STRIPED PEAK — Opponents of the recently approved Striped Peak road improvement district have sued Clallam County because they say the district was formed illegally.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the taxing district, or RID, on Sept. 27.
Landowners would fund the paving and widening of a 2,180-foot segment of Striped Peak Road to Ocean Cove Lane over 20 years.
Property owners would pay $13,561 per parcel over that period of time if the estimated $664,500 cost holds true.
Frank LaFerney, who filed the lawsuit in Clallam County Superior Court, said the county violated state statue 36.88 — the law for county road improvement districts — when it formed the Striped Peak RID.
“If cities and county use the statute, they must follow the statute,” he said.
Rod Kaseguma, an attorney with Bellevue-based Inslee, Best, Doezie & Ryder, PS, filed the lawsuit Oct. 26 on behalf of Frank and Ranae LaFerney.
“The attorney who filed the case is well-versed in LIDs [local improvement districts],” said Clallam County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Doug Jensen.
“I’m going to presuppose that the litigation is well thought out. We’re taking it seriously.”
Frank LaFerney had 30 days to file the lawsuit after the commissioners approved the RID.
Jensen, who filed a notice of appearance Friday, has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit from the day it was amended Nov. 5.
“The issue will be whether the manner that the RID [road improvement district] was adopted by the commissioners and presented by the Public Works Department meets the necessary statutory requirements,” Jensen said.
Several public hearings on the district were conducted over the summer.
Safer road
Proponents said the 24-foot-wide, 2-inch-thick asphalt would improve the safety of Striped Peak Road.
A planned roundabout at Ocean Cove Lane would give emergency response vehicles better access to the neighborhood west of Port Angeles near Freshwater Bay, proponents said.
Opponents said disparities in the benefits a landowner would receive from the road improvement — and the preferred same-price-per-parcel lot method of assessment — is unfair.
A 65-acre state Department of Natural Resources parcel, for example, would be assessed the same amount as the owner of a small single-family lot, opponents said.
County staff said 27 of the 49 property owners signed a petition in support of the district.
“I’ve never seen the numbers directly myself,” Frank LaFerney said.
Assessment method
Kaseguma’s lawsuit states that the lot assessment method is “illogical and unreasonable.”
“If one assumes that installation of asphalt pavement increases the fair market value of property, and thus results in special benefit to property, then logically and reasonably the lots that abut the RID improvement enjoy the largest amount of special benefit,” Kaseguma wrote.
“A logical and reasonable method of assessment would take into account the proximity of the lots to the RID improvement, and provide for differing amounts of assessment.”
The lawsuit argues that the county approved the lot method prior to an RID formation hearing and “acted illegally and arbitrarily and capriciously, thereby voiding the selection of the method of assessment.”
Other opponents at the public hearings said the paved road would harm the rustic feel of the rural neighborhood.
Alleged violations
In the lawsuit, Kaseguma argues that the county failed on multiple fronts.
He said the county:
• Did not comply with statutory requirements on the sufficiency of the petition.
• Used a “stale” petition from 2007.
• Failed to meet the “sufficiently developed” RID requirement of state and county law.
• Did not comply with a “special benefit” requirement in forming the RID.
• Failed to select a proper assessment method.
• Did not meet statutory requirements to include specially benefited property.
• Did not comply with statutory requirements of the formation hearing.
• Failed to comply with State Environmental Policy Act requirements.
A procedural error, which incorrectly closed public comment while continuing the hearing, occurred in a July 20 public hearing on RID proposal. Another public hearing was held Sept. 14 and continued to a deliberative session Sept. 27, when the district passed.
After approving it, Commissioner Mike Chapman said he voted for the district because a majority of people supported it.
He also said it was one the toughest votes he has cast as a commissioner because of uncertainties over the cost.
Permanent injunction
In his legal request for relief, Kaseguma asks the court to issue a “permanent injunction prohibiting the county from proceeding with any aspect of the RID, including the design or construction” until the court determines the validity of the county resolution.
Meanwhile, Port Angeles attorney Craig Miller has filed another lawsuit against the county on behalf of Striped Peak property owners Fred and Ursula Ross.
“Mine is limited in scope in that I am saying my client’s property is not being specially benefited and should be removed [from the RID],” Miller said.
Miller filed his lawsuit in Clallam County Superior Court on Oct. 27.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
