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AN ORDINANCE authorizing the Juanita Woodlands open space acquisition project and the Forestry and Nearshore Initiative project, appropriating $26,618,999 from the open space non-bond fund sub fund to the projects; and amending the 2003 Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 14517, Section 118 and Attachment B, as amended.
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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings.
A. King County's population increased by over half a million people between 1980 and 1998, more than a forty percent increase in eighteen years. Despite this rapid growth in population, King County has a legacy of protecting critical waterways and forest and open space lands for habitat and recreational purposes. However, citizens are demanding further conservation of the natural environment, the control of sprawl and the protection of wildlife habitat.
B. The Juanita Woodlands is a wooded 36.3-acre open space in unincorporated King County, west of the city of Kirkland. The Washington state Department of Natural Resources owns the property and is required under its obligations to the Common School Trust to sell the site as surplus land at an economic valuation that reflects the property's highest and best use. The Washington state Department of Natural Resources has worked in partnership with King County and the local community organization known as the Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance to delay the sale of the property until the end of 2003 to allow for purchase by the county as open space.
C. The Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance has pledged $500,000 in community donations to King County to fund a portion of the overall acquisition costs of the Juanita Woodlands open space property described in Attachment A to this ordinance by December 31, 2008, through a letter of understanding with King County.
D. It is the intent of the county that $1.5 million of the property acquisition be funded through the sale of up to five acres of the property after five years from the date of the purchase of the property. The Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance may secure additional noncounty contributions, up to the full amount of this $1.5 million within the five-year period. If, after this five-year period, the Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance has not fully secured $1.5 million in noncounty contributions, King County plans to surplus up to five acres of the property to meet any remaining obligation. However, the county plans to sell only that amount of the property necessary to meet the obligation.
E. The Forestry and Nearshore Initiative is intended to preserve open space, working forests and undeveloped shoreline in King County that will:
1. Contain urban sprawl and suburban development;
2. Provide sustainable forest management that conserves the environment and retains the local timber industry;
3. Protect the health of the nearshore environment on Vashon and Maury Islands; and
4. Meet the conservation and open space of King County and local communities.
F. It is the intent of the council that the Maury Island Conservation Initiative be an integral part of the Forestry and Nearshore Initiative. The Maury Island Conservation Initiative consists of an effort to preserve three hundred acres of rural, coastal land on Maury Island, which is currently threatened by development. This property has one of the state's largest madrona forests and shoreline habitat that is critical to salmon, cutthroat trout, herring and bottomfish. The site is adjacent to the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve and includes valuable shoreline and terrestrial habitat. King County has appropriated $850,000 in funding toward the acquisition and $2 million is proposed in the 2004 Federal Omnibus Bill which must be approved by Congress.
G. It is the intent of the council that the Snoqualmie Forest be an integral part of the Forestry and Nearshore initiative. The Snoqualmie Forest is privately-owned and located within King County. The property totals one hundred and eight thousand acres and has been managed as a working forest for nearly one hundred years. It is a substantial portion of a larger, contiguous piece of undeveloped forestland, which also includes the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie forest and its Alpine Lakes wilderness area on the east, the state-owned Mt. Si natural resource conservation area on the south and the Markworth state forest on the west. The Snoqualmie Forest surrounds the city of Seattle Tolt watershed, which provides drinking water for the residents of the city of Seattle and contains habitat for numerous salmon species and other wildlife species afforded protection under state law and the Endangered Species Act. The Snoqualmie Forest contains extensive shoreline environments, including over eight thousand acres of riparian habitat and over one thousand one hundred acres of wetlands and lakes, and including major rivers such as the north fork of the Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers. The Snoqualmie Forest Conservation Easement project is intended to preserve the Snoqualmie Forest through conservation easements that will maintain the forestland forever in its present primarily undeveloped condition, to facilitate the continued use of the property as a working forest managed at a sustainable level of harvest. The goal of the project is to either conserve or enhance, fish and wildlife habitats, shoreline protection, open space, water quality and public recreational and education opportunities of the forestland for present and future generations and to prevent any use of the forestland that will significantly impair or interfere with its conservation value.
SECTION 2. There is hereby approved and adopted a supplemental appropriation of $5,518,999 from the open space non-bond fund sub-fund for the purchase of the Juanita Woodlands Open Space Acquisition Project and $21,100,000 from the open space non-bond fund sub-fund for the Forestry and Nearshore Initiative.
SECTION 3. Ordinance 14517, Section 118, as amended, is hereby amended by adding thereto and inserting therein the following:
Fund Capital Fund Amount
3522 Open Space Non-Bond Fund sub fund $26,618,999
SECTION 4. Ordinance 14517, Section 118, Attachment B, as amended, is hereby amended by adding thereto and inserting therein the specific capital improvement projects in Attachment A to this ordinance:
PROVIDED THAT:
Permanent financing for the acquisition of the Juanita Woodlands open space property and the Forestry and Nearshore Initiative described in Attachment A to this ordinance will be provided through the issuance of limited tax general obligation bonds backed by conservation futures tax levy funds. These bonds are expected to be sold in the fall of 2006. Interim financing will be supplied through a combination of an interfund loan, pursuant to terms approved by the King County executive finance committee, and bond anticipation notes as approved by the King County council that will be repaid from the proceeds of the bonds.
PROVIDED FURTHER THAT:
If any moneys are donated by the Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance as referenced in section 1.D and C of this ordinance, the council hereby accepts the donations in accordance with K.C.C. chapter 2.80 and any such donations shall be applied toward the debt service on the bonds issued to purchase the Juanita Woodlands property.
PROVIDED FURTHER THAT:
No moneys appropriated for the Forestry and Nearshore Initiative, except for costs related to negotiating transactions under the initiative including title searches and appraisals, shall be expended or encumbered until a ordinance, approving such an expenditure or encumbrance for a proposed purchase related to this initiative, has been approved by the King County council. Any such motion shall be referred to the budget and fiscal management committee or its successor committee for review.
SECTION 5. The attached resource book page, Attachment A to this ordinance, is hereby adopted.
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