King County Leaders Urge Voters To Approve Prop. 1

KING COUNTY, WA — King County leaders this week kicked off a final push in support of Proposition 1, which seeks to restore full funding for the Conservation Futures program, which has aimed to protect open spaces since 1982.

The updated levy would help fund King County Executive Dow Constantine's 2016 Land Conservation Initiative, designed to protect 65,000 acres across the region, including forest land, salmon habitats and other green spaces. Funding from the proposition would also help preserve more than 13,000 acres of farmland from growth and development.

Restoring the levy to its original rate would add less than $2 a month to the average homeowner's property tax bills, according to the campaign. If approved by voters, the new rate would be 6.25 cents per $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

During a news conference Monday, officials noted the program would also help expand green spaces to people in underserved areas, including to the one in five neighbors who do not live near green spaces, parks or trails.

"It is our ability to invest equitably, but also to ensure that these opportunity areas in our communities will have walkable greenspaces, that truly are a part of their homes, a part of their communities, part of the places they soon will love, and that requires Conserve Our Future, Proposition 1, to pass," said Sarneshea Evans, a member of King County's Open Space Equity Cabinet.

Sammamish Mayor Kali Clark, a former wildland firefighter, spoke in favor of the ballot measure, highlighting the benefits of conservation efforts as wildfires continue to burn on the west side of the Cascades well into October.

"The wildland and urban interface is a crucial and delicate opportunity to slow wildfires and keep them away from our homes," Clark said. "Increasingly, fires aren't in the middle of wilderness areas, they're in our backyard."

Proposition 1 has drawn support from several conservation organizations including the Nature Conservancy and Forterra, along with endorsements from seven county council members and mayors of Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish and Duvall.

Ballots for the Nov. 8 general election are due to be mailed to King County voters later this week.