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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 fiv...
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