HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-12-2020 - King County's Response Brief 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.
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.
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
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