Opinion ID: 2602508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Is the Cooper Point peninsula a rural area for the purpose of RCW 36.70A.110(4)?

Text: County contends, additionally, that RCW 36.70A.110(4)'s development restrictions do not prohibit the development of the proposed sewer line because the record clearly shows that the area intended to benefit from the four inch, limited capacity sewer line is not rural in nature. Pet. for Review at 10. The thrust of County's argument on this point is that because Tamoshan and Beverly Beach are quasi-urbanized pre-GMA communities that are located in an area that has since been designated rural, the statute is inapplicable since it only has application to governmental services ... in rural areas. RCW 36.70A.110(4). In support of its argument, County points out that although the Board applied RCW 36.70A.110(4)'s development restrictions, even it recognized that Tamoshan and Beverly Beach support `urban densit[ies].' Administrative Record (AR) at 949. As we have observed above, County, in accord with the GMA's rural designation provision, RCW 36.70A.070(5), specifically designated the Cooper Point peninsula, including Tamoshan and Beverly Beach, as rural when drafting its comprehensive plan. AR at 463. Although we believe that this is telling evidence that the area is rural for purposes of the GMA, the record also establishes that [f]uture land use [on Cooper Point] is anticipated to remain rural and residential in character. AR at 481. Indeed, the record shows that the nearest urban growth area (UGA) [5] is located significantly to the south of the area at issue and that there are no proposals to extend the UGA northward to include Cooper Point. It is also apparent from the record that the Cooper Point area has considerable open area where the natural vegetation has remained relatively undisturbed. This lack of encroachment on nature is a characteristic, according to the GMA, that is associated with a rural area where, among other things, open space, the natural landscape, and vegetation predominate over the built environment. RCW 36.70A.030(14)(a). Because the Cooper Point area has characteristics consistent with the GMA's definition of rural and has been designated rural within County's comprehensive plan, we conclude that it is rural within the meaning of the GMA. The record is sufficient, in sum, to show that the proposed sewer line constitutes an extension or an expansion of an urban governmental service into a rural area.