Supreme Court Upholds Futurewise Challenge

The Washington Supreme Court today released a decision in the case of Gold Star Resorts v. Futurewise, which involved challenges by Futurewise to Whatcom County’s policies related to intense development in rural areas of the County.

“The Supreme Court’s decision in this case affirms that local jurisdictions must limit intense urban-type development in rural areas of this state,” said Futurewise Legal Director Robert A. Beattey, “we are very pleased with the outcome of the case and really appreciate the work of Ken Lederman, the lead attorney in the case.”   “This decision affirms the wisdom of the people of Washington in adopting the GMA to ensure that this amazing state is not converted to a bleak landscape of strip malls and sprawl,” Beattey continued.

The challenge involved the County’s treatment of limited areas of more intensive rural development (LAMIRDs).  Under the state’s Growth Management Act (GMA), local jurisdictions are instructed to focus urban-type growth away from rural areas, but the Act allows a limited exception for intense development in rural areas which already existed as of July 1, 1990, calling those areas LAMIRDs.  The County’s 1997 comprehensive plan allowed intense rural uses beyond those that existed in 1990.  When the County undertook a review of those permissive provisions in 2005 but failed to make them comply with the GMA, Futurewise filed a successful challenge with a state administrative agency.

Futurewise’s win was appealed through the Superior Court and Court of Appeals, and then to the Supreme Court where the developer and the Bellevue-based special interest group Pacific Legal Foundation argued that the County should not have to comply with LAMIRD provision because they were incorporated into GMA after the County’s 1997 regulations which were not changed in the 2005 review.