Articles

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 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 are ...

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Non-conforming use designations : “the new black” for bureaucrats?

October 19, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Regulation for its own sake only leads to more regulation.  Case in point:  Washington State’s land use scheme.  The state’s Growth Management Act was adopted in 1990 and 1991 to require all local governments to engage in land use planning by requiring them to adopt comprehensive plans and devel ...

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Washington Supreme Court sets conference date for PLF’s big buffer case

June 14, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Big buffers may be the easiest way for government to protect environmentally sensitive areas, but that does not mean they are necessary – let alone lawful.  Arguing that big buffers are necessary to assure that land use activities do not harm the environment is like arguing that government can decrease the … ...

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Washington Supreme Court denies request to review the constitutionality of big buffers

July 12, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier today, Washington’s Supreme Court denied PLF’s petition raising a facial challenge to the constitutionality of big, mandatory buffers in the case, Kitsap Alliance for Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board.  This case arises from Kitsap County’s adoption of a c ...

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Victories and unanswered questions in buffer appeal

July 27, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier today, the Kitsap Sun published an op-ed that I co-authored with Jackie Rossworn, executive director of Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners.  The op-ed highlights several property rights victories and important issues that remain unresolved after Washington’s Supreme Court declined to review the Kitsap Cou ...

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PLF asks U.S. Supreme Court to review big buffer case

October 11, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier today, PLF filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case, Kitsap Alliance for Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board.  The petition asks the Court to review a Washington appellate decision holding that a city or county can force … ...

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A musing on the destructive nature of government power

February 07, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

Good science fiction bends expectations in a way that encourages us to reexamine the way we think about things.  This morning, I finished Zero History, a noire thriller from science fiction great William Gibson (inventor of the term “cyberspace”).  While primarily focused on the tension between cutting edge and mainstream culture in a ...

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Constitutionality of Kitsap County’s shoreline buffers submitted to U.S. Supreme Court

March 05, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

PLF’s constitutional challenge to Washington state’s shoreline buffer scheme is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case, Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board (KAPO) , began over a half decade ago, when Kitsap County, acting under the mandate of Washington’s Growth Man ...