Untitled document
Drafter
Clerk 07/02/2009
Title
AN ORDINANCE adopting an inventory of high conservation value properties and specifying the manner in which an inventory of high conservation value properties will be periodically updated; and adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 26.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. King County has acquired interests in open space properties in the form of fee simple ownership, conservation easements and development rights. The county has done so using funds from various funding sources, including conservation futures taxes, Forward Thrust, real estate excise taxes, surface water management fees, the river improvement fund, the salmon recovery funding board, the interagency committee for outdoor recreation, voter-approved open space bond funds and state and federal conservation-oriented grants.
B. The primary purposes of acquiring open space properties are to conserve, preserve, protect or enhance natural or scenic resources, timberland devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of timber for commercial purposes, streams, rivers, wetlands, soils, beaches, tidal marshes, fish or wildlife habitat, water quality, passive recreational opportunities, visual quality along highway, road and street corridors and scenic vistas, for current and future generations of King County residents.
C. Preserving the character of open space properties also reduces urban sprawl, provides natural corridors in urban areas and serves to mitigate the effects of human activities that contribute to climate change.
D. The county council wishes to provide enhanced protection of certain high conservation value, open space properties that King County currently owns, or in which the county owns a conservation easement or development rights, without increasing current restrictions on the use of those properties or requiring the county to purchase additional properties.
E. The council by separate ordinance is submitting to a vote of the qualified voters of King County a proposal to amend the King County Charter, adding a new Section 897 to protect in perpetuity certain high conservation value open space properties in which the county has a real property interest. The county desires to adopt an ordinance implementing that charter amendment, which ordinance shall be contingent upon voter approval of the proposed charter amendment.
SECTION 2. In accordance with Section 897 of the King County Charter, the council hereby adopts Attachment A to this ordinance as the inventory of high conservation value properties.
SECTION 3. Section 4 of this ordinance should constitute a new chapter in K.C.C. Title 26.
NEW SECTION. SECTION 4.
A. A high conservation value property may not be removed from or added to the inventory of high conservation value properties except by an ordinance adopted in conformance with Section 897 of the King County Charter.
B. In addition to the public hearing required by Section 897 of the King County Charter, before such an ordinance is adopted, unless the ordinance is an emergency ordinance, the county council or the county executive shall hold a public meeting in the council district in which the property is located to discuss the removal or addition.
C. The inventory of high conservation value properties adopted pursuant to Section 897 of the King County Charter shall be maintained by the clerk of the council and the department of natural resources and parks. For each inventoried property, the inventory shall include the following information:
1. Commonly used name;
2. Type of property interest owned by the county;
3. Approximate size;
4. Parcel number or numbers;
5. Recording number or numbers for deeds by which the property was acquired by the county; and
6. A map that is sufficiently detailed to show the boundaries of the inventoried property.
SECTION 5. Effective date. This ordinance takes effect the effective date of the proposed amendment of the King County Charter submitted to the qualified voters of King County by Ordinance ---- (Proposed Ordinance 2009-0245). This ordinance does
not take effect if the proposed amendment to the King County Charter is not approved by the voters.