After four and a half months of review and public testimony, the King County Council’s Growth Management and Unincorporated Areas Committee has given a “do pass” recommendation and sent to the full Council a package of proposed amendments to the 2004 Updates to the King County Comprehensive Plan. It is the first of two major pieces of land use legislation the Council must consider this year; it is separate and distinct from the Critical Areas Ordinance which has also been reviewed in many of the same committee meetings.

“Sprawling development of rural forest and farmland pollutes streams and lakes, destroys wildlife habitat and increases traffic. As our population continues to grow, our rural character and open spaces will not survive on their own; we must work to protect them,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, committee chair. “The Comprehensive Plan encourages growth in the already-urbanized areas while protecting our rural legacy.”

“The changes before us are refinements to the existing Comprehensive Plan. They are the result of months of public input. They strike a balance that encourages growth in our urban corridors while making sure that farming and forest production remain viable in King County, with opportunities for reasonable growth and economic expansion in our rural communities.”

The King County Comprehensive Plan is the guiding policy document for all land use and development regulations in unincorporated King County, and for such countywide regional services as transit, sewers, parks, trails and open space. The plan is required by the 1990 state Growth Management Act, which calls for a four-year cycle for complete review of the broad policy issues in the plan. The year 2000 represented the first four-year cycle review. This 2004 Update is the second "four-year cycle" review.

The chair’s so-called “striking amendment” modifies the proposal sent to the Council by the County Executive on March 1. The striker covers several main areas:

• Rural Economic Development: Cottage Industries. The striker adds a requirement for the county to study its own regulations and policies for their impact on rural cottage industries. This follows a recommendation from the Snoqualmie Valley Land Use Advisory Group, a citizens’ group formed by the Council in 2003 to recommend changes to the comprehensive plan. The Executive’s proposal did not include this study.

• Cottage Housing. Since cottage housing is a new type of construction for the urban unincorporated area, the striker proposes making cottage housing a conditional use rather than an outright permitted use, with a requirement for community notification so the county can work with developers and neighborhoods to produce quality housing. Cottage housing developments put small, well-designed homes around a common central green space, allowing for denser and more affordable housing to be developed inside existing urban neighborhoods. Cottage housing is a new innovation in the Executive’s proposal.

• Annexations and Incorporations. The striker provides clearer policies for the county’s support for annexations and incorporations of the urban unincorporated areas, to provide better guidance for the cities and residents of those areas, and adds a new policy directing county staff to work more closely with cities, residents, local businesses, neighborhood groups, and Unincorporated Area Councils on annexation-related activities. The striker enhances the Executive’s proposal which included new policy directions intended to speed up transition of the urban unincorporated areas from County to city governance.

• Sustainable Development. The striker adds a new policy requiring a cost/benefit analysis for sustainable development projects which may carry up-front costs for design and more expensive equipment and materials, but can save money over the life of a building through reduced energy costs, water use, stormwater runoff, and the use of renewable materials. The Executive proposal introduces a new requirement to utilize sustainable development in the county’s construction projects and encourage the private sector to do the same.

• Parks, Open Space & Cultural Resources. The striker adds new language to address the county’s role in managing the regional trail system and to acknowledge the continuing and important role the county plays in cultural affairs even as 4Culture, the former Cultural Development Authority, assumes responsibility for shepherding the county’s cultural resource. The amendment was written with the assistance of Carolyn Edmonds, Chair of the Council’s Natural Resources and Utilities Committee. The Executive proposal entirely rewrites the Parks chapter of the comprehensive plan to reflect the county's role as a regional service provider countywide and a local service provider in the rural areas.

• Transportation. The striker reinstates a section that prioritizes the spending of limited transportation dollars in the urban unincorporated areas, and adds a new policy requiring the transportation system to find innovative ways to address the mobility needs of persons with disabilities. Both amendments were written with Transportation Committee Chair Dwight Pelz.

• Air Quality. The striker adds new language to emphasize the importance of clean air to the health of all citizens, underline the importance of partnerships between public agencies and private interests, and stress the need to focus on critical air issues like greenhouse gases. The amendment was written with the Natural Resources and Utilities Committee. The Executive proposal entirely rewrites the Air Quality section of the comprehensive plan.

A total of 43 amendments were offered to the chair’s striker, with the committee voting in favor of 11 amendments and against 12 with 20 amendments withdrawn. The proposed package now goes to the full County Council for action.

“We are corralling sprawl to protect rural farms, forests and landscapes,” said Council Chair Larry Phillips. “Without growth management, we’d be sitting in traffic jams between here and the Cascade crest, passing housing developments and fast-food joints while trying to get to big-box stores. If we don’t enact these protections, in 10 years the rural area and its working farms and forests will be a quaint memory memorialized by some black and white photos in a strip-mall museum that sits on a 6-lane thoroughfare. That’s not what the citizens of King County want – they want to preserve our high quality of life in all its many facets. Growth management is about keeping our urban, suburban and rural areas thriving in their own unique and vital ways.”

“I am pleased to help craft a plan that promotes and protects clean air, safe water, and a vibrant open space system of trails, parks, and wilderness areas,” said Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds, who chairs the Council’s Natural Resources and Utilities Committee and the King County Board of Health. “This legislation encourages planners to consider a variety of public health and quality of life issues as they envision the County’s future.”

“This plan acknowledges that we need to set our transportation priorities,” said Councilmember Dwight Pelz, chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee. “As we continue to build more housing within the Urban Growth Boundary, we need to make sure we have the transportation infrastructure in place to accommodate that growth.”

“Growth management is working in King County,” said Constantine. “These recommendations are based on four-and-a-half months of public input and respond to concerns that we develop the best plan to protect our rural legacy.”

Since receiving the Executive’s proposal, the Growth Management Committee has held 14 regular committee meetings, eleven of which were focused specifically on the Executive Recommended Comprehensive Plan. The committee also held five special evening meetings in Enumclaw, Carnation, Maple Valley, Woodinville, and Vashon Island, allowing members to hear first-hand about potential impacts of the legislation. Public testimony was taken at 12 meetings in all, as well as via phone, mail, e-mail, and the Web.

The Comprehensive Plan update is the first of two important land use measures the Growth Management Committee will review and send to the full County Council this year. Later this summer, the committee is scheduled to act on proposed changes to the Critical Areas Ordinance. As required by the Growth Management Act, the Critical Areas Ordinance is designed to apply the best available science to protect sensitive environmental features, such as streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands, and natural hazard areas, such as steep slopes, seismic hazard areas and floodplains.

The state Growth Management Act requires King County to manage growth by identifying and protecting critical areas and natural resource lands, designating urban growth areas, preparing comprehensive plans and implementing them through capital investments and development regulations.

The Growth Management and Unincorporated Areas Committee considers and makes recommendations on policies and development regulations relating to land use, housing, regulatory reform, and environmentally sensitive areas, including those regulated under the Endangered Species Act.

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system by typing in “2004-0114" through "2004-0118”

Read more about the King County Comprehensive Plan at:
www.metrokc.gov/council/compplan