OPINION PART ONE: "Moving Redmond Forward" on Land Use Appeal Decisions

KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT

Kirkland, Bellevue, Sammamish, Issaquah, Woodinville, Mercer Island, Seattle, Edmonds, Everett all use the King County Superior Court land use appeals. Redmond still uses City Council for land use appeals.

According to Rob Odle, Redmond Planning and Development Director, in the mid-90's, most cities abandoned the council Q-J land use appeal process for appeals by the King County Superior Court.

OPINION UPDATED, 5/17, Opinion: "Moving Redmond Forward" was Mayor John Marchione's #1 campaign slogan when he was running for office two years ago. John has been living up to his promise, unfortunately not the Council majority. The Council "majority" just moved Redmond two steps back during a conversation on Land Use Appeal Decision process in their last council meeting.

The council majority of David Carson, Richard Cole, Pat Vache' and Hank Myers took a straw vote, tallied by Carson, to keep their dated "quasi-judicial role" for preliminary plats. The quasi-judicial (q-j) role gives Council powerful legal and legislative appeal authority over a city-designated land use attorney's decision. (Hearing Examiner.)

After hours of deliberation in two Committee meetings last year, Councilmembers Hank Margeson and Kimberly Allen offered reasons to move our city forward in utilizing the King County Superior Court rather than keeping Council for land use appeals. Only Redmond and Bothell rely on Council for initial appeal decisions in our area. Below are reasons for moving forward:

• Redmond's present appeal process requires Council by law to thoroughly review every page, document, and blueprint in the Hearing Examiner's file for accuracy beyond reasonable doubt.
• Council is not legally qualified, nor has the time, to thoroughly review the Examiner's file for inaccuracies.
• Society is more litigious and will challenge Council's ability to craft a correct Record. The City is liable and vulnerable to expensive, drawn-out lawsuits by appellants and landowners.
• During land use decisions, which can take over a year, citizens are not allowed to communicate with their councilmembers about the project. When legislative mistakes of interpreting Land Use Code are made, Council cannot fix the problem up-front, by mediation, or in a pre-hearing meeting. Participation, citizen/landowner engagement, and transparency are severely limited by a WALL between the People and their Representatives.

The land use decisions subject to council's Q-J appeal process are called "Preliminary Plats". Some examples of Preliminary Plat appeals in Redmond gone a muck are: CAMWEST'S Perrigo Heights, CAMWEST'S Pearce, Shauhanessy, and CAMWEST'S Tyler Creek - all of which were strung out by Council's legal and legislative interpretations of a poorly crafted Examiner Record.

PART TWO, 5/20/09, "Thoughts on Redmond's Land Use Appeal Policy"
PART THREE: on "Moving Redmond Forward on Land Use Appeal Decisions" will focus on significant Preliminary Plat mistakes and unintended consequences from Redmond's Q-J process.
Chair Margeson's Planning and Public Works Committee meeting, 11/08
Chair Margeson's Planning and Public Works Committee meeting, 07/08