Proposed 65-10 rule: No more private property in King County, WA?

According to a July 10 Fox News article:

Residents of King County, Wash., will only be able to build on 10 percent of their land, according to a new law being considered by the county government, which, if enacted, will be the most restrictive land use law in the nation.

 

Known as the 65-10 Rule, it calls for landowners to set aside 65 percent of their property and keep it in its natural, vegetative state. According to the rule, nothing can be built on this land, and if a tree is cut down, for example, it must be replanted. Building anything is out of the question.

If this is enacted, it will essentially mean the end of private property in rural King County.  To be sure, people will still retain title to tracts of land, but in reality they will be reduced to caretakers, with the government graciously allowing them to build a house on a corner of the land (undoubtedly subject to additional restrictions).

 

Environmentalist groups pushing for this rule would love to see the area return to wilderness in its entirety, so I expect that they wouldn't mind at all if current landowners just picked up and left.

 

The King County government's summary of the proposed rule can be found here.  Read it, and then imagine yourself owning a tract of undeveloped land there.