[Capr-announce] CAPR News May, 2007 EXTRA

[Jeff Wright]

CAPR  NEWS – UPDATE EXTRA


THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM CITIZENS’ ALLIANCE FOR PROPERTY RIGHTS
May, 2007


City of Kent CAO CASE Action

In the CAPR NEWS for May, 2007 that was delivered earlier today, there was
an item regarding the Kent CAO and an upcoming Supreme Court hearing.  On
its heals, followed the news that the Court has dropped the case.   Attached
below is a message from Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Brian Hodges that
explains the issue far better than I could:

In a procedural morass, the Kent CAO appeal was dismissed without ever
having the substance of its merits heard by a court. This case was unique in
that at all levels of review, the court decided that it raised such
substantial issues that the court passed it along up the chain of appellate
courts until it finally reached the Washington Supreme Court.
This process of finding a court to review the case took a long time. During
this time, the Growth Board required that Kent revise the invalidated
portions of its CAO or be sanctioned. Kent complied. Based on this
compliance, the Supreme Court held today that the City’s appeal was moot and
dismissed the appeal–just days before oral argument.
This dismissal leaves un-reviewed rulings by the Growth Board that adversely
affect property rights. Primarily, the issue that we argued as amici (on
behalf of PLF and Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights) was the Growth
Board’s holding that local government did not have the discretion to balance
property rights against protecting the environment. The Board held that
protecting the environment is a prioritized goal of the GMA that cannot be
challenged. Unfortunately, this decision is being cited as precedent for
this holding.
The hearing scheduled for May 29, 2007 has been stricken.
Brian Hodges
As Brian notes, this may very well prove to be a precedent, which is bad
news indeed.  This situation illustrates that have a monolithic government
in Washington State at present and our rights are suffering because of it!

Jeff Wright
Secretary, CAPR
E-mail:        jeff at proprights.org <mailto:jeff at proprights.org>
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