City of Olympia v. Drebick

• Citation: 126 P.3d 802,156 Wn.2d 289
• Decision Date: 19 January 2006
• Docket Number: No. 75270-2.,75270-2.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: CITY OF OLYMPIA, a Washington code city, Petitioner, v. John DREBICK and Jane Doe Drebick, husband and wife, d.b.a. Drebick Investments, Respondents.

126 P.3d 802

156 Wn.2d 289

CITY OF OLYMPIA, a Washington code city, Petitioner, v. John DREBICK and Jane Doe Drebick, husband and wife, d.b.a. Drebick Investments, Respondents.

No. 75270-2.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued February 8, 2005.

Decided January 19, 2006.

David John Lenci, Julie Anne Halter, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, Seattle, Mr. Jeffrey Scott Myers, Law Lyman Daniel Kamerrer et al, Mr. Bob C. Sterbank, Mr. John Edward Vanek, City of Olympia, Olympia, for Petitioner/Appellant.

Alexander Weal Mackie, Perkins Coie LLP, Olympia, Eric S Merrifield, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, for Appellee/Respondent.

Kristopher Ian Tefft, Ass'n of Wash. Business, Olympia, for Amicus Curiae (Building Industry Ass'n of Wash.)

Russell Clayton Brooks, Bellevue, Robin L Rivett, Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, Samuel A. Rodabough, Groen Stephens & Klings LLP, Bellevue, for Amicus Curiae (Pacific Legal Foundation).

Marilee Jones Scarbrough, Wash. State School Directors' Ass'n, Olympia, for Amicus Curiae (Wash. State School Directors Ass'n.)

OWENS, J.

¶ 1 The City of Olympia (the City) seeks reversal of a Court of Appeals decision that invalidated the City's calculation of a transportation impact fee imposed on a commercial developer, Drebick Investments (Drebick). At issue is whether the City's impact fee ordinances comply with the impact fee statutes, RCW 82.02.050-.090, of the Growth Management Act (GMA), chapter 36.70A RCW. We hold that, contrary to the city hearing examiner's interpretation, the GMA impact fee statutes do not require local governments to calculate an impact fee by making individualized assessments of the new development's direct impact on each improvement planned in a service area. We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals.

FACTS

¶ 2 In July 1998, Drebick sought approval from the City for construction of a four-story, 54,000-square-foot office building within the city limits. The City approved the proposal, subject to Drebick's payment of a transportation impact fee of $132,328.98, calculated according to the City's legislatively adopted fee schedule. See former Olympia Municipal Code (OMC) 15.06, 15.10, 15.14, 15.18 (1999). In February 1999, Drebick sought a fee adjustment by submitting an independent fee calculation, as permitted in former OMC 15.10.020, but two months later the City's director of community planning and development rejected Drebick's alternative calculations, concluding that they did not meet the requisite accuracy and reliability criteria of former OMC 15.10.020D.

¶ 3 Drebick appealed the director's decision to the city hearing examiner, and hearings were held on four days in May and June 2000. In November 2000, the hearing examiner reversed the City, and the City sought review in Thurston County Superior Court under the Land Use Petition Act (LUPA) chapter 36.70C RCW. The superior court reversed the hearing examiner's decision, and we then denied Drebick's request for direct review in this court. The Court of Appeals thereafter reversed the superior court and remanded the matter to the City for a recalculation of the impact fee. City of Olympia v. Drebick, 119 Wash.App. 774, 83 P.3d 443 (2004). We granted the City's petition for review.

ISSUE

¶ 4 In calculating the transportation impact fees imposed on the Drebick development, did the City comply with the statutory standards set forth in RCW 82.02.050-.090 for apportioning such fees?

ANALYSIS

¶ 5 Standard of Review. At issue are the hearing examiner's interpretation of the impact fee statutes, RCW 82.02.050-.090, and his conclusion of law that, in calculating the impact fees imposed on Drebick, the City failed to comply with the requirements of RCW 82.02.050(3).¹ In its LUPA petition, the City asserted that the hearing examiner's decision was "based on erroneous interpretations of law." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 10-11; see RCW 36.70C.130(1)(b) (providing relief where party establishes that "land use decision is an erroneous interpretation of the law, after allowing for such deference as is due the construction of a law by a local jurisdiction with expertise"). This court reviews issues of statutory interpretation and claimed errors of law de novo. Dep't of Ecology v. Campbell & Gwinn, L.L.C., 146 Wash.2d 1, 9, 43 P.3d 4 (2002); Pinecrest Homeowners Ass'n v. Glen A. Cloninger & Assocs., 151 Wash.2d 279, 290, 87 P.3d 1176 (2004).

