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Home My WebLink About09-11-2020 - DESC Mtn for Reconsideration1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION -- 1 NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC 101 Yesler Way, Suite 205 Seattle, WA 98104 206.971.1564 BEFORE THE CITY OF RENTON COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN RE THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL BY: RENTON HOTEL INVESTORS, LLC, DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER, KING COUNTY, Appellants. No. CODE-20-000321 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION In his Final Decision issued August 31, 2020, the Hearing Examiner stated that: [Downtown Emergency Service Center] is further authorized to request reconsideration and submit additional declarations to the extent that such evidence would address whether the terms of this Decision would materially affect the ability [of] DESC to further the public health officer[’]s objectives of de- intensifying homeless shelters. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Final Decision, Appeal of Finding of Violation, Renton Hotel Investors, LLC and King County, Case No. CODE20-000321, 20 (Aug. 31, 2020) (hereinafter “Final Decision”). The Final Decision sends Downtown Emergency Service Center (“DESC”) down what will be a complicated and potentially contentious permitting process, the outcome of which could entirely prevent DESC from furthering the public health officer’s orders. DESC should not be required to seek a permit for its operations and in concluding this, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION -- 2 NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC 101 Yesler Way, Suite 205 Seattle, WA 98104 206.971.1564 the Hearing Examiner may have misunderstood the nature of DESC’s shelter and associated services. The purpose of this Motion for Reconsideration and the accompanying Declaration of Daniel Malone is to clarify the operations and services that DESC provides at the Red Lion Hotel to ensure that DESC can continue to implement the public health officer’s order to de-intensify homeless shelters. DESC is currently operating its main shelter at the Red Lion Hotel. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and Dr. Jeffrey Duchin’s order to de-intensify the shelter, DESC’s main shelter operated at the Morrison Hotel in Pioneer Square in Seattle. COR 2, ¶ 7 (Declaration of Daniel Malone, July 15, 2020). Clients of the Morrison Hotel arrived from all over King County and Washington State, as the main shelter is a primary resource to which hospitals discharge and law enforcement refer individuals from across the region. Id. at ¶¶ 9, 18, 19. DESC’s clients at the Red Lion are almost entirely suffering from behavioral disabilities due to mental illness and in some cases substance use disorders. Id. at ¶ 14. They are also medically fragile. Id. at ¶¶ 9-12. They are disabled within the meaning of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Washington Law Against Discrimination, and other laws forbidding discrimination against the disabled. The services DESC provides to its clients are the minimum necessary to support individuals with behavioral disabilities that have resulted in homelessness. Declaration of Daniel Malone (“Malone Decl.”), ¶ 4. DESC’s shelter is not a “night shelter” – which opens at some point in the afternoon and from which its clients must leave in the morning. Id. at ¶ 3. It provides shelter to formerly homeless individuals on a 24/7 basis. Id. at ¶ ¶ 3, 4. Like hotel guests with a multi-day stay, clients may remain at the shelter all day if they choose or may leave during the day and return at night. Id. at ¶ 3. At the Morrison Hotel, where sleeping accommodations were in a bunk room and there was limited common room space, more clients tended to leave during the day than is the case at the Red Lion. But in both circumstances, clients were not and are not now required to leave during the day. Id. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION -- 3 NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC 101 Yesler Way, Suite 205 Seattle, WA 98104 206.971.1564 The Hearing Examiner also seems to have overstated the nature of the services that DESC provides for its clients at the shelter. The services DESC actually provides are food and cleaning, which the Hearing Examiner recognized are akin to typical hotel services, see Final Decision, 14, plus case management services and crisis management services. Malone Decl., ¶ 4. As described in the Declaration of Daniel Malone, the crisis management services are rare, but because of the fragile nature of DESC clients, they do on occasion go into crisis and DESC is prepared to respond to that. Id. The case management services are provided to address the needs of the DESC clients based on their disabilities. Id. None of those services are available to the general public, so these services do not attract people who are not DESC’s clients to the Red Lion. Id. These facts are significant, because they demonstrate why the Hearing Examiner erred in suggesting that while DESC’s use may be permittable as an unclassified use, it should be required to obtain a conditional use permit for its “day shelter” use. DESC’s operations should not be divided into two distinct services, a “night shelter” and a “social service organization.” See Final Decision, 11-14. The shelter cannot operate without the services DESC provides because these services are required to support its clients, given their disabilities. Malone Decl., ¶ 4. DESC’s services do not stop at a certain time of day, they are not open to the public, and they are not temporally distinct as a “day shelter” and a “night shelter.” DESC’s use is more properly viewed as a hotel that provides temporary accommodations for disabled individuals and offers services reasonably required to support those individuals. /// /// /// /// /// /// 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION -- 4 NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC 101 Yesler Way, Suite 205 Seattle, WA 98104 206.971.1564 DATED this 11th day of September, 2020. NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC /s/ Elaine L. Spencer________________ Elaine L. Spencer, WSBA #6963 espencer@nwresourcelaw.com 206.971.1569 Lisa Chaiet Rahman, WSBA #51531 lrahman@nwresourcelaw.com 206.971.1568 Attorneys for Downtown Emergency Service Center 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION -- 5 NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC 101 Yesler Way, Suite 205 Seattle, WA 98104 206.971.1564 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I declare under penalty of the perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that 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: Sumeer Singla, WSBA #32852 WILLIAMS KASTNER & GIBBS PLLC 601 Union Street, Suite 4100 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 Attorney for Renton Hotel Investors, LLC ssingla@williamskastner.com Shane Moloney, WSBA #35433 Leslie C. Clark, WSBA #36164 Alex Tuttle, WSBA #41743 CITY OF RENTON 1055 S. Grady Way Renton, WA 98057 Attorneys for City of Renton smoloney@rentonwa.gov lclark@rentonwa.gov atuttle@rentonwa.gov srary@rentonwa.gov Howard Schneiderman, WSBA #19252 Youn-Jung Kim, WSBA #23516 Lena Madden, WSBA # 41246 DANIEL T. SATTERBERG, King County Prosecuting Attorney W400 King County Courthouse 516 Third Avenue Seattle, Washington 98104 Attorneys for King County howard.schneiderman@kingcounty.gov jina.kim@kingcounty.com lena.madden@kingcounty.com Chip Vincent, Administrator Dept. of Community & Economic Development 1055 South Grady Way Renton, WA 98057 cvincent@rentonwa.gov Phil Olbrechts, Hearing Examiner Renton City Hall – 7th Floor 1055 S. Grady Way Renton WA 98057 olbrechtslaw@gmail.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DOWNTOWN EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION -- 6 NORTHWEST RESOURCE LAW PLLC 101 Yesler Way, Suite 205 Seattle, WA 98104 206.971.1564 DATED this 11th day of September, 2020, in Seattle, Washington. s/Eliza Hinkes Eliza Hinkes, Paralegal