A group of mostly rural residents, burned by perceived missteps from King County government, are in the early stages of returning to an old idea: creating their own county — called Cascade County — out of the eastern section of King County.

Similar movements died in the 1990s, particularly after the state Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that the decision to create a new county "resides with the Legislature alone." But residents say they've learned from their mistakes and have gained momentum from recent actions by King County, including the new Critical Areas Ordinances (CAO), tent cities for the homeless in suburban areas and the handling of the governor's race.

Unlike the failed six-year effort to create Cedar County, the residents say they have a clear path mapped out through the legal system.

"We kind of guessed what it'd take to make Cedar County," said John Hearing, a Maple Valley resident and head of the new Cascade County Committee. "... Instead of shooting in the dark, we really have a specific goal to go after."

County officials said they're doing their best to address the needs of rural residents.

After two months of small, informal gatherings, the new committee held its first public meeting last night at a grange hall in North Bend. About 80 people showed up, asking questions about everything from the potential new county's borders to whether the new county could bring in enough money to survive.

The group's leaders say they don't have many answers yet and are just trying to spread the word and complete some basics. They took volunteers for positions such as treasurer, webmaster and spokesperson. And they plan to register with the state as a political group within a week or so and begin to take donations.

The movement faces some steep challenges and years of work. Legal questions also still remain.

State Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, introduced two bills this session that would help the Cascade County effort, including a bill that would create the new county from all of King County outside of Seattle city limits. But neither of the bills has gone anywhere, and supporters of a new county have given up on getting support from the Legislature.

They want to gather about 270,000 signatures this year for a statewide initiative that would force the Legislature to create new counties if it were to receive enough signatures from the affected area. Under the 1998 Supreme Court decision, the Legislature can ignore any signatures it receives.

Even if their initiative eventually passed, supporters would also have to gather separate signatures from half the registered voters — as many as 300,000 — in the prospective new county.

The Legislature would still have the power to bring an alternative initiative to the ballot or make the voters in the new county decide whether to move forward, supporters say. And the signature gathering would be long, hard work.

Group leaders want to get the initiative on the ballot in November 2006 and create a new county as early as January 2007.

"This is only going to go if there's enough depth of feeling of people willing to put forth the effort into it," Hearing said.

King County officials defended their actions on everything from the tent cities to the CAO, and they said a new county would have to follow the same state laws that control controversial issues, such as growth and sex-offender housing.

The county also has worked harder to reach out to its residents, said Carolyn Duncan, spokeswoman for County Executive Ron Sims.

The push to create a new county is not new, she said. "The executive's observation is this type of effort seems to be cyclical."

The biggest issue for people at last night's meeting was where the line would be mapped between the old and new counties. Some people said they didn't want to include large suburban cities such as Bellevue and Kirkland because their interests are different, but the new county may need those cities' tax bases to survive, group leaders say.

The new county also could be made up of just the rural portion of King County, like the old Cedar County proposal.

The group will meet a few more times over the next couple of months to gauge public interest.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com