King County Superior Court Judge Kimberley Prochnau could rule this week on the dispute between the city of Kent and a developer about whether the developer should be allowed to build six homes on the shores of Lake Meridian.
After a 2 1/2-hour land-use appeal hearing Nov. 25, Prochnau said she plans to issue her written findings and orders by Dec. 5.
Prochnau could rule to allow the homes to be built, rule against construction of the homes, send the issue back to the city for further consideration or come up with an alternative order.
“There’s much work to be done,” Prochnau said at the hearing at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center.
Developer Bill Floten filed an appeal with the court to remove the conditions of the plat approval by the city that six lots near the shoreline of the proposed 27-home Meridian Banks development may be unbuildable because of potential harm to wetlands.
“If there are wetlands, they are man-made wetlands,” said Bill Williamson, the attorney for Floten, at the hearing. “The city’s Shoreline Master Program treated these as shorelines, not wetlands.”
Williamson argued that the property already had been developed when the previous owner built a boathouse and 18 small cabins. The boathouse sits near the lake while the cabins are farther up the property.
“There are no protected wetlands on this property,” Williamson said. “The applicant should not be punished for trying to redevelop a fully developed lot.”
Kim Adams Pratt, assistant city attorney, told the judge that wetlands do exist where Floten wants to build six homes near the shoreline.
Pratt asked the judge to uphold the decision by city Hearing Examiner Ted Hunter last year to approve, subject to conditions to ensure the protection of wetlands, a preliminary plat application by Floten to build the homes. The Kent City Council in April affirmed Hunter’s decision.
“Three experts told (Hunter) there were wetlands on the site,” Pratt said.
Pratt disagreed with Floten that just because the previous property owner built a boathouse and cabins that the same land-use regulations from then apply now.
“Floten is asking to be vested to a 1930 land-use application and not have to comply when the application for the subdivision was filed (in 2005),” Pratt said. “The plat creates all new lots. All existing structures are being removed. He’s starting over and with that he must comply with the new regulations.”
Floten also appealed before Judge Prochnau Hunter’s denial of his earlier appeal based on the State Environmental Policy Act threshold determination.
Hunter ruled that Floten must prove he will take steps to mitigate the impact on wetlands as required under the State Environmental Policy Act. Those steps have not been taken. The state policy requires local agencies to consider the likely environmental consequences of a proposal before approving or denying the proposal.
“To place five or six homes on top of a wetland, the wetland would be destroyed,” Pratt said.
Pratt argued that wetlands provide a habitat for fish and wildlife.
“They’re not sexy or pretty, but we need wetlands,” Pratt said. “The city is required by the state to regulate wetlands.”
Williamson said the shoreline property features “wet lawns, not wetlands.”
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