Court Opinion

ID: 9794151
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:00:25.689298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:12:33.888697
License: Public Domain

Baker, A.C.J.
(dissenting) — I respectfully dissent. The subject property was a single parcel zoned to permit low rise apartments. It contained a single-story, dilapidated house *165near the lakeshore. It is owned by a developer, Ainslie, who approached the City of Seattle (City) seeking permission to build three additional houses on the parcel, then to short plat the parcel and sell the separate lots and houses.
The City correctly pointed out that under its Shoreline Master Program it could not allow the project to proceed in that manner. This was because the City’s Shoreline Master Program prohibits locating residences on waterfront lots further waterward than adjacent residences. Seattle Municipal Code 23.60.198(B)(1). Because the land parcel is a waterfront lot, and the proposal to build the additional houses involved locating one of the new structures further water-ward than a neighboring adjacent house (Batchelder’s), Ain-slie could not proceed in the manner contemplated without applying for a variance, which, under the stringent requirements applicable to such variances, would likely not be granted.
There was, however, a method of accomplishing the same desired result, suggested the City, if only Ainslie would first short plat the parcel. Then the separate lots could be considered separately, the old, dilapidated structure which is nonconforming because it is situated too close to the water’s edge could be treated as an adjacent residence, and the additional houses could be built as proposed. Ainslie agreed, and the City proceeded accordingly.
It is difficult to imagine a clearer example of a local jurisdiction sequencing its review of a project so as to lead to a particular result. By segmenting its approval, not its consideration of the project as the majority opinion erroneously focuses upon, the City ensured the issuance of a shoreline substantial development permit. The permit could only issue if the City segmented the review process so as to render its short plat decision independently of, and prior to, the decision on the shoreline permit.
The majority readily accepts this procedure. I do not, because it violates the basic holding of Merkel v. Port of Brownsville, 8 Wn. App. 844, 509 P.2d 390 (1973): a single project must not be artificially compartmentalized by a local jurisdiction in *166its review procedures so as to avoid applicability of the Shoreline Management Act of 1971.
I disagree with the majority opinion on another point. One of the principal goals of the City’s Shoreline Master Program is to preserve and enhance views of the shoreline and water from upland areas. Resolution 25173(B)(2). The basic purpose of the setback requirement is to protect against encroachment on lateral views, principally of the shoreline.
The primary view from the Batchelder property is a shoreline view overlooking an undeveloped, publicly owned marsh. By denigrating the significance of the view blockage which will result from this project because that view is only of a wetland, the majority of the Shorelines Hearings Board relegated such wetlands and the views thereof to minor or incidental importance.
In my opinion, the City’s Shoreline Master Program should be interpreted in a manner consistent with the policies of the Shoreline Management Act of 1971. The goals and policies adopted pursuant to that act clearly provide for preservation and enhancement of views of the shoreline as well as open water.
The decision of the Shorelines Hearings Board should be reversed.
Reconsideration denied April 18, 1995.
Review denied at 127 Wn.2d 1022 (1995).