Bellevue will benefit under a county ordinance allowing for distribution of $6.6 million in Conservation Futures Tax (CFT) funding.

The city would use a share of the money to acquire open space in its Greenway System, primarily in the Richards Valley area located south of downtown and east of Interstate 405. It also will acquire a property on Lake Sammamish at the eastern terminus of its Lake-to-Lake Greenbelt trail system.

King County Executive Ron Sims transmitted the ordinance to the County Council this week that would authorize agreements with cities and help pay for the Bellevue project and 16 others elsewhere.

The money was approved in King County’s 2009 budget last fall.

“Together, these urban open spaces will contribute to the protection of greenways and natural areas, and will create new parks and trails in some of our region’s most heavily populated communities,” Sims said.

CFT levy funds are collected from property taxes levied throughout King County and its cities for the purchase and permanent protection of open space lands. CFT funds are allocated during the King County annual budget each November, based on an application review process conducted by the King County Conservation Futures Citizens Committee in the spring.