HomeMy WebLinkAboutRevised Notice of Decision Letter & AttachFebruary 12, 2020
Marissa Gifford
HDR, Inc.
929 108th Av NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
Armondo Pavone
Mayor
City Clerk Jason A. Seth, MMC
ADVISORY: "Please be advised that the appeal and reconsideration deadlines for the
Puget Sound Energize Eastside, LUAlB-000055, CU-H, SME, has been
extended from February 25, 2020 to February 28, 2020."
Subject: Hearing Examiner's Revised Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law & Final
Decision
RE: Puget Sound Energy-Energize Eastside-LUA18-000055
Dear Ms. Gifford:
The City of Renton's Hearing Examiner has issued a Revised Findings of Fact, Conclusions of
Law & Final Decision dated February 6, 2020 in the above matter. This document is
immediately available:
• Electronically on line at the City of Renton website (www.rentonwa.gov-
"How do I"-Contact-Hearing Examiner-Decisions-Land Use Decisions
-2020-Puget Sound Energy Energize Eastside folder);
• To be viewed at the City Clerk's office on the 7th floor or Renton City Hall,
1055 South Grady Way, between 8 am and 5 pm. Ask for the project file
by the above project number; and
• For purchase at a copying charge of $0.15 per page. The estimated cost
for the Hearing Examiner Documents is $6.00, plus a handling and
postage cost (this cost is subject to change if documents are added).
APPEAL RIGHT: RMC 4-8-080(G) classifies the application(s) subject to this decision as Type
Ill application(s) subject to closed record appeal to the City of Renton City Council. Appeals
ofthe hearing examiner's decision must be filed with the Renton City Clerk within fourteen
(14) calendar days from the issuance of the decision as outlined in RMC 4-8-110C2. The
1055 South Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057 • 425-430-6510 • Fax 425-430-6516 • rentonwa.gov
appeal deadline for this Decision is 5:00 pm, February 25, 2020. All appeals must be
received by the City Clerk's Office by this deadline and be accompanied by the applicable
appeal fee.
RECONSIDERATION: Motions for reconsideration must be filed with the Renton City Clerk
by the 5:00 pm February 25, 2020 appeal deadline. All motions for reconsideration shall
be posted at the City of Renton website at:
https://edocs.rentonwa.gov/Documents/Browse.aspx?id=8095664&dbid=O&repo=CityofR
enton (or go to: Rentonwa.gov-"How do I"-Contact-Hearing Examiner-Decisions-
Land Use Decisions-2020-Puget Sound Energy Energize Eastside folder) Motions for
reconsideration will not be mailed to hearing participants and it is their responsibility to
check the website if they wish to respond to any such motions. Responses to the motions
from hearing participants shall be filed with the City Clerk's Office by 5:00pm March 6,
2020 and will be posted on the website. Replies from those who filed the motions for
reconsideration shall be due by 5:00pm March 11, 2020. All motions for reconsideration
must be based upon evidence already admitted into the administrative record as exhibits
or testimony. NO NEW EVIDENCE IS ALLOWED.
Environmental Review: A Final Environmental Impact Statement was adopted in March of
2018. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Consistency Analysis I EIS Addendum was
prepared (Exhibit 2) and was approved by the City or Renton Environmental Review
Committee on December 13, 2019).
Valuation Notice: Affected property owners may request a change in valuation for
property tax purposes notwithstanding any program of revaluation.
I can be reached at (425) 430-6510 or jseth@rentonwa.gov. Thank you.
rely,
,..... '-'-""-:P
Jason A. Seth, MMC
City Clerk
cc: Hearing Examiner
Jill Ding, Senior Planner
Jennifer Henning, Planning Director
Vanessa Dolbee, Current Planning Manager
Brianne Bannwarth, Development Engineering Manager
Craig Burnell, Building Official
Jennifer Cisneros, Planning Technician
Julia Medzegian, City Council Liaison
Parties of Record (35 regular mail & 38 e-mail)
1055 South Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057 • rentonwa.gov
Jason Seth
From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Phil Olbrechts <olbrechtslaw@gmail.com>
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 11:10 AM
Jason Seth; Rick Aramburu
Jill Ding; Vanessa Dolbee; Jennifer T. Henning; Sandi Weir
Re: FW: HEX Final Decision -Puget Sound Energize Eastside Conditional Use Permit
The appeal and reconsideration deadlines are being extended to February 28, 2020 as the Final Decision was not
mailed out on February 7, 2020 as I had understood. For purposes of simplicity, the Final Decision did not
address appeal deadlines when motions of reconsideration are filed. As noted by Mr. Aramburu's email, LUPA
and Mellish requires that when a motion for reconsideration is filed that a new judicial appeal
attaches. Technically, however, Mellish and LUPA only apply to judicial appeals, not administrative
appeals. The Energirzer decision is still subject to administrative appeal. However, the principles underlying
the Mellish decision apply equally well to administrative appeals. If a motion for reconsideration is filed, my
Final Decision Upon Reconsideration will provide for a new 14 day appeal period to the City
Council. However, it must be recognized that the City Council has final decision making authority on what it
considers to be the timeliness of appeal. On that issue, the City Counil is likely to rely upon advice from the
City Attorney. If the City Attorney disagrees with my application of Mellish, it would help to have that position
upfront.
