Stanzel v. Pierce County

150 Wash. App. 835
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJune 16, 2009
DocketNo. 37697-1-II
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 150 Wash. App. 835 (Stanzel v. Pierce 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
Stanzel v. Pierce County, 150 Wash. App. 835 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Bridgewater, J.

¶1 The city of Puyallup (City) appeals the Pierce County Superior Court’s denial of its motion to dismiss Michael Stanzel’s land-use petition for failure to first exhaust his administrative remedies. The City further challenges the Pierce County Superior Court’s determination that the Pierce County hearing examiner had authority to order the City to provide water service and a water service availability letter to Stanzel. We affirm.

FACTS

¶2 Stanzel owns real property at 6224 114th Avenue Court East in Pierce County, Washington, that he calls the “church property.” Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) (June 20, 2007) at 31. The church property contains a church building, paintball fields, and a shed; it is zoned by Pierce County as mixed use development, or M.U.D. VRP (June 20, 2007) at 32, 56. Stanzel receives water service for the church property from the City because it sits within the City’s water distribution zone although it is outside the City’s corporate limits. The City classifies the service it provides to Stanzel as residential water service.

¶3 Stanzel sought to bring the building on the church property up to code so that he could use it for church services. He also intended to add a game room and to add restrooms to the facilities.1 In addition, Stanzel sought to upgrade the drain field on the property. Stanzel hired an engineer and submitted designs to the Pierce County Department of Health. Pierce County did not act on the submitted designs and related permit requests because Stanzel failed to provide Pierce County with a water availability letter from the City.

¶4 Stanzel went to the City’s utilities department and asked for a commercial water availability letter. Stanzel brought with him a June 25, 2004 letter describing his [839]*839request. He delivered the letter along with Pierce County’s water availability form and presented it to city employee Colleen Harris. Harris informed Stanzel that the City was no longer providing water availability letters for property outside its city limits. Harris asked Stanzel what he planned to do with the property, and he told her that it was really none of her business. Harris informed Stanzel that if he changed the property use from residential to commercial, the City would cut off his water service. Harris attempted to slide the letter back to Stanzel, stating that she would not accept it. Stanzel left the letter sitting on the counter in front of Harris.

¶5 On January 6, Stanzel returned to the utilities department and asked the City to stamp another letter because the City had not responded to his first letter. In response, Harris mailed Stanzel a copy of the Puyallup Municipal Code. Stanzel noted that the City had changed its code requirements, which now stated that the City would not provide fire flow or water availability letters unless there was an active annexation in the area and the property owner agreed to annexation. Stanzel testified that the property owners in the area, including the church property, had addressed the issue of annexation to the City in a recent election, ultimately deciding against annexation. Stanzel did not want to annex to the City.

¶6 Stanzel investigated other water service providers, including a water utility in nearby Edgewood. Edgewood informed Stanzel that it did not have distribution lines available to Stanzel’s property and that all water service agreements are filed with Pierce County per Washington code. Stanzel considered buying a fire flow tank for the church property, but he quickly discovered that a 90,000 gallon tank would cost over $80,000. In contrast, Stanzel’s water costs through the City ranged between $30 and $50 per month.

¶7 On August 9, Stanzel wrote another letter to the City again requesting water service, this time directed to Tom Heinecke. Again, the City did not respond.

[840]*840¶8 Stanzel brought a motion before the Pierce County hearing examiner as a part of a separate case involving one of Stanzel’s neighboring properties, a company named Plexus Investments, LLC, seeking an order that would compel the City to provide him with commercial water service and an availability letter. Over the City’s jurisdictional objections, the hearing examiner heard Stanzel’s case, while acknowledging that Stanzel did not go through the City’s normal dispute resolution process. The hearing examiner based the decision to hear Stanzel’s motion on the hearing examiner’s decision in the Plexus hearing, where the hearing examiner ruled that the Pierce County Code allowed property owners outside of the city limits to go directly to the hearing examiner to resolve disputes.

¶9 The hearing examiner heard Stanzel’s motion to compel, ultimately determining that the City’s preannexation requirement was unreasonable but denying Stanzel’s request because the hearing examiner lacked authority to compel the City to provide service. The hearing examiner noted that if he had authority, he would compel the City to provide service to Stanzel under these specific facts. But, the hearing examiner allowed Stanzel to seek alternative sources for water and/or to be removed from the City’s service area if desired.

¶10 On August 17, 2007, Stanzel filed a petition for judicial review under the Land Use Petition Act (LUPA), chapter 36.70C RCW, in superior court, requesting that the trial court direct the hearing examiner to compel the City to provide his requested water service and related availability letter. The City moved to dismiss Stanzel’s petition, arguing that he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies and therefore lacked standing. Specifically, the City claimed that Stanzel failed to submit an application to the City, failed to pay the City’s application fee, failed to submit to a review and approval process before the city council, and failed to seek redress from the City’s hearing examiner. The trial court denied the City’s motion to dismiss. The trial court reasoned that the Puyallup Municipal Code should be [841]*841strictly construed and, accordingly, applied only to new connections or extensions. Otherwise, the trial court reasoned, Stanzel would have to start from scratch with the City.

¶11 Ultimately, the trial court granted Stanzel’s petition and reversed the hearing examiner, ruling that the hearing examiner did have statutory authority to compel the City to provide water service to Stanzel’s church property based on the facts of this case. The trial court conditioned its decision on Stanzel meeting the “usual permitting and informational requirements of any applicant for comparable water service within the City.” Clerk’s Papers at 119. The trial court also required that Stanzel cooperate and supply detailed plans for his intended project to the City. The City appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. Failure To Exhaust Administrative Remedies

¶12 The City contends that the trial court erred when it denied the City’s motion to dismiss Stanzel’s LUPA petition for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Under LUPA, we stand “ ‘in the shoes of the superior court’ ” and limit our review to the hearing examiner’s record. Abbey Rd. Group, LLC v. City of Bonney Lake, 141 Wn. App. 184, 192, 167 P.3d 1213 (2007) (quoting Pavlina v. City of Vancouver, 122 Wn. App. 520, 525, 94 P.3d 366 (2004)),

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
150 Wash. App. 835, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanzel-v-pierce-county-washctapp-2009.