Articles

Rank, rotten, and foul! Kitsap County’s prosecutor uses shoreline buffers to make sure his neighbor can’t build his home

December 14, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brian T. Hodges To borrow from Shakespeare, something is rotten in the County of Kitsap.  The County’s elected prosecutor is living the American dream.  He has a fully developed waterfront property with a large home set back approximately 50 feet from his bulkheaded shoreline.  In other words, the prosecutor’s ...

Articles

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 … ...

Articles

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 ...

Articles

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 ...

Articles

U.S. Supreme Court declines review of PLF’s big buffer case

March 26, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied PLF’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the case, Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board.  The petition asked the Court to consider whether a Kitsap County regulation requiring that shoreline property owners who seek building permits dedicate ...

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What we won in Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners

April 06, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied PLF’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the case, Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board – a case that challenged Kitsap County’s adoption of regulations that require shoreline property owners who seek building permits to dedicate signific ...

Articles

Kitsap County rejects non-conforming use designation for shoreline homes

February 05, 2013 | By BRIAN HODGES

For nearly a decade, PLF was locked in litigation with Kitsap County over its critical areas ordinance.  Although the ordinance was ultimately upheld, we scored quite a few wins along the way. One of those wins may have turned the tide on a growing trend among local governments of addressing conflicts between homes and newly … ...