Cascade County, Washington

Cedar County, Washington was the name of a proposed new county to be carved out of the eastern and mostly rural portion of King County, Washington, USA. Residents who support secession feel that they have no voice in county government, which is dominated by Seattle and its suburbs, with their total population over 15 times larger than the rest of the county.

The secessionist movement began in the 1990s, when residents became upset over growth management regulations that they felt were being unfairly forced on them by urban environmentalists. Some also did not feel that the services they received were adequate relative to taxes they paid. The Washington State Constitution is unclear on the process by which new counties can be created, but indicates that for the process of secession to begin, residents must gather the signatures of 50% of the registered voters in the area. After backers gathered thousands of signatures, the Washington State Legislature rejected the proposal. In 1998, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that although gathering signatures is the first step in the process, the legislature has the final power needed to create new counties, and the legislature can not be forced to create new counties. The Cedar County movement died down after the ruling, as did a number of other secessionist movements in the state, like Freedom and Skykomish Counties.

In 2004 and 2005, the Democrat-controlled King County government passed several new critical-areas ordinances. One of the new regulations requires that property owners must leave 50% to 65% of their land untouched, leaving some to feel that the government is making a "regulatory taking", though the U.S. Supreme Court has previously upheld other zoning laws. In early 2005, Representative Toby Nixon of the state's 45th district introduced a proposal that would clear-up the process of what residents must do to create a new county. [http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0505/050202_news_mossback.php]

In late 2005, a new committee was formed to revive the effort, this time under the name Cascade County.

Critics of the movement point out that, under most suggested incarnations of the new county, the area would still vote Democratic, or be nearly balanced between Democratic and Republican voters, despite the conservative nature of many of the plan's proponents.

References

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url = http://www.cascadecounty.kendra.com
title = Cascade County committee Home Page
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accessdate = 2007-04-04