Councilmember Koster,

I spoke with your aide Larry Stickney yesterday.  I am interested in commenting on your CAO review.

I have been involved in King County land use issues for about 6 years now.  I am a board member of Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, the group that organized the referendum effort to throw out the King County CAO, now before the WA Supreme Court.  Pacific Legal Foundation is also suing on behalf of some of our folks with the argument that the ordinance is unconstitutional on its face.

There are three items in the King County CAO that make it totally unacceptable to rural landowners.  The 65% rule that removes use to the owner of the majority of his property, the ridiculous buffer increases in the law up to 300 feet in some cases, and the wildlife habitat and corridor requirements that take inordinate amounts of land and options from the owner.  There are many objectionable measures in the ordinance, but these three are the absolute non-negotiable, gott’a go parts of this law.

I am attaching two short essays I wrote which summarize these points.  The first is the last of a series on land uses and policy in King County and the CAO.  It was written shortly before the ordinance passed.  The second was a guest editorial printed in the Snoqualmie Valley Record in a point-counterpoint debate shortly after the ordinance passed.

Preston Drew

Vice President

Citizens Alliance for Property Rights