2008 Update to the King County Comprehensive Plan

On October 6, 2008 the King County Council completed its third major review of the King County Comprehensive Plan by unanimously adopting four of the five implementing ordinances that comprise the 2008 updates to the set of policies by which King County manages growth in the unincorporated areas. Comprehensive plans adopted by local governments provide the blueprint to effectively combine certainty for development decisions, reasonable environmental protection, long-range planning for cost-effective infrastructure, and orderly growth and development. The King County Comprehensive Plan (KCCP) is updated annually for minor changes and technical corrections, with major updates occurring every four years. The first major review occurred in 2000, the second in 2004.

Council review

Council adoption of the 2008 updates completes a review process that began when the Council received the County Executive’s proposed updates on March 1, 2008. Throughout the spring and summer, the County Council’s Growth Management and Natural Resources Committee held sixteen public meetings on the Comp Plan, including five throughout suburban and rural King County, and heard from more than 200 residents. The Committee presented the Chair’s striking amendments, or "strikers,” which modified the Executive’s proposal to the full Council on August 5.

Among updates to the comprehensive plan adopted by the full council at the October 6, 2008 council meeting are:

• Providing incentives for farmers and those living in agricultural production zones to continue raising crops for sale, and promoting partnerships with local farmers’ markets that bring healthy produce to the public. The continued use of farmland ensures the strength of King County’s rural heritage, and guarantees a local food supply that requires less energy to pack and ship to market.

• Encouraging planning that places growth in urban communities by providing incentives for increased participation in the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, and revising the model for computing transportation concurrency in order to permit more housing units per development where there are the roads, sewers and other infrastructure and services to support them.

• Simplifying the current concurrency system with a more transparent model and growth map that clearly defines where there are enough roads, sewers and other infrastructure and services that can support more growth.

• Strengthen sustainable development and low impact development by encouraging its use for not only affordable housing programs but all county construction projects.

• Addressing climate change by completing and updating the County’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory on a regular basis. The plan calls for King County to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent of 2007 levels by the year 2050, and to work with state and local governments to account for greenhouse gas emissions in evaluating regional investments. In the future, King County will consider projected impacts of climate change, including the potential for more severe winter flooding, when updating disaster preparedness, levee investment and land use plans as well as development regulations.

• Completing a regional trails system that links trail corridors to form a countywide network.

• Clarifying water supply polices to specify the roles of the different jurisdictions involved in managing and protecting our water resources.

• Promoting fairness and opportunity for all residents by implementing some of the principles of King County’s Equity and Social Justice Initiative to ensure that health, equity, social and environmental justice impacts are considered in the development, implementation and funding of County projects and programs.

To review the complete copy of the 2008 Updates to the King County Comprehensive Plan, please see the side bar to the right of this page.

Ordinance 16263 contains the changes made to the Comprehensive Plan document itself as well as planning updates.
Attachment A is the Comprehensive Plan document
Attachment B is the Technical Appendix for Capital Facilities
Attachment C is the Technical Appendix for Housing
Attachment D is the Technical Appendix for Transportation
Attachment E is the Transportation Needs Report

Ordinance 16264 contains the changes made to the County's stormwater code provisions.

Ordinance 16265 contains the changes made to the County's sewer and water code provisions.

Ordinance 16266 contains the changes made to the County's transportation code provisions.
Attachment A is the 2008 Concurrency Map
Attachment B is the 2008 Travel Sheds Map

Ordinance 16267 contains the changes made to the County's zoning and development code provisions.
Attachment A is the Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas Map