King County Executive Ron Sims is proposing changes to the county's comprehensive plan. One aspect of the update includes what Sims calls a 'mini cap and trade system'. He claims it would be the first such plan in the country. KUOW's John O'Brien has more.

THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SETS GROWTH MANAGEMENT POLICY FOR UNINCORPORATED KING COUNTY. IT'S INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE GROWTH, WHILE MAINTAINING AND IMPROVING ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY. COUNTY EXECUTIVE RON SIMS WANTS TO ADDRESS RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES SIMULTANEOUSLY:

SIMS: "I'm proposing a rural and resource lands preservation program that will increase the ability of land owners to realize financial benefits through the transfer of their development rights to higher density urban areas. That is not now available. We are making it available."

IN EXCHANGE FOR LIMITING DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS, RURAL LAND OWNERS WOULD BE ALLOWED TO SELL CARBON CREDITS TO URBAN DEVELOPERS. SIMS SAYS THE CHANGE IS LEGAL, MARKETABLE AND SCIENTIFICALLY DEFENSIBLE. HE SAYS IT BALANCES RURAL AND URBAN NEEDS FAIRLY.

SIMS: "It means all those lands out there that people have been saying 'you're taking away my value' all the sudden we've said 'no, no, no, we just gave you value, and here is a market you can sell to', and it's gonna be a very active one in our opinion."

SIMS SAYS THRESHOLDS FOR THE CAP SYSTEM ARE BEING FINALIZED AND SHOULD BE RELEASED IN MAY.

CYNTHIA WELTI DIRECTS THE MOUNTAINS TO SOUND GREENWAY TRUST. SHE SAYS THE CHANGES MAKE SENSE FROM A CONSERVATION STANDPOINT.

WELTI: "Historically the program required that the newly conserved land was managed by King County Parks. They've removed that requirement, which is good. You know, I think everyone realized King County Parks didn't want to manage bits and pieces of newly conserved land all along through King County."

SIMS SAYS THE COMP PLAN UPDATE WILL MARK A MAJOR STEP TOWARD THE COUNTY'S GREATER GOAL OF AN 80 PERCENT REDUCTION IN CARBON EMISSIONS BY 2050.

JOHN O'BRIEN, KUOW NEWS.