Property Rights Are Not Secure in Washington State
Property Rights Are Not Secure in Washington By Preston Drew, President, Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights In 2008 the Washington State Court of Appeals threw out the most controversial section of the 2004 King County Critical Areas Ordinance, which was a provision that called for the set aside of as much as 65% of a rural landowner’s property when applying for a land use permit. The Supreme Court then refused to hear King County’s appeal, thus rendering the Appeals Court decision settled law. Yet the King County administration refuses to change the code to reflect the Appeals Court decision. When queried recently the reply was “Oh, we just don’t enforce that clause”. Why? Aren’t county officials obligated to have the code reflect the law?