James Chumbley v. Snohomish County

386 P.3d 306, 197 Wash. App. 346
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedDecember 27, 2016
Docket74528-0-I
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 386 P.3d 306 (James Chumbley v. Snohomish County) 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
James Chumbley v. Snohomish County, 386 P.3d 306, 197 Wash. App. 346 (Wash. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Becker, J.

¶1 Steep bluffs rise above the railroad tracks that run along the shoreline between Edmonds and Mukilteo. A developer built a residence on an upland lot and began to install an approved sewage disposal system on two *349 hillside lots below. While grading the hillside for the drain field, the installer struck a spring and caused seepage to flow down the slope and into a private driveway. The railroad and neighboring homeowners sued to stop the use of the sewage disposal system pending further engineering analysis. They alleged that grading had occurred on the hillside lots without enforcement of Snohomish County ordinances regulating the disturbance of land in landslide hazard areas. The trial court dismissed the action as an untimely land use petition that should have been brought months earlier when the sewage system was approved and the building permit was issued.

¶2 The dismissal was a misapplication of Samuel’s Furniture, Inc. v. Department of Ecology, 147 Wn.2d 440, 54 P.3d 1194, 63 P.3d 764 (2002). The county has an independent and ongoing responsibility to regulate grading on steep slopes. That responsibility is not discharged or preempted when a health district approves a sewage system for placement on a slope. Because this action was timely filed within 21 days of the county’s final decision that a permit to grade the hillside lots was not required, we reverse and remand for reinstatement of the complaint.

CHRONOLOGY

¶3 In 2014, respondents Jake Begis and his company, Begis Building Inc. (“Begis”), made plans to build a single family residence at 11706 Marine View Drive, Edmonds, Washington. The Marine View Drive address for the residence Begis planned is on an upland lot numbered 36.

¶4 To begin the project, Begis had to get permission from two distinct governmental entities. He needed to get a building permit from the Snohomish County Department of Planning and Development Services (“County Planning”). County Planning administers the Snohomish County Unified Development Code, Title 30 of the Snohomish County Code (SCC). When application is made for construction on a *350 parcel of land not served by a public sanitary sewer system, County Planning may not issue a building permit “without prior approval from the Snohomish Health District of an approved means of waste disposal.” SCC 30.50.104(2). Because lot 36 is not served by a public sewer, Begis also needed an approval from the Snohomish Health District, an independent special purpose district. The Health District regulates location, design, operation, maintenance, and monitoring of on-site sewage systems in the county under rules adopted by the State Board of Health. RCW 43.20-.050(3); WAC 246-272A-000K2); see Snohomish Health District Sanitary Code chs. 8.1, 8.5, 8.6.

¶5 On August 11, 2014, Begis applied to the Health District for an on-site sewage disposal permit. Clerk’s Papers at 236. Begis applied for a permit for what is referred to as an “on-site” system even though the drain field was, in a sense, off-site; that is, it was not going to be on lot 36 with the residence. 1 As would later become clear in the course of the Health District’s review, see Clerk’s Papers at 411-13, 426, 453, the application proposed to pipe the septic effluent down the street, across an easement over a neighbor’s property, and downhill to two vacant lots Begis owns on the bluff facing west. These hillside lots are numbered 60 and 61. They are located above the north-south line of tracks for respondent Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and homes on the west side of Possession Lane.

¶6 On December 2, 2014, Begis applied to County Planning for a building permit to build the residence on lot 36. Clerk’s Papers at 691. The building permit application did not mention lots 60 and 61. And it did not mention the plan for building a septic drain field on the hillside below the residence.

*351 ¶7 On the same date, Begis applied to County Planning for a land disturbing activity permit for the construction of the residence on lot 36. Clerk’s Papers at 222. The reason for this application was that County Planning, in addition to being in charge of issuing building permits under SCC 30.50.104, has additional responsibilities under two other chapters: Land Disturbing Activity, chapter 30.63B SCC, and Geologically Hazardous Areas, chapter 30.62B SCC. These are among the ordinances the county enacted to fulfill the mandate of the Growth Management Act, chapter 36.70A RCW, for the adoption of development regulations to protect critical areas, which include geologically hazardous areas. RCW 36.70A.060(2), .030(5); SCC 30.10.080. Before the commencement of any nonexempt land disturbing activity as defined in SCC 30.91L.025, a land disturbing activity permit must be obtained from County Planning. SCC 30.63B.030. A land disturbing activity permit will not be issued unless there has been review under the State Environmental Policy Act, chapter 43.21C RCW, if applicable. SCC 30.63B.050(l)(g). In geologically hazardous areas, including landslide hazard areas, development activity may not occur without permission from County Planning, conditioned on submission of a site development plan, a geotechnical report, and approval of a critical area site plan. SCC 30.62B.130, .140, .160.

¶8 The application for a land disturbing activity permit had a number linking it to the building permit application for lot 36. The application described the project as a single family residence on lot 36 with an “off site septic system.” It did not mention lots 60 and 61 as the proposed location for the septic system. Clerk’s Papers at 222. Begis did not separately apply for a land disturbing activity permit for lots 60 and 61, even though he planned to use them as the site of the drain field for the sewage system.

¶9 Lot 36 was designated as a critical area because of its proximity to steep slopes. Clerk’s Papers at 230; see SCC 30.91C.340(5)(b). County Planning reviewed the drainage *352 plan and storm water site plan and required submission of a critical area site plan. See generally SCC 30.62B.030-.160. Comments by County Planning were concerned solely with lot 36. Clerk’s Papers at 230. Presumably, the same review would have been conducted for lots 60 and 61 if an application had been submitted for those lots. With slopes greater than 33 percent, lots 60 and 61 are also in an area designated as a critical area because of the history and risk of landslide hazard. Clerk’s Papers at 293, 296, 453.

¶10 On December 15, 2014, the Health District disapproved the application for an on-site sewage disposal permit, noting that the area along Possession Lane had been subject to previous landslides.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
386 P.3d 306, 197 Wash. App. 346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-chumbley-v-snohomish-county-washctapp-2016.