More flexibility for rural landowners

Since 2004, rural landowners in King County have chafed under the tough development rules of the Critical Areas Ordinance. Without weakening the law's strong environmental protections, King County Executive Ron Sims manages to offer rural property owners an olive branch.

Sims and the County Council's Growth Management and Natural Resources Committee propose tweaking the law to allow farmers and other rural business owners greater flexibility to launch and grow businesses. Times have changed in the county's rural areas. Farmers have diversified beyond basic crops and animals to home-based businesses that run the gamut from growing gourmet produce for upscale restaurants to making and selling wine from farm fruit.

Farms have changed dramatically in the past 10 years. One Enumclaw farm boasts about 40 acres and as many different businesses. Farmers are also interested in commercial-scale kitchens and preparation facilities for on-site markets.

An equally important need, farmworker housing, would be increased under the county's proposed code changes.

Beyond farming, other types of home-based businesses would benefit from the changes. The number of outside employees and the number of vehicles that can be parked on-site would be increased from one to three. Entrepreneurs could sell products from their homes, rather than having to sell by mail order or from stores at remote sites.

Rural landowners would have more flexibility to maintain their property, including thinning forests as long as it were to maintain tree health or prevent fires.

Sims and the council committee differ in one significant area. Committee members want to eliminate required landscaping around outdoor storage areas. Sims wants to keep this requirement. To keep properties from looking like mini-dump sites, we concur with the county executive.

Reasonable restraints on development will always be necessary to maintain healthy environments and avoid clogging our public roadways and utilities. But the latest rules changes exhibit a healthy flexibility.