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County to appeal guesthouse ruling

posted 08/08/01
County Commissioners John Evans and Darcie Nielsen voted to appeal the recent Thurston County decision on guesthouses to the state Court of Appeals. Commissioner Rhea Miller disagreed with the move calling it "a dead end and a waste of money."

County prosecutor Randy Gaylord advised the BOCC to take a two-prong approach to reach a quick resolution of the guesthouse issues. Immediately appeal the decision in order to preserve the county's rights and legal arguments and begin the reanalysis asked for by the Western Washingon Growth Management Hearings Board.

He suggested the county's Planning Department hire an outside consultant to assist in completing the guesthouse analysis. Other guesthouse issues could also be addressed at the same time. He noted several issues including transient rentals of guesthouses are on a list of items to be considered in the next round of comprehensive plan amendments.

If the hearings board accepts the revised analysis he said, the appeal would become moot and would be dropped.

In his ruling, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Wm. McPhee said, "The record establishes that the county's research was limited to an examination of the assessor's database, from which, in the absence of any hard data about guesthouses, it extrapolated an estimate that approximately one in four single-family residences in rural and resource land areas have a guesthouse. With no further research or data, the county predicted that the one in four ratio would continue for new construction, that the impact on density would be either 10 or 12 percent, and that no significant change in guesthouse policy was necessary."

Nielsen expressed frustration with the ruling. "They discredited the source of our analysis (the assessor's records)," she said. "What are we supposed to do use infra-red heat sensors to county how many people are in a guesthouse?"

County Deputy Prosecutor Alan Marriner said, "It is OK to use the assessor's database. The court disagreed with the way the assumptions are made."

Miller said, "I don't think they have trouble with the data. The question is whether they are being rented or not. That's where we have faulty or inadequate analysis. We could be allowing -- what the appellants charge -- doubling the density. We have to at least deal with the densities of these assumptions. "

Evans noted many homes in the county are not used as year-round residences. He suggested the county "consider second-homes as different than year-round homes in density."

Nielsen suggested gathering data from around the state regarding guesthouse regulations. University students could be used to collect the information. A final decision in San Juan County could "set a serious precedent for other counties," she said.

While the vote was split on the decision to appeal, the board agreed to ask staff to put together a plan for the second prong of the response. Gaylord, Marriner, Planning Director Laura Arnold, Permit Director Grant Beck and county Assessor Paul Dossett will develop a work plan. The BOCC will review the recommendations at 9 a.m. August. 22.