Rural King County residents demonstrate in Seattle

10:24 PM PST on Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Associated Press

SEATTLE - Rural King County residents unhappy about three new land use ordinances rolled through downtown in a cavalcade of pickup trucks and horse trailers Tuesday.

The protesters circled the county courthouse for about 45 minutes, stopping noon-hour traffic on two busy avenues. The protest ended when police were diverted to escort the visiting king and queen of Spain on a shopping trip.

KING

More than four-dozen vehicles drove through downtown Seattle Tuesday.

"We got the point across," said Rodney McFarland of May Valley, a rural area of east King County. He's the president of the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, which organized the protest.

The alliance also is gathering signatures for three referenda that would let residents in unincorporated areas vote on whether to overturn the three ordinances.

As of Monday night, the group had collected about 4,000 signatures. An estimated 8,200 valid signatures are needed to place the measures on the March ballot.

Hoping to better protect streams and wildlife, the Metropolitan King County Council passed three ordinances in late October that significantly limit what rural landowners can do with their property.

The ordinances create wider no-development buffers - up to 100 yards - along streams and wetlands; tighten regulations on how much water can run off newly developed sites; and require that rural property owners leave 50 percent or 65 percent of their land in a relatively natural state, depending on its size.

Tuesday's rally came just hours after the county and two environmental groups filed a lawsuit that seeks to toss out any attempts to overturn the ordinances via the referendum process.

"We think there is a lot of misunderstanding" about what the critical areas ordinance "does and does not do," said Carolyn Duncan, a county spokeswoman. She said the new regulations don't affect existing uses nor are there changes in zoning.

The county's Superior Court lawsuit contends a referendum isn't a legal way to overturn environmental legislation required by the state's Growth Management Act. However, citizens could challenge the new regulations through the state's Growth Management Hearings Board.

"While we respect the citizens' right to initiative and referendum, the case law is clear. This ordinance package is not subject to that process," King County Executive Ron Sims said in a statement.

Not everyone at Tuesday's event opposed the new rules. Laura Wishik of Vashon Island carried a sign that read, "This rural landowner supports the CAO."