[Capr-announce] CAPR News November 2008

[Jeff Wright]

CAPR NEWS

 

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM CITIZENS' ALLIANCE FOR PROPERTY RIGHTS


November, 2008

 

 

December Meeting of King Co. Chapter Goes Back to the IHOP

 

The Thursday, December 4th meeting of the King Co. Chapter of CAPR will be
held at the IHOP restaurant located at 1433 SW Sammamish Rd. in Issaquah.
This marks the return of the group to the IHOP, although possibly only
temporarily.  It has been popular but CAPR King Co. has been looking for a
site which is more conducive to the meeting but that also offers the good
meals at a reasonable price.  Please hang in there with us as we work on
this.

 

Our featured speaker this month will be Darren Greve from King Co. who will
speak about the County's "transfer of development rights" program with a
discussion to follow.  Come at 6:00 PM for dinner and conversation.  The
meeting will start at 7:00 PM.

 

 

Olympic Stewardship Foundation Prevails at Growth Board Hearing

 

Brian Hodges of Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) has secured another victory
for property rights in the case of Citizens Protecting Critical Areas and
Olympic Stewardship Foundation, et al v. Jefferson County.  On behalf of
Olympic Stewardship, Hodges challenged two parts of the Jefferson Co.
Critical Areas Ordinance before the Western Washington Growth Management
Hearings Board.  The Board ruled in favor of OSF on both points.

 

On the first point, the Board agreed with PLF that shoreline areas may only
be regulated by the Shoreline Management Act.  This ruling was obvious given
that the Washington Supreme Court has ruled similarly in two recent cases.
Note that Hodges supplied amicus briefs in both of those cases.

 

The second point was more involved.  When the Jefferson County rules were
rewritten, they included a section that regulates "channel migration zones"
(CMZ).  The rule said that anywhere a river or stream might move from its
current course in the next 100 years is a critical area and, hence, exclude
development.  In some areas, this meant that up to 4000 feet of property on
each side of a river would be specified as critical areas.  The County CMZ
maps cut through suburban areas and would have rendered them undevelopable.
The Board substantially agreed with PLF and has told Jefferson County to
rewrite its rules to bring them into compliance.

 

Even though the Board decided the case primarily on the County's lack of
scientific basis for its CMZ rules, PLF did not challenge the County's
"science".  Challenging science can be a legal black hole, worse than
disproving a negative.  Science as it relates to the natural world is easily
manipulated and when all it has to be is the "best available" science, as
mandated by the Growth Management Act, it is easily abused.  Hodges noted
that the CMZ rules are ripe for constitutional appeal.

 

The CMZ rules are an excellent illustration of how extreme
environmentalists, led by the Washington Environmental Council (WEC) took
over Critical Areas update process in Jefferson Co.  During that process,
WEC threatened court challenges which would have bankrupted the County if
WEC's input was not included.  Note that the current Director if the
Washington Department of Ecology, Jay Manning, was formerly the Director of
WEC.

 

Once again, we offer high praise to Brian Hodges and PLF.  He has worked
tirelessly (and overtime!) in defense of property rights and is racking up a
nice record of "wins".  It is satisfying to think what goes through the mind
of the opposition when they see that PLF is filing a challenge!

 

You can read a copy of the ruling at the Pacific Legal Foundation website,
<http://www.pacificlegal.org/> www.pacificlegal.org.  Visit the Olympic
Stewardship Foundation at   <http://www.olysteward.org/> www.olysteward.org.


 

 

DDES Code Enforcement Audit Released

 

On October 20, 2008, the King Co. Auditors Office delivered to the King Co.
Council, a performance audit of the Code Enforcement Section of the
Department of Development and Environmental Services.  The audit process was
started early in 2008 and included input from various stakeholder groups.
Among those groups was CAPR.  The King Co. Chapter of CAPR hosted two
auditors, who recorded comments from those attending its April meeting.
CAPR President Steve Hammond also provided input.  At that time, many CAPR
supporters questioned whether the Auditors would produce an honest report.
The answer to that question is "Yes".

 

While many who are familiar with the activities of the Code Enforcement
Section will say that the audit does not go far enough, it does contain a
number of blunt findings.  It offers eight recommendations for reform with
several of them containing multiple points.  Some the audit's specific and
telling findings include:

 

*        Most enforcement actions are complaint driven and some Code
Enforcement Officers (CEO) follow their own policy in regard to complainant
confidentiality.  (Page 16)

*        CEO's don't always include the actual code violation in their
violation notices to property owners. (Page 24)

*        Recommendation 4 calls for new policies and procedures for
confidentiality, scope of inspections and communications.  (Page 34)

*        21% of the violation files examined by the auditors were missing
key documentation including the initial violation notice.  (Page 41)

*        Many of the problems with Code Enforcement operations and
management controls that were cited in the 1990 and 1995 audits persist
today.  (Page 45)

*        Code Enforcement's Mission Statement does not fully reflect County
code.  (Page 48)

 

The audit was precipitated by complaints that certain CEO's (if not the
whole Section) were running rogue.  The bullet points above suggest how that
could have happened.  King Co. Executive Ron Sims has stated that he will
act on the audit's eight recommendations.  The citizens of King Co. will be
watching to see if that happens or if the responses to the 1990 and 1995
audits are repeated.

 

You can read the entire
<http://www.metrokc.gov/auditor/2008/CodeEnforRpt.pdf>  audit here. 

 

 

Odds and Ends

 

Donate to CAPR Online

You can now donate to CAPR online.  Go to  <http://www.capr.us/> www.capr.us
(same as proprights.org) and click on the DONATE tab.  Even as a volunteer
organization, the level of funding available determines what we can
accomplish in the fight to preserve and protect property rights.  Help us
help you.  Donate!     

 

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.

 

 

CAPR Meeting Schedule

 

Please see above.

 

 

Jeff Wright

Secretary, CAPR

E-mail:        jeff at proprights.org

 

 

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