Drafter

Clerk 03/03/2026

Title

AN ORDINANCE declaring a one-year moratorium prohibiting the acceptance of applications for the establishment of new or expansion of existing detention facilities, as primary or accessory uses; establishing a work plan; and declaring an emergency.

Body

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  Findings:

                     A.  King County has the authority, under constitutional police powers, home rule authority, and the Washington state Growth Management Act, including chapter 36.70A RCW, to establish a moratorium to preclude the acceptance of certain new development applications while the county studies related land use issues.

                     B.  Detention facilities have been proliferating around the country.

                     C. One detention facility in the Puget Sound area is in Tacoma.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") currently contracts with the GEO Group, Inc., to operate the Northwest ICE Processing Center ("the NWIPC").  The NWIPC has a capacity of one thousand five hundred seventy-five beds.  Statistics published by ICE show that the NWIPC's average daily population grew throughout 2025 and, as of January 2026, the facility was near ninety-percent capacity.

                     D.  Reports and firsthand accounts have surfaced since 2020 that practices at the NWIPC have resulted in inadequate living conditions for individuals detained.  Attempts at oversight at this facility have been met with resistance, as governmental officials, health inspectors, and organizations have been denied access to the NWIPC.

                     E.   The King County code does not currently define the term "detention facilities," though jails and jail farms are defined in the code.

                     F.  The King County code allows jails, which, by definition, must be government-operated, with a special use permit in the R, NB, CB, RB, O, and I zones.

                     G.  One jail, Echo Glen Children's Center, currently operates in unincorporated King County.  As Echo Glen Children's Center is located in an RA zone, it is classified as an existing nonconforming use and subject to the county's existing nonconforming use code provisions.  This facility, while defined as a jail under the King County code, is not considered a detention facility as defined in this ordinance, as it is a facility providing rehabilitative, counseling, treatment, mental health, educational, or medical services to juveniles who are subject to Title 13 RCW.

                     H.  The King County code also allows jail farms, defined as a farm or camp on which persons convicted of minor law violations are confined and participate in agriculture and other work activities of the facility, with a special use permit in the A, F, RA, and UR zones.

                     I.  Under its Detention Reengineering Initiative, ICE intends to expand detention capacity nationwide.  A December 29, 2025, publication by the federal government on the Acquisition Planning Forecast System indicates that ICE intends to expand capacity in the Seattle-Tacoma area.  While, according to a local news report, ICE is still in the planning stages for such a facility, a solicitation could be issued in the near future for a detention facility with over one thousand six hundred beds and to include five courtrooms.

                     J.  New or expanded detention facilities are likely to draw significant public interest and would require a long-term security plan and a short-term construction staging plan.  New or expanded detention facilities could have significant impacts on water, sewage and wastewater, transportation and parking, public safety, and public health.  Impacts from these large-scale facilities are not contemplated by the county's development regulations.  The plans and mitigation measures for identified impacts should be clearly addressed in the county's development regulations before the filing of any permit for a new or expanded detention facility.

                     K.  It is in the public interest that any land use, zoning, and development regulations are consistent with the King County Comprehensive Plan, the State Environmental Policy Act, the Growth Management Act, and other environmental and land use laws.

                     L.  With an imminent possibility of additional detention facilities being sited in King County, the lack of clear King County Code provisions regarding detention facilities, and because of the potential impacts listed in subsection J. of this section, it is in the public interest and for the immediate preservation of health and safety, as well as maintaining the support of the county’s existing government, to establish a moratorium on acceptance of applications for new or expanded detention facilities for one year in order to analyze and determine how best to update regulations for these uses after evaluation of potential impacts.

                     M.  Therefore, it is necessary that this ordinance go into effect immediately in order to avoid a rush of applications for new or expanded detention facilities.

                     SECTION 2.

                     A.  A one-year moratorium, commencing on the effective date of this ordinance, is declared on the acceptance of any applications for the establishment of new detention facilities or the expansion, which is increasing the size, quantity, or scope, of existing detention facilities in unincorporated King County, regardless of whether the use is primary or accessory, and regardless of whether the use is permanent or temporary.

                     B.  An application shall not be accepted and a building permit, occupancy permit, department of public health approval, temporary use permit, and other development permits or approvals of any kind shall not be issued for any of the purposes or activities prohibited by the moratorium.  Any application that is accepted as a result of error or by use of vague or deceptive descriptions during the moratorium is null and void and without legal force or effect.  All vested and otherwise lawfully established uses, structures, or other developments may continue to be maintained, repaired, and redeveloped consistent with K.C.C. 21A.32.020 through 21A.32.055, so long as the use is not expanded, under the terms of the land use regulations in place at the time the use was established.  Vested and otherwise lawfully established governmental uses may expand only when it is demonstrated that the expansion is necessary for security improvements to prevent likely and substantial harm to residents, staff, or public safety.

                     C.  Within sixty days of the effective date of this ordinance, the council shall hold a public hearing on the moratorium.

                     D.  During the moratorium, the executive shall complete a work plan for detention facilities subject to this moratorium as follows:

                       1.  The executive shall complete a study to analyze and make recommendations for permanent regulations, mitigation measures, and appropriate zones for detention facilities.  The study shall be informed by public engagement and consultation with the Washington state Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and should include, but not be limited to, analysis of the impact of these facilities in other locations where they have been sited, additional governmental services and public safety needs that the siting and operation of these facilities would require, what regulations are necessary for the health and safety of detainees in these facilities, and whether and how different types of facilities should be regulated differently based on their impacts;

                       2.  No later than nine months after the effective date of this ordinance, the executive shall electronically transmit the results of the study, and a proposed ordinance with any recommended changes to development regulations and permitting processes, to the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff, the chief policy officer, and the lead staff for the local services and land use committee or its successor; and

                       3.  Upon receipt of the study results and proposed ordinance, the council will consider the proposal and, if new permanent regulations are deemed necessary, adopt new, permanent regulations by ordinance.

                     SECTION 3.  For the purposes of this ordinance, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, "detention facility" is as defined in RCW 70.395.020(3), but excludes the categories of uses listed in the subsections of RCW 70.395.030(3) except RCW 70.395.030(3)(g), whether run by government or private entity, and excludes influx care facilities for unaccompanied noncitizen children operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement and commercially sexually exploited children receiving centers under RCW 7.68.380.  For the purposes of this ordinance, "jail" and "jail farm," as defined in K.C.C. Title 21A, are considered detention facilities.

                     SECTION 4.  Severability. If any provision of this ordinance or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid or should any portion of this ordinance be preempted by state or federal law or regulation, the remainder of the ordinance or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

                     SECTION 5.

                     A.  The county council finds as a fact and declares that an emergency exists and that this ordinance is necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, or safety or for the support of county government and its existing public institutions.

                     B.  Enactment of this temporary moratorium as an emergency under Section 230.30 of the King County Charter waives certain procedural requirements, including State Environmental Policy Act review under chapter 43.21C RCW and K.C.C. chapter

20.44, notice to the state under RCW 36.70A.106, and published notice under K.C.C. 20.18.110.