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March 10, 2016 I Volume 10.E Issue 5 Zoning Bulletin <br />Change of Regulations as Affecting <br />Rights —State agency's permit <br />condition requires counties to apply <br />new regulations to certain property <br />development applications <br />Counties argue that permit condition would <br />require them to violate vested rights of <br />developers <br />Citation: Snohomish County v. Pollution Control Hearings Bd., 2016 <br />WL 225256 (Wash. Ct. App. Div. 2 2016) <br />WASHINGTON (01/19/16) This case addressed the issue of <br />whether a state agency's permit condition, which required counties to <br />apply new stormwater regulations to certain property development ap- <br />plications, violated vested rights of property developers. <br />The Background/Facts: In August 2012, the Washington Depart- <br />ment of Ecology ("DOE") issued the 2013-2018 Phase I Municipal <br />Stoiniwater Peuniit (the "2013-2018 Permit"). The 2013-2018 Permit <br />required Phase I permittees, which include certain counties and cities, <br />to adopt by June 30, 2015, regulations for controlling stormwater drain- <br />age and runoff to municipal stormwater sewer systems for new develop- <br />ment, redevelopment, and construction activities. Condition S5.C.5.a.iii <br />of the 2013-2018 Permit provided that the new regulations would ap- <br />ply to all development applications submitted after July 1, 2015 and <br />submitted before July 1, 2015 if construction is not started by June 30, <br />2020. <br />Snohomish County, King County, and the Building Industry As- <br />sociation of Clark County (collectively, the "Counties") appealed the <br />2013-2018 Permit to the Pollution Control Hearings Board (the <br />• "Board"). They argued, in part, that the 2013-2018 Permit's require- <br />ments were land use control ordinances and that condition S5.C.5.a.iii. <br />conflicted with Washington's vested rights doctrine. <br />Washington's vested rights doctrine, which originated at common <br />law but has been codified by the legislature with regard to building <br />permits, generally provides that "certain land development applica- <br />tions must be processed under the land use regulations in effect when <br />the application was submitted, regardless of subsequent changes to the <br />regulations." More specifically, Washington statutory law—RCW <br />6 © 2016 Thomson Reuters <br />