Organized historic preservation efforts got their start in greater King County nearly thirty years ago. Always at the forefront, the , King County Historic Preservation Program has been one of the most innovative local preservation agencies in the nation. The program is particularly known for its underlying connections to the grass-roots heritage community, for its extended reach into the cities and towns of King County through interlocal agreements, and for the balance it offers between strong regulation and attractive incentives.

Roots in Heritage and the Arts

The preservation movement in King County traces its beginnings to the fervor of the 1976 Bicentennial. In preparation, the King County Arts Commission established a Historical Planning Committee, and offered small grants for exhibits and publications to existing heritage groups.

The Commission also hired Art Skolnik, former State Historic Preservation Officer, to design a foundation for continued preservation activity countywide. In 1977, Skolnik trained and fielded a crew of young surveyors using Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) funds. CETA surveyors documented a total of 540 properties, the core of King County's present-day Historic Resource Inventory.

Around the same time, several local historical groups began to meet to discuss common concerns. With the blessing of County Executive John Spellman, they founded the Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO). This umbrella group of diverse heritage and preservation interests now boasts a membership of some 61 groups and 85 individuals. In 1978, AKCHO pushed to create the King County Office of Historic Preservation and bring on board its first historic preservation officer, Jake Thomas.

Thanks to growing public interest in preservation, and to the assertive support of AKCHO, the program soon moved to another level. Ordinance 4828, passed in 1980, established the King County Landmarks Commission and a process for the designation of significant historic places in unincorporated areas of the county. From the very outset, the County's preservation ordinance has had the "teeth" to make it strong, effective, and occasionally controversial. As in Seattle, owner consent for designation is not required, and changes to designated landmarks require design review and mandatory compliance.

The first chair of the King County Landmarks Commission was AKCHO activist Phyllis Keller of Woodinville. Says Keller about the momentum that brought this strong ordinance into being, "the timing was perfect, coming on the heels of the Bicentennial. The AKCHO committee that drafted the ordinance drew inspiration from the Grand Central Station case and New York City landmarks law. Our county government was smaller then - we knew all the Council members and lobbied them individually. To our surprise, we got unanimous support."

Another program foundation stone fell into place in 1983, when the Museum Assistance Program run by Charles Payton at MOHAI came into the fold during the tenure of preservation officer Kjris Lund. This move firmly embedded "heritage" -- a field that encompasses artifacts, museums, and historical interpretation -- within King County's historic preservation program. Over the years, small heritage groups around the county came to rely on Payton's technical assistance and Community History newsletter.

A natural synergy developed between the two movements. For instance, many local historical societies such as the Kirkland Heritage Society, the Neely Mansion Association, and the Issaquah Historical Society considered the preservation of historic sites central to their core mission - a situation that happily continues even today.

County Programs Today

Julie Koler became King County's Historic Preservation Officer in 1988. Under her continuing guidance, the program blossomed and broadened its base through the prosperous decade of the 1990s. With funding assembled from various sources, the office developed direct grant-in-aid programs designed to encourage the preservation of cultural resources ranging from historic barns to museum collections. The office distributed approximately $800,000 to King County's many preservation and heritage projects and organizations in 1998, one of its peak years.

Preservation in King County continues to evolve. To shield its programs from economic instability, the King County Office of Cultural Resources was re-constituted in 2003 as a public corporation, now known as the Cultural Development Authority (CDA) of King County. The regulatory functions of preservation, however, remained within County government. Landmark designation, design review, and most incentive programs remain the purview of the King County Historic Preservation Program, led by Julie Koler and Landmarks Commission chair Patrick Schneider. Preservation education, advocacy, and promotion - including administration of the Landmark Rehabilitation grant program -- are part of the CDA's new mandate.

Different Resources

Seattle preservationists may wonder just what kinds of historic places exist out in the suburbs and far-flung corners of King County. These properties differ in many ways from the resources found in the city's urban neighborhoods. Among the inventoried sites and designated landmarks of King County are archaeological sites, brick roads and wooden depots, farmsteads with barns and outbuildings, early vehicular bridges, false-fronted fraternal halls, spacious log houses, crossroads stores, and one-room rural schools.

Some, like the massive headquarters of the Pacific Cost Coal Company on SE Maple Valley Highway, are directly tied to the region's gritty industrial past. Others, including the Fall City Masonic Hall, the Lovegren House in Preston, or the Colvos Store on Vashon Island, are linked to the social and economic history of myriad small communities that once dotted the landscape from Puget Sound to the crest of the Cascades. Many are late 19th or early 20th century agricultural sites such as the Hjertoos Farm at the edge of Carnation, the Dougherty Farmstead in Duvall, and the Mary Olsen Farm in Auburn.

