Proposed changes to the way cities ask the Skagit County government for boundary adjustments include a loophole for properties where schools would be built.

Under the proposed code change, which is the subject of a public hearing before the Planning Commission on Tuesday, cities would not need to prove that they are running out of unused land within their boundaries before asking for a school site outside of their urban growth areas.

An urban growth area is land that’s either within a city’s boundaries or just outside a city and set aside for future urban growth.

The provision for school properties was written in 2007 at the city of Burlington’s request. It was established as a policy between the cities and the county two years ago but is only now being added to the county code.

County Planner Kirk Johnson said the change should not be construed as a short cut for converting land outside a city’s sphere into a school site — especially if that land is zoned for long-term agriculture.

“It’s really making it more restrictive for UGA amendments, including those that apply to schools,” Johnson said.

The code change would limit a city to one request for an urban growth area change every seven years, instead of one per year, as the code allows now. A city could make a separate request for a school site under the loophole.

Even so, the same once-every-seven-years limit applies to individual properties, including school properties, Johnson said.

The code proposal for school sites caught the attention of Allen Rozema, executive director of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland, because the Burlington-Edison School District owns property adjacent to an urban growth area at Peterson and Pulver roads that is considered to be prime farmland.

With help from the School District, the previous property owners had applied to have the 29 acres on that corner incorporated into Burlington’s urban growth area. The county rejected the request in September 2007, about six weeks after the School District bought the property.

Without the conversion, the district is not allowed to build an elementary school that officials say is badly needed.

Rozema said he would provide written comment at Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting so that Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland is eligible to appeal the code changes if deemed necessary.

Planning commissioners will take testimony on the urban growth area language and more than 100 other proposed changes to the county code beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday at 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon.

• Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .