Twin Bridge Win

Oles Morrison wins at the Washington State Supreme Court in Twin Bridge Marine Park v. Dep't of Ecology

On January 24, 2008, the Washington State Supreme Court issued its decision in Twin Bridge Marine Park v. Dep't of Ecology, a case involving an Oles Morrison client's development of a "dry stack" marina in Skagit County.  The issue before the court was whether or not the Department of Ecology was obligated to challenge building permits issued to our client by Skagit County under the Land Use Petition Act (LUPA) before it could take steps to halt the project for allegedly not complying with the Shoreline Management Act.

Oles Morrison's Todd Henry—who first became involved in the case while still a law clerk in 2001—argued the case before the high court on March 22, 2007.  In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled in favor of our client, strengthening the court's previous rulings that adherence to the provisions of LUPA are applicable to all "aggrieved persons" impacted by a final land use decision, including an agency of the state government.  Our client's victory furthers the purpose of LUPA, which is to provide predictable finality to land use decisions—including the issuance of building permits—so that builders and developers can rely upon those decisions when moving their projects forward.

To read the majority's opinion in the Twin Bridge case, click here

To see the video of the Twin Bridge oral argument, click here