Some of the county's most fragile and evocative structures include the Hori Furo, a Japanese bathhouse at the Aaron Neely Mansion in Auburn; the Fall City Hopshed in a field across the river from Fall City proper; the Reynolds Farm and Indian Agency near the Muckleshoot Reservation; and the Reinig Road Sycamore Corridor just east of Snoqualmie.

Success through Interlocals

One of the big problems King County's landmarks program faced in the early years of its existence was the "Swiss cheese" situation. An ever-growing number of suburban cities' incorporations effectively removed large geographic areas from County jurisdiction, limiting what could be accomplished in preservation. In 1994, the County extended its preservation tools and incentives to the City of Carnation through the first Historic Preservation Interlocal Agreement.

How does the Interlocal Program work? Essentially, if citizen interest and political will exist, any incorporated city in the county may participate by adopting a landmarks ordinance and entering into an agreement with King County. In return, the King County Landmarks Commission provides the city with designation and design review services. Most importantly, the County's entire incentive package, including technical assistance, is made available to landmark owners within that city. As of today, 13 cities have signed on to the Interlocal Program - and 23 properties that otherwise might be left unprotected, have been recognized as landmarks.

The City of North Bend is a telling example of the kind of ripple effect the Interlocal Program, coupled with supportive local leadership, can have. An interlocal was signed in 1996, the same year the City's Economic Development Commission identified downtown revitalization as a goal. King County conducted a survey of downtown buildings in 1998, giving local planners a useful tool that led to a downtown historic district designation in 2000. When the Masonic Lodge removed its tired 1970's Alpine façade, it triggered the dramatic start of downtown North Bend's renewal.

Over the next four years, five key, privately owned buildings were rehabbed using a combination of new incentives devised by North Bend and existing King County preservation incentives. These included tax relief programs, low-interest loans, and grants.

Incentives to Encourage

King County offers an unusually generous array of financial inducements that can help landmark owners decide to do the right thing. Those administered by the King County Historic Preservation Program include:

Special Valuation: Washington State's Local Tax Incentive Program Special Valuation subtracts eligible costs associated with the rehabilitation of historic properties for up to ten years. The primary benefit of the program is that during the ten-year special valuation period, property taxes do not reflect the substantial improvements made to the historic property.

Current Use Taxation for Open Space Property owners may be eligible for some tax relief if their land contains open space resources such as recreation areas, watersheds, scenic view corridors or historic landmark/archaeological sites. The incentive program functions by establishing a "current use taxation" assessment for open space -- an assessment that is lower than the "highest and best use" level that applies on most land in the County. All designated landmarks qualify for a 50% reduction in taxable value for the land portion of their assessment.

Landmark Restoration Loan Funds Low-interest loans for restoration projects are available through two programs administered jointly between the Historic Preservation Program and Washington Mutual, Frontier Bank in Duvall, and Issaquah Bank.

Incentives administered by the CDA include:

Landmark Funding Programs Landmark Rehabilitation Grants. (Hotel/Motel Tax Fund)

This program offers bricks-and-mortar support for the stabilization and rehabilitation of landmark properties in unincorporated King County, or in cities with Interlocal Agreements. Awards are made on a competitive basis.

Cultural Facilities Program (Hotel/Motel Tax Fund) A cultural organization (either arts or heritage) that owns or uses a King County or Interlocal City Landmark is eligible to apply for funds to purchase, restore or rehabilitate the facility.

Challenges Ahead

Preservation in greater King County faces some of the challenges familiar to preservationists in Seattle. Development pressures, rising land values, and population growth leave fragile resources vulnerable, regardless of location. There are some important distinctions, however. Rural areas, small crossroads centers, and farm towns can face a 1-2-3 punch: encroaching development, wholesale obliteration of historic setting and, sometimes, extinction. The physical traces of entire chapters of local history -- subsistence, fishing and boating, mining, and dairy farming -- can be erased by intense development almost overnight.

The constant influx of new arrivals to our area, and people's lack of roots and connectedness to any one locale, makes education about the value of preservation even more critical. While there's a growing commitment on the part of interlocal city officials, there is a less measurable degree of grass roots support among suburban residents. Historical societies have carried the banner in some, but not all, King County communities. Otherwise, there are too few organized groups as such watch-dogging and advocating for preservation. "We know for certain the interest exists out there," says King County Preservation Officer Julie Koler, "but so far King County has lacked the resources to help mobilize that energy."

One of the brightest hopes for preservation in this changing economy has to be its potential as a driver for economic development. A distinctive identity, a vibrant downtown, a tourist trade based on heritage, all are goals any King County community could realistically achieve through historic preservation. We must spread the word by showcasing the successes of cities like Issaquah and North Bend.

But Koler believes that, at the same time, we must identify creatively new sources of reliable support for the real stewards of historic places - private, non-profit, and public landmark owners. She looks ahead and envisions "opportunities for preservationists in Seattle and King County to join forces to go after those resources together."

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