Med. Lake Cemetery, Ass'n v. Spokane Cnty.

• Docket Number: 38850-6-III
• Decision Date: 21 December 2023
• Parties: MEDICAL LAKE CEMETERY, ASSOCIATION, a Washington non-profit Corporation, Respondent, v. SPOKANE COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Washington; Respondent, DAVE AND JULIE TUELLER, husband and wife, WILLIAM A. YATES, an individual, JAMES JOHNSON, an individual, RENEE JOHNSON, an individual, ANNA M. OLSON, an individual, CAROL L. WHITEHEAD, an individual, ROBERT J. WHITEHEAD, an individual, PATRICIA A. APREGAN, an individual, DONNA WHITEHEAD, an individual, SHARON WHITEHEAD, an individual, ANTHONY D. WHITEHEAD, an individual, JOHN E WHITEHEAD, an individual, ANNA JOHNSON, an individual, JOSEPH DAVISON, an individual, JOSEPH R.YOUNG, an individual, PAMELA S. MCCOLLAM, an individual, and TOBY WILLIS, an individual, Petitioners, SPOKANE GUN CLUB, a Washington non-profit Corporation, Appellant.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals

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MEDICAL LAKE CEMETERY, ASSOCIATION, a Washington non-profit Corporation, Respondent,

DAVE AND JULIE TUELLER, husband and wife, WILLIAM A. YATES, an individual, JAMES JOHNSON, an individual, RENEE JOHNSON, an individual, ANNA M. OLSON, an individual, CAROL L. WHITEHEAD, an individual, ROBERT J. WHITEHEAD, an individual, PATRICIA A. APREGAN, an individual, DONNA WHITEHEAD, an individual, SHARON WHITEHEAD, an individual, ANTHONY D. WHITEHEAD, an individual, JOHN E WHITEHEAD, an individual, ANNA JOHNSON, an individual, JOSEPH DAVISON, an individual, JOSEPH R.YOUNG, an individual, PAMELA S. MCCOLLAM, an individual, and TOBY WILLIS, an individual, Petitioners,
v.
SPOKANE COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Washington; Respondent,

SPOKANE GUN CLUB, a Washington non-profit Corporation, Appellant.

No. 38850-6-III

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 3

December 21, 2023

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

FEARING, C.J.

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In this Land Use Petition Act (LUPA) case, chapter 36.70C RCW, appellant Spokane Gun Club appeals the Pend Oreille County Superior Court's denial of a conditional use permit to operate a shooting range on the ground that the range would violate the Spokane County Fairchild Air Force Base military airport overlay zone. The superior court raised this issue on its own. A hearing examiner had approved the permit, and an earlier superior court had remanded the case to the hearing examiner to impose conditions on the permit. This appeal requires us to address numerous procedural questions such as whether the superior court permissibly and on its own raised the issue of the overlay zone and whether this court should decide the appeal on the basis of the zone. The appeal also requires us to determine if the shooting range is an inconsistent use for the rural traditional zone, in which it sits, or constitutes a recreational vehicle park because of the presence of recreational vehicle parking. Finally, the appeal demands that we resolve whether a decision by the Lincoln County Superior Court in an earlier LUPA action prevents us from addressing the prohibition against recreational vehicle parks.

We decline to tackle the applicability of the military airport overlay zone. We affirm the superior court's reversal of the issuance of the conditional use permit, however, on the basis that the gun club's operations plan includes the presence of a

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recreational vehicle park within the meaning of the county zoning code. The code prohibits a recreational vehicle park within the gun club's zone.

FACTS

Appellant Spokane Gun Club purchased a 451-acre parcel outside the city of Medical Lake with designs to transform the property into a shooting range. The property sits adjacent to the Medical Lake Cemetery. The Medical Lake Cemetery was established in the 1870s and was listed in the Washington State Heritage Register in 2018. Respondent Medical Lake Cemetery Association, a nonprofit organization, operates the cemetery.

Spokane County's Comprehensive Plan (SCCP) and Spokane County Zoning Code (SCZC) designates the Spokane Gun Club's 451-acre parcel as lying within the county's "rural traditional" zone. Rural traditional zoning covers farming, ranching, large lot residences, and rural oriented recreation. SCZC 14.618.100. The Spokane County zoning code permits a "gun and archery range" in resource lands zones, including rural traditional zones, only with a conditional use permit. SCZC 14.616.220, Table 616-1.

Elsewhere, Spokane County Zoning Code defines a "gun and archery range":

A facility or area used for archery and/or the discharging of firearms including rifles, pistols or shotguns, for the purpose of target practice.

