Future of Island Crossing up to state Supreme Court

Published 11:09 pm Tuesday, June 24, 2008

OLYMPIA — A lengthy legal fight on the future of Island Crossing on Tuesday reached the state Supreme Court, where justices will decide if Snohomish County violated state law in clearing a path for developing the prized property.

Much is at stake, especially for car dealer magnate Dwayne Lane, if the high court upholds the County Council’s actions to rezone the 110-acre triangle of farmland for commercial uses and allow its annexation into Arlington.

Lane owns 15 of the acres, and he’s been trying to build a dealership on them for the last 18 years.

“It’s not about Dwayne Lane. It is about whether a local authority has the right to control its destiny,” he said at the Hall of Justice, where he, his son Tom and former Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax attended the hearing.

Justices are being asked to clarify and brighten the lines of authority separating counties and the state’s growth management hearing boards in land-use matters.

“It is an issue of whether or not the county has the right to make a decision and when the growth hearing boards have the right to say they stepped over the line,” said Steven Peiffle, attorney for Arlington who argued on behalf of the city, county and Lane.

The Central Puget Sound Growth Management Board overturned the county’s decision, finding it did not comply with the state Growth Management Act mandate to conserve agricultural lands.

A 2005 Snohomish County Superior Court decision backed the hearing board, but a state Court of Appeals ruling last year reversed it and put the county, city and Lane in the driver’s seat.

The state appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Alan Copsey, an assistant attorney general, said he understood some local governments “chafe under having anybody looking at what they are doing,” but that’s the role the state has given to the hearing boards.

Speaking to the justices, Copsey argued that much of the 110 acres is viable as farmland and deserving of protection. The land is bordered by I-5, Highway 530 and Smokey Point Boulevard.

The County Council’s decision was “not supported by substantial evidence in the record,” therefore the growth hearing board acted within its powers to overturn it, he said.

Copsey encountered some pushback from Justice James Johnson, who questioned the viability argument because businesses exist today on the portion of the land at the interchange of I-5 and Highway 530.

Peiffle contended the growth management board should have paid “deference” to the decision of the Snohomish County Council, which had conducted a thorough and public process on the significance of the farmland before it acted.

He said even if the county and hearing board had equal weights of evidence on the worth of the land, again, deference should be given to the local government.

“Essentially, the tie goes to the runner,” he said.

A ruling from the court is not expected for several months.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.