Members of the Short’s Farm Steering Committee and Port of Port Townsend staff will continue discussions on how to best repurpose the Short’s Farm property in Chimacum during a special meeting on May 15.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m at the WSU Extension office in the Kivley Center at 97 Oak Bay Road in Port Hadlock. While the meeting is open to the public, it is not a venue for the public to provide testimony. Written comments may be submitted and entered into the record. The purpose of the meeting, according to port staff, is to allow members of the Short’s Farm Steering Committee and port staff to ask and answer questions, gather input, review findings and consider future steps.

Short’s Farm is located on Center Road, just south of Red Dog Farm. The port purchased the 253-acre property in the summer of 2023 for the appraised price of $1.4 million – about $5,500 per acre – with $400,000 from its own coffers and $1 million from the state.

Port of Port Townsend commissioners and staff are currently planning ways to best use the site. According to port documents, the plan must benefit local farmers’ agricultural production in Jefferson County. The plan must also improve environmental conditions, especially for migratory fish. Any direct port investments into the farm should achieve a 9.5% rate of return. And the plan should be consistent with all adopted county land-use regulations, and all regulations and requirements of the conservation easement.

The Short’s Farm Steering Committee is made up of six local farmers and one representative each from Jefferson LandWorks Collaborative, Jefferson County Conservation District, and the North Olympic Salmon Coalition. In addition to forming the steering committee, the port officials enlisted the help of master’s degree students and faculty from the University of Washington’s Department of Urban Design.  According to the port, the students and faculty will help with the visioning process, community engagement, meeting facilitation, and will help the committee prepare its recommendations for the port commissioners’ consideration in July.

The farm is one of the largest contiguous agricultural land holdings in Jefferson County and has been the home of cattle operations since 1945. It began as a dairy, but in 2003, Roger Short, citing ever more stringent dairy regulations, turned the farm’s focus to beef. Since then, the farm has been a local source of grass-fed beef, compost and Short’s famous “Magical Soil.”

With Chimacum Creek bisecting the property north to south, and soils comprised of peat and Semiahmoo muck, the farm floods annually, providing winter habitat for trumpeter swans. Chimacum Creek is protected salmon habitat. 

The planning period began in January 2024 and is expected to end in July 2024. The first phase, from January to March, focused on understanding site conditions and identifying potential issues. The committee is now developing a vision for future site use, a choice of alternatives and will choose a “preferred alternative.” In July, the committee is slated to present their finding and recommendations to the port commission.