¶ 6 Principles of Statutory Interpretation. The aim of statutory interpretation is "to discern and implement the intent of the legislature." State v. J.P., 149 Wash.2d 444, 450, 69 P.3d 318 (2003); Campbell & Gwinn, 146 Wash.2d at 9, 43 P.3d 4. A reviewing "court is required, whenever possible, to give effect to every word in a statute." Dennis v. Dep't of Labor & Indus., 109 Wash.2d 467, 479, 745 P.2d 1295 (1987). Where the meaning of a provision is "plain on its face, then the court must give effect to that plain meaning as an expression of legislative intent." Campbell & Gwinn, 146 Wash.2d at 9-10, 43 P.3d 4. A provision's plain meaning may be ascertained by an "examination of the statute in which the provision at issue is found, as well as related statutes or other provisions of the same act in which the provision is found." Id. at 10, 43 P.3d 4 (citing, inter alia, C.J.C. v. Corp. of the Catholic Bishop of Yakima, 138 Wash.2d 699, 708-09, 985 P.2d 262 (1999) (stating that "[r]elated statutory provisions are interpreted in relation to each other and all provisions harmonized")); see also State v. Clausing, 147 Wash.2d 620, 630, 56 P.3d 550 (2002) (Owens, J., dissenting) (noting that "[a]pplication of the statutory definitions to the terms of art in a statute is essential to discerning the plain meaning of the statute"). Only when the plain, unambiguous meaning cannot be derived through such an inquiry will it be "appropriate [for a reviewing court] to resort to aids to construction, including legislative history." Campbell & Gwinn, 146 Wash.2d at 12, 43 P.3d 4.

¶ 7 Impact Fees under the GMA. In 1990, the legislature enacted RCW 82.02.050-.090 as part of the GMA, authorizing local governments to condition the approval of development proposals on the payment of "impact fees" to defray a portion of the costs arising from "new growth and development." RCW 82.02.050(1)(a). The legislature expressly stated that its "intent" is "[t]o ensure . . . adequate facilities . . . to serve new growth and development; . . . [t]o promote orderly growth and development by establishing standards by which [local governments] may require, by ordinance, that new growth and development pay a proportionate share of the cost of the new facilities needed to serve new growth and development; and . . . [t]o ensure that impact fees are imposed through established procedures and criteria so that specific developments do not pay arbitrary fees or duplicative fees for the same impact." Id. subsection (1)(a)-(c). Thus, by enacting the impact fee statutes, the legislature intended to enable towns, cities, and counties to plan for "new growth and development" and to recoup from developers a predictable share of the infrastructure costs attributable to the planned growth, with the qualification that the local government's "procedures and criteria" were to protect "specific developments" from impact fees that were "arbitrary" or that "duplicat[ed]" the amount paid for "the same impact."

¶ 8 Just as RCW 82.02.050(1)(a)-(c) distinguishes "specific developments" from, in general, "new growth and development," subsection (2) authorizes local governments to impose impact fees on particular "development activity" as a means of financing the "system improvements" planned to accommodate overall "new development" in a defined service area:

Counties, cities, and towns that are required or choose to plan under RCW 36.70A.040 are authorized to impose impact fees on development activity as part of the financing for public facilities, provided that the financing for system improvements to serve new development must provide for a balance between impact fees and other sources of public funds and cannot rely solely on impact fees.

(Emphasis added.) The definition in RCW 82.02.090(1) leaves no doubt that "[d]evelopment activity" refers to the particular new development seeking approval: "`Development activity' means any construction or expansion of a building, structure, or use, any change in use of a building or structure, or any changes in the use of land, that creates additional demand and need for public facilities." RCW 82.02.050(2) therefore authorizes local governments, planning under the GMA, to impose impact fees on individual developments to cover the increased demand for roads, parks, schools, or fire stations identified in the capital facilities plan for a designated service area.²

¶ 9 The legislature provided two overlapping definitions of "impact fees." First, setting forth three limitations on such fees, RCW 82.02.050(3) mandates that they

(a) Shall only be imposed for system improvements that are reasonably related to the new development;

(b) Shall not exceed a proportionate share of the costs of system improvements that are reasonably related to the new development; and

(c) Shall be used for system improvements that will reasonably benefit the new development.

(Emphasis added.) Compressing (a)-(c), RCW 82.02.050(3) explains that impact fees "[s]hall only be imposed for [a proportionate share of the costs of] system improvements that are reasonably related to [and reasonably beneficial to] the new development." That, here, the statute speaks of "the new development," (emphasis added) as opposed to "new growth and development" or "new development" (as in the preceding section .050(1) and (2)), indicates that "the new development" is synonymous with the "development activity"—that is, with the particular new development seeking approval. See Cowiche Growers, Inc. v. Bates, 10 Wash.2d 585, 618, 117...