Too Many LAMIRDS, Not Enough Farm Land in Thurston County?

Keri Brenner, writing in the The Olympian, reports on the efforts by Thurston County to come into compliance with a 2005 decision by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board that found the county's Comprehensive Plan created too many LAMIRDS (Limited Areas of More Intense Rural Development) and had established criteria for the designation of agricultural lands that did not protect enough resource lands.

While still appealing the decision, the county is proposing to down-zone about half of fifty current LAMIRDs to allow only one home per five acres. Quoting Ms. Brenner's article:

Under the first of the two county proposals, about 12,000 acres of high-density-pockets in the county would be “down-zoned” to 1 unit per 5 acres. The 12,000 acres represent about half of a total 21,000 acres now zoned at densities of 1 or 2 units per acre or 1 unit per 2 acres.