Court Opinion

ID: 9790774
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:59:20.744216+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:31.493712
License: Public Domain

Madsen, J.
(concurring in the dissent) — The majority goes awry in its analysis either because it failed to read the Pasco Municipal Code (PMC) or because it misreads this court’s decision in State ex rel. Standard Mining & Dev. Corp. v. Auburn, 82 Wn.2d 321, 510 P.2d 647 (1973). Whatever the source of confusion, the majority erroneously places the burden on the City of Pasco to justify its permit denial — an error which results in an improper reversal and remand.
The majority justifies its burden shifting because it says that the City of Pasco has no standards for approving or denying special use permits. This is exceedingly odd in light of PMC 22.80.060 which sets out specific standards for evaluating special use permits. See Dissent at 802. Either the majority simply failed to read the PMC, or it believes these specific standards are somehow irrelevant. Assuming the latter, a review of our decision in Standard Mining highlights, to the contrary, the significance of the guidelines of PMC 22.80.060.
In Standard Mining, the City of Auburn issued a special use permit which included several conditions. The property owner petitioned for a writ of certiorari to review the imposition of conditions, arguing that the permit requirement was invalid because the City ordinance itself did not specify standards to guide the Planning Commission and City Council in determining what conditions to impose. Standard Mining, 82 Wn.2d at 323. The trial court agreed and the City appealed. This court reversed, holding that specific standards relating to imposition of conditions are unnecessary if general standards, such as those contained in a comprehensive plan, indicate the purpose underlying the requirement of the special use permit. Standard Mining, 82 Wn.2d at 330.
*806In the case before us the City of Pasco has included specific considerations within its municipal code. Although they are directed toward the Planning Commission’s decision, the standards, nevertheless, reflect the City’s requirements for issuance of special use permits. In a departure from Standard Mining, the majority here apparently now requires that the City duplicate these standards and explicitly specify that they also apply to the City Council’s review of the Planning Commission’s initial determination. This view not only fails to recognize the general rule "that zoning ordinances should be liberally construed to accomplish their plain purpose and intent” but also assumes the City Council violated the purpose and intent manifest in the code. Standard Mining, 82 Wn.2d at 326.
Even more persuasive evidence that the majority errs is the fact that Sunderland does not argue that the City lacks appropriate standards. Rather, as the majority itself recognizes, Sunderland only argues that the City’s findings of fact are not supported by substantial evidence. Surely, if the City truly lacked any standards, the question before this court would be whether the permit denial was arbitrary and capricious and not whether substantial evidence supported the findings of fact. See Standard Mining, 82 Wn.2d at 327 n.3.
In the end, whether the permit denial in this case was proper or not is unimportant because Sunderland lost the funding for its proposed group home and it now has another use in mind. My concern, therefore, is not with the result but with the flawed analysis which erroneously places the burden of proof on the City in the face of specific standards contained in its code.
Guy, J., concurs with Madsen, J.