Yakima County Commissioners continue to foist on an unsuspecting public a relocated junkyard that will despoil the entrance to Lower Yakima Valley agri-tourism country for decades. The County's agent, Mr. Quintin Douglas, is proceeding apace with construction of a fence around his county-funded 10-acre junkyard.

The Lawsuit

On April 3, 2008, Citizens Protecting Resources filed a lawsuit in the Yakima County Superior Court to begin efforts to stop the move of the Douglas Wrecking Yard to the county-owned Yakima Valley Highway property.

On 3 April 2008, our attorneys called the county on its failure to extend the Conditional Use Permit that expired on 31 March 2008. Two attorneys checked the project files and were unable to find extension documents. Amazingly, the county's Legal Counsel, on 4 Apr 2008, found said documents dated 25 February and 5 March 2008. He, Mr. Terry Austin, could offer no explanation of why the County was nearly two months late filing the documents.

The Ruling

On December 18, 2008, a hearing for summary judgment was conducted by Judge McCarthy in Yakima County Superior Court.  On December 24, 2008, Judge McCarthy ruled in favor of Yakima County, ending CPR's legal action in Superior Court.  His formal ruling (copies available upon request) was that the County received benefit from the contract to develop the new wrecking yard site and then trade the new, developed site for the existing location.  Based on this interpretation, he ruled that there was no gifting or extension of credit issue.  During the hearing, Judge McCarthy asked questions and made comments indicating that he thought that the way the project was handled or the amount of money spent could be questioned, but it wasn't illegal.  This ruling really was not a surprise.  From the beginning we knew that it would be difficult to get a local judge to rule against the County, and the chances would be much better if the case is heard by judges at the appeal level.  It is relevant to point out that all the cases referenced by both sides during the hearing were decided at the Appeal or Supreme Court level.  For this reason we expected that our case would probably need to reach that same hearing level.

The Appeal

Citizens Protecting Resources is filing an appeal with the court this morning.  We are committed to pursuing this legal action .. for more info

Direct Review

February 18, 2009 we have filed a request for Direct Review with the Supreme Court.  If accepted, this would bypass the Appeal Court process.  Requests for Direct Review are difficult and only about 10% of the filings are accepted by the Court.  Despite the long odds, we feel the case merits the request and are hopeful that review will be granted.  It is difficult to paint a full picture in the 15 page filing, but this gives the Supreme Court a good summary for their review and decision on our request.

In the meantime, the Court of Appeals Designation of Clerks Papers (the official record for review on appeal) will be completed by March 2, 2009.  Once the record is complete and certified, the opening brief will be due in 45 days. For more information, please read the Statement of Grounds for Direct Review by the Supreme Court. [ 1.1 MB]

Documents

Copy of the Complaint [ 2.33 MB]
Letter to Yakima County Planning Department regarding the Conditional Use Permit - 4/3/2008 [ 52 KB]
Summons [ 93 KB]
Letter to Attorney Generals's office regarding Taxpayer Action, requesting Washington State Attorney General's office institute a lawsuit against Yakima County due to improper extension of public credit and gifting of public funds. [ 2 MB]

Letter to Yakima County regarding Expiration of Conditional Use Permit - 4/15/08 [ 152 KB]