King County: Appeal rural limits

King County has good reason to appeal a court decision against its rural lands ordinance. The decision's potentially broad implications for land-use protection need to be clarified by the Washington Supreme Court.

The county is expected to go to the high court in early August with its attempt to overturn a state Court of Appeals ruling against a part of the 2004 Critical Areas Ordinance package. The decision struck down the county's variable limits on rural landowners clearing or grading their property.

The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel said the restrictions needed to be considered on a case-by-case basis. But the judges also found no problems with the science on which the county had based its ordinance.

King County Executive Ron Sims said the ruling will make it harder to protect "people, their property and their quality of life." If future protections have to be based on more individualized rulings, so be it. But the county and other jurisdictions deserve the kind of clarity the Supreme Court can bring.

County Council Republicans, who have objected all along to the restrictions, would rather go back to pre-2004 protections for individual river basins and community planning areas. There may be a basis for reasonable compromise, since the Republicans offered to talk with council Democrats. But the 2004 ordinance grew out of careful consideration of the environment, as the court ruling recognized. Unless there's a truly good compromise available, the county ought to pursue the appeal resolutely.