BIG NEWS: King County’s Critical Areas Ordinance Overturned on Appeal
Revised 9:40 p.m. 7/07: This just in, King County’s strict Critical Areas Ordinance has been overturned by an appeals court. The law was passed by King County in 2004 to protect environmentally sensitive areas including salmon spawning streams. It was considered one of the strictest such laws in the nation.
Critics of the law said it required them to set aside huge portions of their property.
I found this report at KIRO news early this afternoon.
The Seattle Times reports that the 2004 law is an indirect but illegal tax, fee or charge on development. The law prevented a landowner from clearing or using about one half of their property if it is 1 1/4 acres or more and up to 65% of the property had to remain undisturbed if it was 5 acres or more.
But the Appeals Court ruling written by Judge Ronald Cox said the state Supreme Court held in a previous case that restrictions like those in the King County clearing ordinance must be tied to the impact of a specific, proposed development. “The plain language of the statute does not permit conditions that are reasonably necessary for all development, or any potential development,” Cox wrote.
Judges Susan Agid and Anne Ellington concurred with the opinion. - Seattle Times
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