Mason County, WA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Mason County Code Section 8.52.061, part of the county's Resource Ordinance, sets both the classification test and the development standards for Agricultural Resource Lands in unincorporated Mason County. To qualify, a parcel must show an existing commercial agricultural use, or have been farmed as of January 1991, have a minimum parcel size of ten acres, contain prime farmland soils, or sit adjacent to land that already meets those criteria; an upland fin-fish hatchery can also qualify. Designated parcels appear on the county's public GIS layer titled "Agricultural Resource Lands." Once designated, the development standards in subsection (4)(A) apply: a twenty-five-foot front yard setback, a twenty-foot side and rear yard setback for the residence and accessory buildings, and a fifty-foot setback for accessory structures used for agricultural purposes, home occupations, or nonresidential buildings.

Residential density is capped at one primary residence per ten acres plus one accessory dwelling unit per parcel, and nonagricultural or accessory buildings are capped at five thousand square feet, or seventy-five hundred square feet with a special use permit, with a thirty-five-foot height limit that does not apply to agricultural buildings, cell towers, antennas or water tanks. Permitted uses include single-family residences, aquaculture, kennels, livestock, pasture, signs and cottage industry meeting MCC 17.03.021, while education learning centers, fire stations and bed-and-breakfasts require a special use permit.

Owners of designated land, and any plat, short plat or building permit issued within five hundred feet of it, must carry a recorded notice warning residents that dust, noise, odor and chemical applications from nearby farming are normal and expected. The right-to-farm nuisance shield in MCC 8.52.040(c)(5) fully applies to these designated lands.