Houston, Tex., and a few others being exceptions) has a zoning ordinance that limits commercial activity in areas designated as residential. It is generally accepted that people prefer living in neighborhoods that are separated from the noise, traffic and other impacts that go along with commercial activity. This is a government intrusion that isn't usually controversial.

In response to the enforcement action against them, the Monteillets submitted a request to the county earlier this year for a change in the zoning language for the AR-1 zone. The new language would allow, with a conditional use permit, on-site sales of any agricultural-based product anywhere in an AR-1 zone in Columbia County, no matter where it was produced.

The AR-1 zone encompasses thousands of acres in Columbia County and includes dozens of residences. The proposed language change would allow a wide range of commercial activity in all of that area, potentially affecting all of those residences.

In April, when the Columbia County Planning Commission asked the Monteillets and their attorney, Michael Hubbard, to consider changes to their proposed language that would put much stricter limitations on onsite sales, that request was turned down. The Monteillets insisted that their original proposal be acted on. The final decision was up to the county commissioners.

The Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of the proposal (two members voted to recommend approval). The county planning department staff recommended denial. Prosecuting Attorney Rea Culwell also recommended denial. In addition, she told the commissioners that the proposed language would be a legal violation, since it would put the zoning ordinance in conflict with the county's comprehensive plan. The county would be open to a lawsuit by the state, or by a neighboring property owner, she said.

Last week, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners went along with all of the recommendations and unanimously voted to deny the Monteillets' requested language change.

So where do we go from here?

First of all, the Monteillets can still raise goats and make cheese. The legality of their cheese-making operation has never been in question. They can continue to sell their products at farmers markets and other properly-zoned retail locations. They simply can't hold their business open to the public at its current location.

I've talked to many people recently who think that businesses like the Fromagerie, Octopus Garden Honey, and others, should be given more leeway to sell their products on site and allow their customers to see how they make their products; even if they are in a designated residential zone.

I think that's an idea Columbia County should pursue. Encouraging small-scale value-added agricultural production, even in AR zones, would be a great way to increase the county's economic base, expand its cultural heritage and encourage the kind of growth most residents want.

But a change like that would have to begin with a revision to Columbia County's Comprehensive Plan. And the impact that change would have on neighbors of those businesses throughout the county would have to be considered strongly. It's a slow, frustrating process, but it's the correct one.

Making a major change to a zoning regulation that affects a broad area of the county, just to benefit one business, especially when the change would conflict with the county's Comprehensive Plan, is not the correct process. The Columbia County Commissioners made the right decision in denying the Monteillets' request.