[Capr-announce] CAPR News November 2007

[Jeff Wright]

CAPR NEWS

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

CAPR Welcomes Jefferson Co. Chapter

The CAPR Board approved the application for the new Jefferson Co. chapter of
CAPR at its November board meeting.  If you follow this letter and other
sources, you know that property rights issues and concerns have been
bubbling in Jefferson Co. for a couple of years now.  Hot issues in
Jefferson include the review of its new Critical Areas Ordinance, the
proposed new in-stream flow rules for WRIA 17 and various local issues.  Jim
Boyer, the new chapter president, reports that the group will initially
concentrate its energies towards derailing a new roundabout project
<http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20071025/NEWS/710250303>  that
the City of Port Townsend is pushing despite the lack of public support and
its detrimental effects on a number of local businesses.  The group will
also be working on the new CAO in the hopes of bringing some sanity to the
regulation.

Jefferson Co. now has several excellent organizations working to benefit
property owners.  In addition to CAPR, Olympic Stewardship Foundation
<http://olysteward.org/>  provides education and support for owners who feel
that they are the real and better stewards of the land.  The Washington Farm
Bureau <http://www.wsfb.com/>  is another strong voice for landowners.  Also
available is the Bainbridge Citizens United <http://www.bainbridge.cc/>
group.

Once they get it up and running, the new chapter website will be at
www.CAPR-Jeffco.org <http://www.capr-jeffco.org/> .   For the moment,
however, they, like the other CAPR chapters are “a little busy”.


Another High Court Ruling for Property Rights!

The Washington Supreme Court has handed down another decision on the side of
property rights.  In the case of Biggers v. Bainbridge Island
<http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.showOpinion&filenam
e=771502MAJ> , the Court ruled that the City of Bainbridge Island unlawfully
imposed a multi-year moratorium on shoreline development permits.  The City
claimed it had authority to issue unlimited moratoria under the Shoreline
Management Act and the powers delegated to it under the Washington
Constitution.  In the majority opinion, signed by chief Justice Alexander
and Justices Sanders, Bridge and Chambers, Justice Jim Johnson wrote that
Bainbridge Island had “usurped” the State’s power and disregarded the
Washington Constitution, which explicitly provides that Washington’s
shorelines are regulated by the State.

Interestingly, the dissenting opinion, written by Justice Mary Fairhurst,
maintained that the City did not abuse its power and argued that the
Constitution grants local governments sweeping police powers.  Justices
Madsen, Owens and Charles Johnson signed the dissent.

While this decision does not have the far-reaching implications of the
recent Swinomish Tribal Council and Washington Environmental Council v.
Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board decision, the flow seems
to be going in the right direction.


Success for CAPR Property Rights Advocates

Many are aware of the more public face of CAPR.  Activities such as the
attempted referenda challenges to the King Co. CAO, involvement in the
Initiative 933 campaign and organization of the Seattle “Tractorcade” and,
currently, sitting in on Rob McKenna’s Eminent Domain Taskforce and the
court challenge of the King Co. Clearing and Grading Ordinance get noticed.
One can also rightly assume that there is a lot of “donkey” work going on
behind the scenes to keep the organization running.  Stuff like writing
reports, keeping the books balanced and staying legal with the State Public
Disclosure Commission never ends.  But there is an important side of CAPR of
which few are aware.

At any given time, CAPR Board members are busy working as advocates for
property owners who find themselves in a scrape with one or another
government jurisdiction.  Many times these people never had a thought that
what they were doing (or not) would be a problem.  Or they didn’t believe
that it should be.  Regardless, they need some help and turn to CAPR.

The lion’s share of this advocacy work is done by President Steve Hammond or
Vice-President Preston Drew, both being uniquely suited to the task.
Recently, two cases that have been in progress for a while (these things are
rarely quick) were brought to beneficial conclusions for the property
owners.

One of these cases involved Ray Burhen, a respected Snoqualmie Valley
resident, who stores a collection of vintage farm and logging equipment on
his property.  It was blight in King County’s eyes however, and the county
gave him an order to remove his collection.  Reasonably, he said “No”.  That
kicked off months of negotiation between Preston and the county.  In
October, with a nudge from King Co. Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, the County
backed off.

The other case involved Francis Mullen.  Mrs. Mullen is 75 years old and in
ill health.  If it wasn’t bad enough that her mobile home burned, the
situation was made worse when King Co. would not let her establish a new one
on the property due to the County’s “concern” that there was a second
trailer on the property.  Again, negotiations went back and forth for
months.  Keep in mind, old lady / ill health.  Finally, with the help of
King Co. Rural Ombudsman David Spohr, the situation was resolved by removal
of some plumbing in the second trailer.

With many cases resolved and others in the works, there is more here than
good deeds.  CAPR is constantly on the lookout for situations that are
“as-applied takings”.  In other words, situations where constitutionally
protected property rights have been abused.  This type of case is one of the
only ways that we can challenge our government when it abuses our property
rights.  In other words, we have to be able to show that “the crime” has
been committed so that we can challenge bad laws and rules.

If you know of, or think you are involved in a clear violation of
constitutional law and there are no extenuating circumstances and you have
the fortitude to stand your ground, CAPR will help fight the battle.  That
is one of the tasks of the CAPR Legal Fund.  The goal is to develop, or
“ripen” in the vernacular, these cases so that they can be handed off to one
of the larger public interest organizations that has the depth to fight the
battle to its proper outcome.  Contact CAPR at info at proprights.org
<mailto:info at proprights.org> .


Odds and Ends

Matching Contributions
If you work for a company, which adds matching funds to charitable
contributions, remember the CAPR Legal Fund.  All donations to the Legal
Fund are tax deductible and the additional contribution by your employer
makes leverages your contribution towards protecting your property rights.

Civil Rights Violation?
When your constitutionally protected property rights are taken, is that a
violation of your civil rights?  The answer is obvious.


Future File

Mark February 7, 2008 on your calendar.  That will be the date of the first
“Annual” CAPR Banquet.  The event will be held at Emerald Downs in Kent and
will feature a great meal with a lot of good people who support property
rights.  Our featured speaker will be Washington Attorney General Rob
McKenna.  Enjoy a great evening while you support CAPR!


CAPR Meeting Schedule

The next meeting of the King Co. chapter of CAPR will be held at 7:00 PM,
Thursday, December 6th.  The meeting site is the IHOP restaurant located at
1433 NW Sammamish Rd. in Issaquah.  Consider coming early for dinner and
conversation.



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


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.celestial.com/pipermail/capr-announce/attachments/20071129/d9b1c916/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 3011 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.celestial.com/pipermail/capr-announce/attachments/20071129/d9b1c916/attachment-0001.gif