Like deja-vu all over again: PLF to re-argue Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners

October 05, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges

P1010134 (2) This Thursday, October 7, 2010, at 10:00 a.m., Division II of Washington’s Court of Appeals will hear remand arguments in Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Board.  This case started over 5 years ago, when Kitsap County declared all shoreline properties “critical areas.”  Based on its declaration, the County forced all shoreline property owners to dedicate portions of their private property as “undisturbed natural vegetation areas” as a condition to obtaining a development permit. 

PLF challenged the County’s land grab on behalf of local property owners, arguing that the County lacked authority to regulate the shorelines and that the buffer conditions violated fundamental property rights.  The Court agreed that the County lacked jurisdiction over shorelines in a 2009 decision.  But earlier this year, the Legislature retroactively amended two state statutes to allow local governments to adopt shoreline regulations.  Now the case is back before the Court of Appeals to determine the effect of that retroactive change to the law (which I discussed in a previous post) and whether the buffer conditions violate the rights of shoreline property owners. 

For more information on this case, please visit our website.