Jefferson Land Trust has been awarded a grant designed to fund planning, predesign and pre-development work to create permanently affordable housing for farm and food system …
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Jefferson Land Trust has been awarded a grant designed to fund planning, predesign and pre-development work to create permanently affordable housing for farm and food system workers, on a 16-acre property in Chimacum.
The Jefferson Land Trust, which purchased the property in 2014, announced the $197,500 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce on Jan. 8.
Jefferson Land Trust is partnering with the local nonprofit Olympic Housing Trust to design and develop the Chimacum Commons affordable housing project.
“I can’t overstate how amazing this grant is,” said Erik Kingfisher, director of stewardship and resilience at the Land Trust. He explained it will help the organizations to “take this project from a conceptual design to a shovel-ready plan.”
Kellen Lynch, outreach and development manager for the Olympic Housing Trust, described the project as “a direct response to the public’s request for nonprofits to work together to address the loss of affordable housing with a fresh and locally relevant answer, and this grant award will make it possible.
Lynch added, “I’m proud to know that the Department of Commerce’s funding goals align with this innovative project that embraces our agricultural economy and enables our efforts to create attractive, healthy housing for the farmers and food workers who keep our community nourished.”
Since its purchase of the Chimacum Commons property, and in the decade since, the Land Trust has worked with stakeholders around the county — including farmers, community leaders, neighbors, the county and members of the affordable housing community — with the stated aim of determining “the best way the property can support the community.”
The property contains what the trust has deemed “prime agricultural soils,” as well as a stretch of salmon-bearing Chimacum Creek.
When the Land Trust first purchased the land it articulated a threefold vision:
• To protect valuable farmland in Chimacum Valley’s agricultural corridor.
• To conserve and restore the property’s 625 feet of Chimacum Creek salmon habitat.
• To find a partner willing to build and manage “affordable, ecologically sound housing” for local farm and food system workers on a portion of the property.
Although the Land Trust has worked to protect the farmland and improve the salmon habitat, it was initially unable to find a partner to take on the affordable housing project. It resumed the search in late 2021.
They determined the Olympic Housing Trust was “a strong fit” for the project. The two organizations began working together in mid-2023.
“This grant award would not have been possible without the partnership,” Kingfisher said.
According to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, Jefferson County is ranked as the second most unaffordable county for housing in the state of Washington.
Karyn Williams, founder and owner of Chimacum’s Red Dog Farm, agreed, stating that “lack of housing is our single biggest challenge in recruiting and retaining employees.”
Conceptual plans for the property involve the creation of several homes, with a mixture of homes for rent and for purchase, that will include approximately 30 bedrooms and outbuildings for shared community use.
The Land Trust will place a permanent conservation easement on the property, that will limit development to a specific building envelope, which the trust touted as a means to protect the property’s stretch of Chimacum Creek salmon stream habitat, as well as its farm soils.
Eventually, the plan is for the property to be transferred to the Olympic Housing Trust for long-term ownership.
“I have to commend the really good work the state of Washington is doing to advance affordable housing,” Kingfisher said. “This program demonstrates our state’s values and our state legislators’ commitment to investing in the big issues.”