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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 23 - 08-12-2020 - KC - Response BriefITEM NO. 23 HEX-000195 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 KING COUNTY’S RESPONSE BRIEF - 1 Daniel T. Satterberg, Prosecuting Attorney CIVIL DIVISION W400 King County Courthouse 516 Third Avenue Seattle, Washington 98104 206) 477-1120/FAX (206) 296-0191 BEFORE THE CITY OF RENTON COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT In re the matter of the Appeal by Renton Hotel Investors, LLC, Downtown Emergency Services Center, King County Appellants. Case No. CODE20-000321 KING COUNTY’S RESPONSE BRIEF The City of Renton chose to initiate a code enforcement action to force the removal of some of the most vulnerable homeless individuals from a hotel where they were temporarily placed pursuant to a Local Health Officer order to slow community spread of a highly infectious virus during the worst public health crisis in over a century. The City elected to pursue code violations to hinder the actions taken by King County, the local government responsible for protecting the health of all of its 2.2 million inhabitants (including Renton’s), the DESC, and the hotel which made its facility available when no other suitable hotel would, all to meet an urgent need to protect the public from a global pandemic which continues to significantly disrupt our lives. HEX-000196 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 KING COUNTY’S RESPONSE BRIEF - 2 Daniel T. Satterberg, Prosecuting Attorney CIVIL DIVISION W400 King County Courthouse 516 Third Avenue Seattle, Washington 98104 206) 477-1120/FAX (206) 296-0191 To support its decision the City points to items that are inconsequential to a determination for zoning purposes and contends that one may not use a hotel for more than sleeping purposes. However, if patrons rented hotel rooms merely to sleep there would be no reason for other common amenities such as TV’s, desks, mini refrigerators, exercise rooms, swimming pools, computers and printers, and halls and meeting rooms for weddings, conferences, and other large gatherings. In this sleeping purposes only vein, the City notes that the DESC provides its clients with onsite meals. However, hotel guests often eat in their rooms with food ordered from room service or nearby restaurants, hotel supplied snacks and beverages, or food they bring themselves and store in hotel-provided mini refrigerators. There is nothing in the code that makes such ancillary uses of a hotel decisive zoning criteria. DESC elected to provide their clients with three meals a day. Declaration of Sam McKnight at p. 3, ¶ 15. Providing meals onsite is consistent with DESC’s efforts to reduce possible community impacts -- services that are kind to both their clients and neighboring businesses. Amended Declaration of Daniel Malone at p. 8, ¶¶ 58-61. Ironically, the City elsewhere relies on inflammatory and conclusory claims1 of harm to the community and drain on City resources as grounds for removing DESC’s clients from the Red Lion. Declaration of Doug Levy (“ Levy Dec.”) at pp. 3-4, ¶¶ 11-13. The City acknowledges that it has the option to refrain from enforcing its code. Levy Dec. at p. 2, ¶ 7; p. 4-5, ¶ 15; Exhibit A at p. 2, ¶ C, p. 3, ¶ ¶ M, N. Indeed, discretion is embedded into the City’s code. See RMC 1-3-2.C (authorizing various methods of initiating code enforcement action). By choosing instead to prosecute, the City asserts that its zoning 1 None of these claims were supported by any evidence and their value should be weighed accordingly. HEX-000197 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 KING COUNTY’S RESPONSE BRIEF - 3 Daniel T. Satterberg, Prosecuting Attorney CIVIL DIVISION W400 King County Courthouse 516 Third Avenue Seattle, Washington 98104 206) 477-1120/FAX (206) 296-0191 regulation is more important than protecting the public’s health, and that its legal authority is superior to that of the Local Health Officer. The City is wrong on both accounts. The Hearing Examiner should decline the City’s invitation to undermine the efforts of Dr. Duchin, King County, DESC, and the Red Lion to protect some of the County’s most vulnerable residents and the community as a whole from COVID-19. DATED this 12th day of August 2020. DANIEL T. SATTERBERG King County Prosecuting Attorney By: s/ Howard Schneiderman HOWARD SCHNEIDERMAN, WSBA #19252 Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney By: s/ Youn-Jung Kim YOUN-JUNG KIM, WSBA #23516 Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney By: s/ Lena Madden Lena Madden, WSBA # 41246 Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Attorneys for King County HEX-000198 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 KING COUNTY’S RESPONSE BRIEF - 4 Daniel T. Satterberg, Prosecuting Attorney CIVIL DIVISION W400 King County Courthouse 516 Third Avenue Seattle, Washington 98104 206) 477-1120/FAX (206) 296-0191 CERTIFICATE OF FILING AND E-SERVICE I declare under penalty of the perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that on August 12, 2020, I caused the foregoing documents to be electronically filed with the Hearing Examiner for the City of Renton by email to cityclerk@rentonwa.gov, as well as served upon the following parties at the email address listed below: Phil Olbrechts, olbrechtslaw@gmail.com Hearing Examiner, City of Renton Chip Vincent, cvincent@rentonwa.gov Administrator, Dept. of Community & Economic Development Leslie Clark, lclark@rentonwa.gov Alex Tuttle, atuttle@rentonwa.gov Shane Moloney, smoloney@rentonwa.gov Stephanie Rary, srary@rentonwa.gov Attorneys for the City of Renton Sumeer Singla, ssingla@williamskastner.com Attorney for Renton Hotel Investors Elaine L. Spencer, espencer@nwresourcelaw.com Lisa Chaiet Rahman, lrahman@nwresourcelaw.com Attorneys for DESC DATED this 12th day of August, 2020 s/ Monica Erickson__________ MONICA ERICKSON, Legal Assistant King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office HEX-000199