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SCZC 14.300.100 (emphasis added). The same code section defines "participant sports and recreation" for both inside and outside:

Participant Sports and Recreation (indoor only): Participant sports and recreation use in which the sport or recreation is conducted within an enclosed structure. Examples include but are not limited to bowling alleys, roller and ice-skating rinks, dance halls, racquetball courts, physical fitness centers and gyms, and videogame parlors.

Participant Sports and Recreation (outdoor only): Participant sports and recreation use in which the sport or recreation is conducted outside of an enclosed structure. Examples include tennis courts, water slides, and driving ranges.

SCZC 14.300.100.

Spokane County Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 3, RL-1 defines Rural Land Use, Rural Character and Rural Land Use Categories, as "a traditional development setting with low population density." The same plan section limits uses in the Rural Traditional Zone to "industries directly related to and dependent on natural resources."

The Spokane County Zoning Code precludes a recreational vehicle park/campground from a rural traditional zone. SCZC 14.618.220. The code defines a "Recreational Vehicle Park/Campground" as

An area where facilities are provided for camping units as defined herein, utilized by the public for camping[,] for recreation on a temporary basis and not designed for long term occupancy. The recreational vehicle park/campground may include recreational services, facilities, and activities for utilization by the public that are typical and ordinary to the recreational vehicle park/campground industry.

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SCZC 14.300.100 (emphasis added). The zoning code does not define the word "facilities" as found twice in the definition of "recreational vehicle park." A general provision of the code requires words not defined to be "construed as defined in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary." SCZC 14.300.000(2).

The Spokane County Zoning Code defines

"camping units" as:

A vehicle designed and intended for temporary occupancy by persons engaged in camping or use of a camping unit for recreation. Camping units include but are not limited to recreational vehicles, recreational park trailers, travel trailers and campers . . . and other similar shelters.

SCZC 14.300.100 (emphasis added). The Code defines a recreational vehicle:

Recreational Vehicle (RV): A vehicular type portable structure without permanent foundation primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use, with or without motor power, and occupied in any one place for a period not exceeding 30 days. This includes, but is not limited to, travel trailers, truck campers, camping trailers, and self-propelled motor homes.

SCZC 14.300.100.

Spokane County Zoning Code 14.612.240(5) lists numerous requirements to operate a recreational vehicle park. The list mentions accessory uses permitted in a park. The accessory uses include:

management headquarters, recreational facilities, restrooms, dumping stations, shower, laundry facilities, and other uses and structures customarily incidental to operation of a recreational vehicle park.

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Spokane Gun Club's proposed shooting range would sit near Fairchild Air Force Base (Fairchild). As a result, the club's proposed range lies inside the Spokane County Zoning Code's Fairchild Air Force Base Overlay Zone (military airport overlay zone or overlay zone). SCZC 14.702A.100. The zoning code prohibits incompatible uses to the overlay zone. One code section prohibits uses catalogued as "high intensity uses" if the use encourages concentrations of people exceeding 180 persons per net acre. SCZC 14.702A.430(3). This list includes "spectator sports." SCZC 14.702A.430(3). SCZC 14.702A.430(3) further precludes other uses regardless of the number of persons attracted:

Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, non-aviation related museums, libraries, race tracks, hotels, motels, resorts, group camps, non-aviation related colleges and universities, participant sports and recreation, amusement parks, recreational vehicle parks, entertainment uses, cultural facilities, public assembly facilities (concert halls, theaters, stadiums, amphitheaters, arenas, community centers, churches and similar facilities) are not permitted.

SCZC 14.702A.430(3) (emphasis added).

In 2019, the Spokane Gun Club sought a conditional use permit from the Spokane County Planning Department to develop the shooting range within the rural traditional zone. In a July 11, 2019 letter from President John Cushman of the Spokane Gun Club to neighbors of the proposed gun range, Cushman wrote, in part:

The project scope includes a club house, storage/maintenance facility, trap/skeet stations and related sitework for access, landscaping, utilities, parking and site security. Open site areas will be improved to

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provide "dry camping" for RV's attending Regional and State level competitions. Additional scope may include a fully contained pistol range, a sporting clay course, 5-Stand shooting, International Trap and utility connections for short-term RV use at periodic events. Inclusion of any part of these additional scope elements will be dependent on the design response, regulatory approval, and funds available.

Facilities will be sized to accommodate State and Regional competitive events.

Administrative Record (AR) at 503 (emphasis added).

During a conference with the Spokane County Planning Department, the Spokane Gun Club disclosed that the public will enjoy access to the gun range. An August 21, 2019 letter from the club to the planning department stated that the new range would provide sport opportunities not only to club members, but to the public.

In January 2020, the gun club submitted to the county an updated operations plan, which proposed the following hours of operation:

The site will be open from 10:00 a.m. to dusk on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Days and hours of operation may be restricted or expanded depending on expected usage, demand, or multi-day events. Maximum operating hours

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