Tuesday, July 10, 2001

By MIKE LEWIS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The King County Council yesterday lifted a moratorium on new schools and churches in rural areas and approved restrictions on their construction. But the actions are likely to earn at least one veto by the county executive.

In a contentious vote, the council majority sought to end a 5-month-old temporary ban on construction of churches and schools in the county's rural area, which is designated for slow growth.

A divided council also voted to toughen environmental restrictions, but blocked Executive Ron Sims from limiting the size of these buildings in rural lands.

Before the ink was dry on the council-approved plan -- it passed by a bare 7-6 majority, mostly along party lines -- Sims hinted that at least one portion might be vetoed. While conceding that he hasn't made a final decision on the moratorium's end, Sims indicated that the new regulations don't adequately restrict growth in the county's rural lands, mostly its eastern half.

"Am I leaning toward a veto on environmental reasons? I would say yes," Sims said following the council vote. "But we'll be taking a look (at both ordinances approved by the council) over the next several days before we make a decision."

The moratorium has angered church groups, who argued that banning new church buildings violates their freedom of religion rights.

Some Republicans want the Democrats' fight with those groups to linger as a campaign issue through the fall elections. And Democrats who face fall elections, including Sims, want the matter resolved as soon as possible and out of the political limelight.

One possibility is that Sims would allow the moratorium to end but veto the environmental restrictions and hope for a favorable council majority after theelections.

In an unusually strident speech, Councilman Rob McKenna, R-Bellevue, said Sims' agenda won't work for the churches and schools of King County.

"It's been a frustrating process for those of us who have been trying to reach a compromise solution that improves environmental protections while not violating the constitutional rights of local churches or effectively preventing new schools form being located in the rural area," McKenna said.

Before voting against the measure, Councilman Larry Phillips, D-Seattle, said the council owes it to rural residents to honor the often-broken promises to limit growth there.

The issue erupted last year when rural residents fought the massive expansion plans of TimberLake Church near Redmond. A legal battle over the county's right to limit the church expansion prompted the council in February to approve a one-year moratorium on all churches and schools in rural lands while it studied the issue.

But a task force tagged to do the study never materialized. Angered, church groups began pressuring the council to remove the ban. They resisted executive-backed growth restrictions as an illegal limit on state and federal constitutional protections of religion.

In the months that followed, the issue has grown into one of the most contentious in years. And it has become a deeply personal dispute among some council members, the executive, their respective staffs, churches and environmental groups.

Faced with the prospect that the new regulations might be vetoed and the ban lifted -- essentially putting the county back to where it started months ago -- Nona Brazier, lobbyist for an allied group of churches called the Maple Valley Ministerial Alliance, said she considers yesterday's vote a small victory but an unfinished job.

"The church will keep moving forward," she said.

"We always have respected the environment and are willing to support regulations that do so."

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