Wells v. Whatcom County Water Dist. No. 10

19 P.3d 453
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 5, 2001
Docket47262-3-I
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 19 P.3d 453 (Wells v. Whatcom County Water Dist. No. 10) 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
Wells v. Whatcom County Water Dist. No. 10, 19 P.3d 453 (Wash. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

19 P.3d 453 (2001)
105 Wash.App. 143

Sherilyn WELLS and Watershed Defense Fund, Respondents/Cross-Appellants,
v.
WHATCOM COUNTY WATER DISTRICT NO. 10, Whatcom County and Sudden Valley Community Association, Appellants/Cross-Respondents.

No. 47262-3-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

March 5, 2001.

*454 Richard L. Settle, Foster Peppr & Shefelman, Seattle, Brian L. Hansen, Resick Hansen & Follis, Bellingham, for Whatcom County Water Dist.

Karen Frakes, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Bellingham, for Whatcom County.

Mark Lee, Bellingham, for Sudden Valley Community Ass'n.

Sherilyn Wells, Bellingham, pro se.

Roger Ellingson, Blaine, for Watershed Defense Fund.

AGID, C.J.

After a county hearing examiner approved a conditional use permit (CUP) for a sewer interceptor near Lake Whatcom, opponents of the project filed a land use petition in superior court. They raised numerous issues. Of those, the trial court agreed that the examiner erred by refusing to require a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) before approving the CUP and by considering the vested rights of property owners and related constitutional takings issues. The trial court remanded to the agency level for completion of an SEIS and reconsideration of the CUP, and ordered the examiner to disregard any property rights or takings issues. We hold that the examiner was correct when he rejected as untimely the opponents' request for an SEIS and that his consideration of the property owners' interests was not improper. We therefore reverse the trial court and reinstate the hearing examiner's decision approving the CUP.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The parties involved in this appeal are: Whatcom County Water District No. 10 (the District); the Sudden Valley Community Association (SVCA); Sherilyn Wells; and the Watershed Defense Fund (WDF). The District was established in 1968 and provides water and sewer service to portions of the Lake Whatcom (the Lake) watershed, including the Sudden Valley and Geneva subdivisions southwest of the Lake. SVCA is the homeowners association for Sudden Valley lot owners. Wells is an individual property owner in the Lake's watershed area. WDF is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

The Lake is the District's sole source of drinking water. In 1971, the District constructed a sewage interceptor along Lake Whatcom Boulevard to convey sewage out of the Lake's watershed to Bellingham's sewage treatment facility. The interceptor was designed to provide adequate capacity for the first 20 years of development in the area. The District anticipated it would need a second interceptor by the early 1990s as existing platted lots were developed.

*455 As expected, the first interceptor approached capacity about 10 years ago, causing the rate of sewage overflows to increase during rainy periods when stormwater infiltrated the sanitary sewer system. As a result, the first interceptor could no longer adequately accommodate existing development or new homes, and the only sewage treatment option for newly-constructed residences was individual septic systems. In 1992, the District adopted a moratorium on new sewer service, thus precluding property owners from building homes on lots that had been approved for residential construction many years earlier.

In 1991, the District adopted a comprehensive plan to provide additional sewer capacity by constructing, in accordance with the Shoreline Management Act, a second interceptor parallel to the existing one along Lake Whatcom Boulevard.[1] According to the District, the second interceptor "would provide the capacity necessary to avoid sewage overflows from the existing interceptor, extend service to homes presently on septic systems, and serve new homes on existing lots." Wells and others opposed the District's application for a shoreline permit, arguing that an alternative location along Lake Louise Road was preferable for the new interceptor.[2] Their efforts were ultimately successful.[3] Pending final disposition of the legal challenges, the District began contingency planning for an interceptor along Lake Louise Road.[4]

After the Lake Whatcom Boulevard site litigation concluded, the District held public hearings and, in a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) completed in September 1997, considered the environmental impacts of and all reasonable alternatives to installing the interceptor along Lake Louise Road.[5] Wells and WDF challenged the FEIS before the District's Board of Commissioners, but after an evidentiary administrative hearing, the Board approved it on November 6, 1997. Neither Wells nor WDF appealed the Board's decision to court. The District subsequently issued and published a Notice of Action, as authorized by the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), RCW 43.21C.080, giving notice that the agency was proceeding with its efforts to provide "conveyance, storage, and/or treatment capacity for wastewater flows on the south shore of Lake Whatcom ... in accordance with the [FEIS]."

The District then submitted a CUP application to Whatcom County for the interceptor along Lake Louise Road. A Whatcom County Hearing Examiner granted the permit with conditions in November 1998. Wells appealed that decision to the Whatcom County Council, which affirmed it in March 1999. Wells and WDF then appealed the permit decision under the Land Use Petition Act (LUPA) in Skagit County Superior Court,[6] raising numerous claims including the adequacy of the environmental review done for the project.

The trial court ultimately dismissed or rejected the majority of the petitioners' claims, but ruled in favor of Wells and WDF on the SEIS and property owner issues mentioned above. After the court entered its remand order, the District and the SVCA petitioned the Supreme Court for direct review. The petition was denied and the case transferred to this court. Wells and WDF cross-appeal, *456 contending the hearing examiner erred on multiple grounds.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

Judicial review of land use decisions is governed by LUPA, RCW 36.70C. A court may grant relief only if the party seeking relief establishes that at least one of the standards delineated in RCW 36.70C.130(1) has been met.[7] We stand in the shoes of the superior court and review the hearing examiner's action de novo on the basis of the administrative record.[8] The proper focus of our inquiry is therefore the examiner's rejection of the SEIS request and approval of the CUP, rather than the trial court's decision.

Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

We affirm the hearing examiner's ruling rejecting the SEPA/EIS argument for two reasons. First, the information Wells and WDF rely on to argue that the District must prepare an SEIS does not qualify as "new information" under the SEPA regulations. Second, to the extent Wells and WDF are attacking the adequacy of the FEIS, their challenge is untimely under SEPA because they failed to file a LUPA petition within the time allowed by RCW 43.21C.080.

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Bluebook (online)
19 P.3d 453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wells-v-whatcom-county-water-dist-no-10-washctapp-2001.