Ban on Private Churches and Schools Hurts Children and Communities
2001-06
In the latest revision of the King County Comprehensive Plan, Executive Ron Sims proposed a regulation that will ban construction of most private schools and churches outside King County’s growth management boundaries. The regulation was developed in an effort to comply with the State Growth Management Act. Unfortunately, implementation of the new restrictions will hurt children and communities by banning construction of new private schools and churches in areas where they are desperately needed to service the existing communities.
The following two examples dramatically illustrate some of the major flaws in King County’s autocratic growth management provisions:
The Archdiocese of Seattle is responsible for Catholic school and churches throughout the state. The County’s plan effectively halted their efforts to site land for a desperately needed new parish school and church in east King County.
Over the past 10 years, areas east of Bellevue and Kirkland have experienced incredible growth. Skyrocketing housing costs in the Seattle and Bellevue areas have pushed many new families out of crowded urban areas to smaller cities such as Duvall, Woodinville, Bothell, and Monroe. However, because of land use restrictions imposed by King County and Washington State, the local Catholic Church has been unable to find available land for a new parish to serve its members in those expanding areas.
The existing parishes, centered in Kirkland and Bellevue, are bursting at the seams, and can scarcely handle the increased population. Without construction of a new facility, many members of the Catholic congregation of eastern King County will soon be unable to worship at a Catholic church or attend a Catholic school.
Other private schools have been impacted too. Glenn Olson, Development Director for Rainier Christian Schools, recently explained the problem his organization is facing.
Rainier Christian Schools signed a real-estate agreement to purchase a 21-acre lot, on which they planned to build a 50 to 60 thousand square foot school near Maple Valley. The school’s capacity is planned at 600 to 800 students, which, ironically, is only one-half the size of the local public school, Tahoma High School, located directly across the street.
The purchase agreement was contingent on a feasibility study. After wasting nearly $50,000 on permits, fees, and study costs, the plan was killed because of King County’s arbitrary restrictions on building size and sewer hook-ups. This happened even though there was a much larger public school only 50 yards away, providing access to existing infrastructure. In response, Mr. Olson concludes, the “King County Comprehensive Plan clearly discriminates against private schools.”
These are just two high profile examples of what is wrong with the State Growth Management Act and with the County’s proposal. There are hundreds of other cases across the state that go unnoticed each year. As a result, numerous organizations, including Washington Federation of Independent Schools, the Seattle Archdiocese, and a number of King County Council members, have voiced their opposition to the new restrictions.
The County’s plan would permanently restrict most “non-residential uses” in rural areas. Most public schools and projects would be exempted from the restrictions, forcing private schools and churches to fight for scarce land within the current tight boundaries, at undoubtedly higher prices, and in areas where new facilities are not necessary.
By an 8 to 5 vote on February 15th, the Council voted to suspend judgment on the Executive’s proposal, and placed a ten-month moratorium on new construction of both public and private schools and churches outside the county’s urban growth boundary. In the meantime, they assigned a task force to study the problem and recommend a common solution. On February 20th, however, the Council exempted an Issaquah middle school from the moratorium, because delays in permitting could cost the school district $1 million. The Council refuses to grant similar exemptions for private schools in the same situation.
Council member Rob McKenna, who supported the private school exemption, expressed his concern stating, “The Executive’s proposed discrimination against private schools and churches in the rural area is wrong. Such discrimination is bad public policy, unnecessary to achieve the goals of growth management, and quite possibly violates state and federal law.”
The arbitrary restrictions in the Executive’s plan highlighted four major flaws in the proposed growth management regulations. First, harsh limitations will be placed on the growth of expanding schools and congregations, jeopardizing much needed educational facilities, which serve areas outside King County’s growth boundaries. Second, basic principles of fairness between public and private entities, will be broken. Third, the restrictions will probably violate First Amendment protections of religious freedom. And finally, the new policy runs the risk of exposing the County and taxpayers to costly and needless litigation, as local churches and schools move to defend their rights, jeopardizing tax money better spent on pressing needs like education and transportation.
It is time for the state of Washington to re-evaluate the Growth Management Act. What started out as a flawed regulation has grown out of control, as additional changes have only amplified the mistakes of the past. The County Council and State Legislature should consider new, more reasonable and more efficient forms of growth restrictions, which can address the rapidly changing needs of all areas of our state.