CHEVRON USA INC. v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Bd.

93 P.3d 880
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 2, 2004
Docket52196-9-I, 52367-8-I
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 93 P.3d 880 (CHEVRON USA INC. v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Bd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CHEVRON USA INC. v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Bd., 93 P.3d 880 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

93 P.3d 880 (2004)

CHEVRON U.S.A. INC., Appellant,
v.
CENTRAL PUGET SOUND GROWTH MANAGEMENT HEARINGS BOARD, an agency of the State of Washington; Town of Woodway, a municipal corporation of the State of Washington; and Snohomish County, a municipal corporation of the State of Washington; Respondents, and
City of Shoreline, a municipal corporation of the State of Washington, Respondent.
Snohomish County, Respondent,
v.
City of Shoreline, a municipal corporation of the State of Washington, Appellant,
Chevron U.S.A., Inc.; Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, an agency of the State of Washington, Respondents, and
Town of Woodway, Respondent.

Nos. 52196-9-I, 52367-8-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

June 1, 2004.
Publication Ordered July 2, 2004.

Andrew Sallas Lane, Snohomish County Atty. Office, Everett, for respondent County of Snohomish.

Scott Michael Missall, Thane D. Somerville, Seattle, for respondent Town of Woodway.

*881 Peter J. Eglick, Connie K. Haslam, Michael P. Witek, Seattle, for appellant Chevron.

Ian Richard Sievers, Samuel Wilmore Plauche, City of Shoreline Atty., Shoreline, for respondent City of Shoreline.

Martha Patricia Lantz, Office of the Atty. Gen., Olympia, for respondent Central Puget Sound.

GROSSE, J.

RCW 36.70A.100 requires that a city's comprehensive plan be "coordinated with, and consistent with," those of adjacent cities. Here, the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board (the Board) found that the Town of Woodway's comprehensive plan was inconsistent with the City of Shoreline's because each plan designated the same area of unincorporated land as a "potential annexation area." However, we can discern no reason in law or logic to conclude that Woodway's plan was inconsistent with Shoreline's simply because it designated the same area. We therefore reverse the Board's final decision and order, and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

1. Point Wells annexation plans

Point Wells is the last unincorporated area of land between the City of Shoreline in King County, and the Town of Woodway in Snohomish County. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., owns Point Wells. In 1998, Shoreline adopted a comprehensive plan under RCW 35.70A.040 that designated Point Wells as a potential annexation area, or "PAA." A King County countywide planning policy (CPP) holds that potential annexation areas "shall not overlap," and that each PAA "shall be specific to each city."[1]

In 2001, Woodway amended its comprehensive plan by adopting a Land Use Goal and five attendant Land Use Policies concerning Point Wells. One of these policies, Land Use Policy 19 (LUP-19), states:

Point Wells is a potential annexation area (PAA) for the Town of Woodway. Establish land use control, development plan review and impact mitigation in the PAA through an interlocal agreement with Snohomish County.

This was not the first time Woodway had expressed its intent toward Point Wells; both a 1993 Town Council resolution and an executive summary of Woodway's 1994 comprehensive plan amendments expressed Woodway's interest in someday annexing the area.

Shoreline responded to Woodway's 2001 comprehensive plan amendments by petitioning the Board to review the validity of LUP-19. Shoreline argued that LUP-19 violated the mandate of RCW 36.70A.100[2] that comprehensive plans be consistent with those of adjacent cities. Specifically, Shoreline asserted that it was inconsistent for the comprehensive plans of two adjacent cities to each designate the same area for potential annexation.

Woodway admitted to the Board that the plans were inconsistent, but it argued that Shoreline created the inconsistency by adopting its comprehensive plan when it knew that Woodway had a longstanding interest in Point Wells. Snohomish County intervened in the proceedings and argued that the two plans were not inconsistent under RCW 36.70A.100 because neither plan "thwarted" the other.

The Board rejected Snohomish County's argument, and concluded that Woodway and Shoreline designated Point Wells "with the same comprehensive plan policy designation (i.e., Potential Annexation Area)," and that Woodway's policy, LUP-19, "created the inconsistency with Shoreline's prior PAA designation." The Board characterized the two plans not as a benign overlap, but as an "explicit conflict," and stated, "It is difficult to imagine a more direct inconsistency between *882 the plans of two adjacent cities." Finally, the Board concluded that the most logical and equitable construction of RCW 36.70A.100 required Woodway to remove the inconsistency that it had created. Thus, the Board ordered Woodway to repeal or revise LUP-19.

Woodway joined in Snohomish County's appeal of the Board's decision to the Snohomish County Superior Court, which ruled in favor of Woodway and Snohomish County and remanded the matter to the Board for further proceedings. Shoreline then appealed to this court.

2. Notice of Woodway's proposed plan amendments

Woodway published notices in the Everett Herald of a November 1, 2000 Planning Commission hearing and a February 26, 2001 Town Council hearing related to Woodway's proposed 2001 comprehensive plan amendments. But Woodway did not mail these notices to Chevron, nor did it post any notices at Point Wells. Consequently, Chevron intervened in Shoreline's petition to the Board concerning Woodway's amendments, claiming that Woodway failed to provide for adequate public participation regarding the amendments. The Board declined to resolve Chevron's notice issue in light of its decision and order that Woodway repeal or revise LUP-19.

While Woodway and Snohomish County appealed the Board's decision to Snohomish County Superior Court, Chevron petitioned King County Superior Court to review the Board's decision not to resolve the notice issue. King County Superior Court, however, denied Chevron's petition after concluding that the Board's decision did not give rise to an appealable issue. Chevron subsequently filed this appeal, which we consolidated with Shoreline's.

DISCUSSION

1. Shoreline's appeal

Shoreline contends that the Snohomish County Superior Court erred when it reversed the Board's decision regarding Woodway's plan amendments. RCW 34.05.570(3) governs our review of this appeal.[3]

The Board's findings of fact, which recount several actions by the parties and reproduce portions of material documents, all pertain to matters of public record and are clearly supported by substantial evidence. But these findings do not support the Board's conclusions that LUP-19 violated RCW 36.70A.100 and that Woodway's adoption of LUP-19 was clearly erroneous.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 P.3d 880, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chevron-usa-inc-v-central-puget-sound-growth-management-hearings-bd-washctapp-2004.