Moore v Whitman County :: 143 Wn2d 96
Category: Land Use and Property Rights
When the Legislature enacted the Growth Management Act (GMA) they established three review boards (Board). The Eastern and Western boards had jurisdictional boundaries within their respective sides of the State that included “all counties that are required to or choose to plan under RCW 36.70A.040.” [At 100]. Under the statute, Whitman County was not required to plan, nor did they choose to. The Moores had sued the county to conform to the critical areas requirement of the GMA. The trial court upheld the decision of the Board. The Supreme Court reversed it.
The Court argued, “If we apply RCW 36.70A.250 as written—without “construing” it—this court can come to no other conclusion but that the Legislature intended to limit the jurisdiction of the boards to those counties which plan.” [At 101]. In his dissent, Talmadge calls this straight explanation of the plain wording a “strained interpretation.” [At 105].
His arguments focus on protecting the environment not protecting the law. He argued the trial judge was correct when deciding the “Board’s allowance of an existing use exemption to the critical areas mandate of the Act was error.” [At 107]. In other words, he claimed the Board decision that confirmed the county must designate critical areas but permitted the county to allow existing uses (farms) within those areas was wrong. Whitman County is more than ninety-five percent farmland (at 99). He further contends, “The majority today deprives these sensitive areas of any real protection by gutting the Board’s authority.” [At 115]. Only a college or trial lawyer groupie could conceive the notion that farming is hazardous to critical areas and that without the oversight of bureaucrats and attorneys, our farmers will decimate the ecology.
Rating the Usual Suspects:
| pass | Alexander, Gerry | |
| pass | Bridge, Bobbe | |
| pass | Guy, Richard | |
| pass | Ireland, Faith | |
| pass | Johnson, Charles | |
| pass | Kaufman, James | |
| pass | Madsen, Barbara | |
| pass | Sanders, Richard | |
| pass | Shirley, Ronald | |
| pass | Smith, Charles | |
| fail | Copsey, Alan | |
| fail | Gregoire, Christine | |
| fail | McPhee, William Thomas | |
| fail | Reynolds, Dawn | |
| fail | Smitch, Marjorie | |
| fail | Talmadge, Phil |