Specific deadlines for reconsideration and appeal were set in the Decision in order to facilitate the
reconsideration process. In the absence of setting specific deadlines in conjunction with reference to a web
address, staff would have had to mail out the motions for reconsideration to all the parties of record along with a
reconsideration order setting response and reply deadlines. As to the Footnote No. 1 reference to the "date of
the decision", it is the date of issuance, not decision that sets appeal and reconsideration deadlines. I emailed
my Final Decision the evening of February 6, 2020 with the misunderstanding that the decision would be
mailed February 7, 2020. RMC 4-8-11 OC2 has the 14 day appeal period commence 3 days after mailing, which
under court rules is considered the date of issuance and according to my conserveative calculation the
appeal/recon deadline for a decision mailed February 7, 2020 was February 25, 2020. The Decision was
actually not mailed out until yesterday, Febrary 11, 2020. Consequently, the appeal/recon deadlines should be
14 days from February 14, 2020, which would be February 28, 2020. The City Clerk is asked to mail out a
follow up letter to those receiving mailed copies of the decision that states "Please be advised that the appeal
and reconsideration deadlines for the Puget Sound Energize Eastside, LUAJ8-000055, CU-H, SME, has been
extended from February 25, 2020 to February 28, 2020."
On Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 8:35AM Jason Seth <JSeth@rentonwa.gov> wrote:
This is the email from CENSE I mentioned in my last email. I will be informing them that I forwarded their
email to you.
-Jason
From: Rick Aramburu <rick@ aramburu-eustis.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 5:31PM
To: Sandi Weir <SWeir@Rentonwa.gov>; Jill Ding <JDing@Rentonwa.gov>; Jason Seth
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<JSeth@ Rentonwa.gov>
Subject: RE: HEX Final Decision-Puget Sound Energize Eastside Conditional Use Permit
Dear Examiner Olbrechts;
This office represents CENSE one of the participants in the decision described above. We have reviewed the Final
Decision and have two requests for clarification that require timely resolution.
1. APPEAL AND RECONSIDERATION TIMETABLES.
Footnote 1, page 1 to the Final decision states:
1 The February 6, 2010 Final Decision was revised to correct a scrivener's error, removing Condition No.3, which had
been replaced by Condition No. 10 of that decision (now Condition No. 9 in this Decision). Since retention of Condition
No.3 was clearly an unintentional error as part of the response to the Applicant's request to modify Condition No.3. the date
of this Decision for purposes of appeal and reconsideration still remains as February 6, 2020. Condition No. 1 has also been
slightly modified to be consistent with the elimination of former Condition No. 3.
However, the Decision letter and Final Decision at pages 39 and 40 indicated the deadline for appeal and
reconsideration is 14 days from the date of the decision and then states the deadline is February 25,
2020. Over the past two days we have asked the City to provide us a copy of the decision but were told
yesterday (February 10) at 11:27 am that: "The decision is not yet available. Once it is available all parties of
record will receive a copy." While it appears that some parties had advance notice of the decision, CENSE did
not receive such notice.
We request that you clarify that the date for appeal and reconsideration is February 25 as stated at
page 39 and 40 of the Final Decision.
2. APPEAL AND RECONSIDERATION.
As noted above, the Final Decision states the deadline for both appeal and reconsideration is
February 25. However, the Final Decision does not address whether the appeal deadline will be 14 days from
the date of a decision on a timely filed motion for reconsideration. In our review, it does not appear that this
issue is covered by any code provision or Hearing Examiner rule. Given the circumstances, we believe that the
deadline for appeal should be 14 days after a decision on the properly filed reconsideration motion. This is the
rule under LUPA (RCW 36.70C.020(2)):
2
Where a local jurisdiction allows or requires a motion for reconsideration to the highest level
of authority making the determination, and a timely motion for reconsideration has been filed,
the land use decision occurs on the date a decision is entered on the motion for reconsideration, and
not the date of the original decision for which the motion for reconsideration was filed.
This is also the rule under caselaw in Mellish v. Frog Mountain Pet Care, 154 Wash.App. 395 (2010), which
was the precedent for the foregoing amendment to LUPA. We also note that the Final Decision states: "the
reconsideration process is intended to provide an avenue to question the reports of the technical experts in lieu of the cross-
examination process. In this respect, City and Applicant experts are expected to provide a response to any motions for
reconsideration filed on pipeline safety." Page 2, Footnote 2.
CENSE requests that you clarify your decision to confirm that an appeal to the Council may be filed
within 14 days from the date of a decision on a timely filed motion for reconsideration.
Thank you in advance for your clarification of the Final Decision.
Law Offices of J. Richard Aramburu, PLLC
New Address
Effective February 1, 2020 we will be in the Hoge Building:
705 Second Avenue, Suite 1300
Seattle, WA 98104
Telephone (206) 625-9515
Facsimile (206) 682-1376
Through January 31, 2020 we will be located at 720 3'd Ave, Ste 2000, Seattle WA 98104.
This message may be protected by the attorney-client and/or work product
privilege. If you received this message in error please notify us and
destroy the message. Thank you.
From: Sandi Weir [mailto:SWeir@Rentonwa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 3:57 PM
Subject: HEX Final Decision-Puget Sound Energize Eastside Conditional Use Permit
Parties of Record:
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I have attached a letter regarding Hearing Examiner's Decision for the Puget Sound Energize Eastside
Conditional Use Permit that is being mailed out today only to the Parties of Record that have not given us their
email addresses.
Here is the actual link to get to the electronic documents.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call Jill Ding at 425-430-6598 or email at
Jding@rentonwa.gov.
Sandi Weir
City Clerk Specialist
City Clerk's Office
(425) 430-6510
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