King County Plans to Limit Size of Rural Commercial Buildings

SEATTLE-More than 100 citizens showed up at a King County Council meeting Monday to protest revisions to the county’s comprehensive plan that would limit the size of non-residential buildings in rural areas to 20,000 sf.

King County Executive Ron Sims’ proposed revisions to the county’s 1994 Comprehensive Plan, which will guide every land-use and government management decision during the coming six years, is intended to protect rural areas. But protestors say that the new provisions will limit their ability to construct adequately sized churches and private schools and is discriminating because it doesn’t apply to public schools. The proposed revisions would also stop large-scale commercial developments such as shopping centers in an effort to meet the sprawl-stopping agenda Sims has set for the county.

Though county officials have said that they will consider adjusting the proposed size limit for non-residential buildings, they stress that any such adjustments will be minor. The revisions should be formally adopted next month, when the County Council is scheduled to vote on a final version of the comprehensive plan revision.