As the recent bulldozer rampage in Colorado showed, zoning can arouse strong passions, sometimes with good reason. An example is the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) proposed by King County Executive Ron Sims. Without compensation, the CAO essentially prohibits many landowners from using 65-percent or more of their rural property. Other restrictions make owning (or boarding) horses or other large animals impossible, ad (almost) infinitum.

The stated purpose is the public good, providing water for urban areas too covered with asphalt and buildings for rainfall to replenish the acquifer. The CAO has at least three flaws: It’s morally wrong, illegal and it would be ruinously expensive.

Taking the non-nuisance use of someone’s property for the benefit of others without paying for is a sin, stealing. It’s also a violation of the U.S. and Washington State constitutions, a crime. “Individuals should not have to bear burdens that rightly ought to be borne by the public as a whole” (U.S. Supreme Court: Anderson vs. the United States). Finally, enforcement and endless, losing litigation would cost the county more in the long run than buying the land needed.

The King County Council should reject the proposed CAO to avoid sin, crime, cost and rampaging bulldozers.

Ed Davis

Issaquah