Court Opinion

ID: 9633781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:59:43.801482+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:42.050066
License: Public Domain

Brachtenbach, J.
(concurring)—I concur with the majority and write separately to emphasize that this is a very narrow decision, factually and legally.
The majority correctly states that the record is devoid of factual or legal basis for the conditions imposed upon the building permit. Majority, at 581. Despite this lack of any justification for imposing conditions, the County blithely refers to these deficiencies as "minor procedural errors." Brief of Petitioners, at 8.
To appreciate the limited extent of our holding, it is necessary to consider the action of the County. After review of *583the record, which the County certified as the complete record, the trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law. Clerk's Papers, at 5-9. In essence, the court held that the County had no zoning, land use or environmental ordinances governing the issuance of building permits with environmental mitigation conditions. The trial court found a total lack of standards, objective or otherwise, upon which the County could or did rely. The trial court entered judgment directing issuance of a building permit without conditions. Clerk's Papers, at 4.
What did the County appeal? Its brief is startling to say the least. The County makes NO assignment of error. It does not assign error to the findings of fact, conclusions of law, or the judgment. At the end of its brief the County merely states that it "necessarily takes exception" to six findings of fact. The whole brief violates the explicit requirements of appellate procedure. RAP 10.3(a)(3), 10.4(c).
In its brief the County asserts that the record supports compliance with its ordinance, but that brief contains only one citation to the "record", and that reference is to the first page of its trial brief. Brief of Petitioners, at 1, 9. There is no citation in the County's brief to the trial court record.
The County's position in the trial court and in its brief in the Court of Appeals was that it had the legal authority to condition the permit as it did. The trial court held that the County lacked legal authority; the Court of Appeals affirmed. In both courts the County wanted affirmance of the administrative actions it already had taken. After losing in both courts the County now wants the matter to go back to the County Commissioners so that it can start over. It now asks a second opportunity after insisting all the time that it was proceeding properly. On this record the County is not entitled to still another attempt to correct the law and facts when it was in charge of that law and those facts from the outset.
*584There is another disturbing aspect to the County's effort to resurrect a lost cause. Nagatani Bros., Inc. v. Skagit Cy. Bd. of Comm'rs, 108 Wn.2d 477, 739 P.2d 696 (1987) was filed July 16, 1987. The County's brief in the Court of Appeals was filed February 22, 1988, 7 months later. That brief never cites Nagatani despite its obvious relevance, and despite the fact that plaintiffs had called it to the attention of the trial court in a supplemental brief. The plaintiffs' brief in the Court of Appeals relied heavily upon Nagatani, citing it 10 times. The County filed no reply brief. In its petition for review the County still persists in ignoring Nagatani.
Finally, this case is distinguishable from Cougar Mt. Assocs. v. King Cy., 111 Wn.2d 742, 765 P.2d 264 (1988), where procedural errors, rather than lack of legal authority, justified remand for further consideration.
Callow, J. Pro Tern., concurs with Brachtenbach, J.