Drafter
Clerk 04/21/2005
Title
A MOTION endorsing the use of the Greenprint for King County for the purposes of identifying the highest priority open space lands to purchase and to ensure that King County is spending public money efficiently on the most important lands for conservation and open space.
Body
WHEREAS, because the Puget Sound region is facing pressing resource conservation issues, such as species becoming listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, population increases and the state Growth Management Act requirements to reduce sprawl and global warming induced climate change, King County needs a comprehensive land conservation strategy, and
WHEREAS, King County is mandated by the State Growth Management Act and the King County Comprehensive Plan to protect regionally significant environmental and cultural resources, environmental quality, resource lands, and provide for the public safety from flooding of its residents, and
WHEREAS, since 1970, King County has spent over three hundred fifty-three million dollars to conserve important recreation, open space and natural lands using a variety of funding sources, including conservation futures tax revenues, farmland preservation program bond revenues, real estate excise tax revenues, surface water management fee revenues and state and federal grant revenues, and
WHEREAS, King County department and natural resources and parks currently manages over twenty-five thousand acres of important open space lands, including trails, ecological lands, farmland, forests and flood hazard reduction lands, and monitors approximately one hundred six thousand acres in conservation easements, and
WHEREAS, the King County department of natural resources and parks is responsible for providing land conservation financing, acquisition and land management services in the region, and
WHEREAS, King County serves as the coordinator for the conservation futures tax revenues, overseeing the process for identifying projects and distributing grants to many suburban cities, the city of Seattle and areas within unincorporated King County, and
WHEREAS, King County supports agriculture and the King County department of natural resources and parks is responsible for implementing the farmland preservation program, which involves the acquisition of development rights on land suitable for agriculture, and
WHEREAS, the King County department of natural resources and parks seeks to restore salmon habitat along the county's major rivers in support of Water Resource Inventory Area plans for salmon recovery under the Endangered Specific Act, which includes land acquisition and conservation components, and
WHEREAS, the King County department of natural resources and parks is responsible for developing and implementing the countywide flood hazard reduction plan, scheduled to be updated in 2005, which will identify a number of river corridor acquisitions to reduce flood hazards in King County, and
WHEREAS, the King County department of natural resources and parks identified approximately sixty-five miles of trail corridor to complete a network of regional trails that provides nonmotorized transportation options, regional recreation opportunities, and connections for people between jurisdictions, communities, local parks and county-protected open spaces, and
WHEREAS, King County supports the cultural and economic viability of working resource lands and King County department of natural resource and parks is responsible for the forestry program, which works to conserve forested lands by providing technical assistance to forest landowners, offering incentives for continued forestry and providing forestry expertise in land management, and
WHEREAS, an integrated approach to coordinating acquisition and conservation in the multiple plans and programs will result in the most efficient use of limited public dollars, and
WHEREAS, to develop an integrated approach for land acquisition and conservation the King Couny department of natural resources and parks contracted with the Trust for Public Land to prepare the Greenprint for King County as a part of their broader effort of developing a Greenprint for Puget Sound, and
WHEREAS, the Trust for Public Land Greenprint process has been used throughout the United States and helped the King County department of natural resources and parks better understand high valued water and land resource conservation areas, ensure that limited resources are directed to the highest valued lands and to help prioritize the competing demands for limited funds from individual programs, and
WHEREAS, in developing the Greenprint for King County, the Trust for Public Land met with representatives from eighteen cities, five King County council members, three state agencies, and five private nonprofit and community-based agencies to receive input and recommendations on the county's role in the future land acquisition and conservation priorities, and
WHEREAS, in developing the Greenprint for King County, the Trust for Public Land mapped the existing inventory of trails and natural areas to identify gaps as well as opportunities for connections and expansion, and
WHEREAS, in developing the Greenprint for King County, the Trust for Public Land worked with the department of natural resources and parks to analyze land use and environmental data and identify water and land management criteria to identify high-value areas for different conservation purposes, and
WHEREAS, the Greenprint for King County drew from priorities and criteria established in past efforts, such as the King County Comprehensive Plan, the Cedar river legacy and the farmland preservation program and from ongoing efforts, such as the water resources inventory area salmon recovery planning, and
WHEREAS, the Greenprint for King County recommends a vision for the county to focus future acquisition and conservation efforts that maintain ecological health, cultural and economic values and connectivity that maximize public benefit and complement the county's role as a regional service provider, and
WHEREAS, the Greenprint for King County recommends the county continue efforts through land conservation to help ensure that urban development is contained within the urban growth area, and
WHEREAS, the Greenprint for King County recommends that the county continue to use existing fund sources wisely and purchase key parcels along major river corridors to aid efforts in salmon recovery, key ecologically significant shoreline areas, regional trail connections, and to protect the remaining farmlands and forests of the Cascade foothills, and
WHEREAS, the Greenprint for King County used the land and water based criteria to identify approximately five hundred seventy thousand acres of high- and medium-to-high-valued lands to conserve for working forests, agricultural production, ecological benefit, Puget Sound shorelines, reducing flood hazards and regional trails, and
WHEREAS, the Greenprint for King County recommends developing a financing strategy that includes a mix of local, state and federal funds as well as establishing stronger partnerships with nonprofit organizations and foundations, and
WHEREAS, the department of natural resources and parks will update the Greenprint for King County geographic information systems model as needed to reflect new data, changing policies and priorities associated with land conservation in King County, and
WHEREAS, the department of natural resources and parks will use the Greenprint for King County to inform decisions on open space land acquisitions and conservation, and
WHEREAS, the department of natural resources and parks will share the results of the Greenprint for King County with the conservation futures citizen oversight committee to help inform recommendations on open space land acquisitions and conservation, and
WHEREAS, the department of natural resources and parks will share the results of the Greenprint for King County with the entities working on the Water Resource Inventory Area salmon recovery plans to aid in decision making on land acquisitions and conservation, and
WHEREAS, the department of natural resources and parks will share the results of the Greenprint for King County with other entities in the region wishing to inform their decision making on land acquisitions and conservation, and
WHEREAS, the department of natural resources and parks will use the Greenprint model information to inform decisions on the use of capital and program resources to protect those lands identified as high conservation value lands, and
WHEREAS, the Trust for Public Land and the department of natural resources and parks briefed the metropolitan King County council's natural resources and utilities committee on July 8, 2004, and September 23, 2004, and
WHEREAS, King County seeks to continue existing partnerships and build upon new ones with nonprofit agencies, cities, state agencies and the tribes in the acquisition of high priority opens space lands;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A. The metropolitan King County council endorses the use of the Greenprint for King County by the department of natural resources and parks for establishing land acquisitions priorities.
B. The metropolitan King County council endorses the conservation vision identified in the Greenprint for King County that focuses acquisition and conservation efforts to improve ecological health, cultural and economic values and connectivity along major rivers, shorelines, regional trails, farmland and forest foothills and to maintain the urban growth boundary.
C. The metropolitan King County council endorses the use of the Greenprint for King County by sharing the results and working with the conservation futures oversight committee to help inform recommendations on the use of funds.
D. The metropolitan King County council endorses the use of the Greenprint for King County by sharing the results and working with Water Resources Inventory Area planning steering committees and staff in developing strategies to aid in salmon restoration planning and implementation.
E. The department of natural resources and parks is hereby directed to develop a
funding strategy to implement the Greenprint for King County and submit a report to the metropolitan King County council by December 31, 2005, on such.