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AN ORDINANCE relating to the conservation futures program; and amending Ordinance 13717, Section 1, as amended, and K.C.C. 26.12.003 and Ordinance 8867, Section 1, as amended, and K.C.C. 26.12.010.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. Adoption of Ordinance 18774 in 2018 set in motion King County's Land Conservation Initiative with the goal of protecting the last remaining high conservation value lands throughout King County within thirty years, while closing the gaps in equitable access, to support a high quality of life, livability, and regional economic strength.
2. For decades, King County has demonstrated leadership in protecting open space. In 1982, King County initiated its conservation futures tax levy program, which has successfully protected more than one hundred thousand acres of valuable forestlands, farmlands, open spaces, natural lands, and urban greenspaces.
3. This long legacy of open space conservation has made King County one of the most livable areas in the country and a sought-after place to live, work, and do business.
4. An advisory group of regional leaders helped shape the Land Conservation Initiative, providing a final report in December 2017. The report recommends, "[p]roceeding with a sense of urgency, as development pressures continue to grow" and observes that the "...rapid rate at which land prices rise emphasizes the need to move with urgency."
5. The advisory group recommended the county restore the conservation futures rate to 6.25 cents per $1,000 assessed value as set in state law.
6. In November 2022, King County voters approved Proposition 1 to restore conservation futures to its statutory maximum to help sustain the accelerated pace of land protection envisioned by the Land Conservation Initiative. The resulting increase in conservation futures collections and bonding represent approximately seventy-five percent of conservation funding modeled in the Land Conservation Initiative.
7. K.C.C. 26.12.010.E, related to the c...
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