[Capr-announce] CAPR News October 2008

[Jeff Wright]

CAPR NEWS

 

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM CITIZENS' ALLIANCE FOR PROPERTY RIGHTS


October, 2008

 

 

VOTE!

 

CAPR has endorsed the following candidates in their bids for election, or
reelection, in the November 4th election.  We urge you to cast your vote in
their favor also.  Of special note are the San Juan County Council
candidates.  These individuals are working closely with Frank Penwell and
the rest of the CAPR San Juan Chapter to bring sanity to that County's CAO
process.

 

Governor                                        Dino Rossi

 

Attorney General                          Rob McKenna

 

San Juan County Council

 

          District 1                                Gordy Petersen

          District 3                                Fay Chaffee

          District 4                                Richard Fralick

 

State Legislature

 

          21st District                           Andrew Funk

          30th District                           Michael Thompson

          31st District                            Dan Roach

          31st District                           Sharon Hanek

          32nd District                           Alex Rion

          45th District                           Toby Nixon

 

U. S. House of Representatives

 

          3rd Cong. District                 Michael Delaver

          5th Cong. District                 Cathy McMorris Rodgers

          6th Cong. District                 Doug McCloud

          9th Cong. District                 James Postma

 

 

Supreme Court Strikes GMA Growth Board Ruling (AGAIN)

 

The Washington Supreme Court has once again over-ruled a Growth Management
Hearings Board (GMHB).  The case, City
<http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.disp&filename=803951MAJ>  of
Arlington v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, fits the
pattern of other GMHB decisions that have been thrown out by the courts.

 

This particular case involved land which the City of Arlington rezoned, by
request (and appeal), from agricultural to urban commercial.  Much of the
land was a dairy farm until the construction of Interstate 5 at State Route
530 split the farm in to two sections causing the dairy operation to fail.
The owners then tried crops but found that the taxes were more than the crop
income and called it quits.  The area has not been farmed since.

 

The case has taken a tortured path, starting with a landowners request for a
rezone compliant with the Growth Management Act (GMA) and then through the
GMHB, Superior Court, GMHB, Appeals Court, GMHB and, finally, the Supreme
Court.  However, all of this is just subtext to the larger issue at point
here.

 

Both the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court found that the City "used
discretion" and did not "commit clear error" in its decision.  Barring proof
of these, a GMHB has no case under the GMA.  We have seen this scenario over
and over on the part of the GMHB's around the state.

 

Also consistent with previous cases, this GMHB pressed its vision of the
GMA.  The Central Puget Sound Board has been very aggressive at this.  To
illustrate that point, when the Appeals Court very clearly and forcefully
told the GMBH to rework its decision, the Board essentially ignored the
order.  Finally, feeling that it couldn't say it any better, the Supreme
Court ruled by using the Appeals Court's ruling as the final word.  If that
wasn't castor oil for the GMHB, well.

 

One would hope that the continuing and consistent corrections of GMBH
decisions would bring the Boards into line with the intent of the GMA.  But
given the aggressiveness we've seen, a change of faces is more likely the
only cure.      

 

 

October Meeting of King Co. Chapter at New Location

 

The Thursday, November 6th meeting of the King Co. Chapter of CAPR will be
at Gibson Hall located at 105 Newport Way in Issaquah rather than at our
previous IHOP restaurant location.    Some of you might recognize Gibson
Hall as the Issaquah Kiwanis Club meeting place.

 

Pizza, salad and drinks will be available for a donation for those who want
to arrive ahead and get something to eat.  Things will get going at 6:00 PM
with the meeting at 7:00

 

For more information about Gibson Hall, including a map locator, click here
<http://www.issaquah.kiwanis.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.

 

 

CAPR Meeting Schedule

 

Please see above.

 

 

Jeff Wright

Secretary, CAPR

E-mail:        jeff at proprights.org

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/private/capr-announce/attachments/20081016/e0d3f36d/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 7958 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/private/capr-announce/attachments/20081016/e0d3f36d/attachment-0001.jpe