Drafter
Clerk 05/16/2023
Title
AN ORDINANCE declaring a seven-month moratorium prohibiting subdivisions of residentially zoned land in the Rural Town of Fall City; directing the executive to produce a work plan to address the issues and circumstances necessitating the moratorium; and declaring an emergency.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. King County has the authority, under to 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. In 1990, the Washington state Legislature adopted the Growth Management Act in order to, in part, facilitate the preservation of rural character. Rural character, in part, refers to patterns of land use and development in which open space, the natural landscape and vegetation predominate over the built environment, that fosters traditional rural lifestyles and rural-based economies, that provide visual landscapes that are traditionally found in rural areas and communities, and that reduces the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land into sprawling, low-density development.
C. The Countywide Planning Policies states that the goal as follows "the Rural Area Geography is stable and the level and pattern of growth within it provide for a variety of landscapes and open space, maintains diverse low-density communities, and supports rural economic activities based on sustainable stewardship of land." Although there are no growth targets identified in the countywide planning policies for the rural area, King County's rural area is anticipated to grow minimally, by 1 percent or less annually.
D. The King County Comprehensive Plan, as amended by Ordinance 19555, defines "rural growth" as "growth that is scaled to be compatible with, and maintains the traditional charac...

Click here for full text