Weyerhaeuser Co. Remains In Neutral On Property Law 90,000 Signatures Needed To Bring Initiative 164 To Vote

The state’s largest private landowner won’t support Washington’s pending property rights law, a spokeswoman says.

The Weyerhaeuser Co. won’t go as far as working with environmentalists who are trying to repeal the law but plans to remain neutral in the fight.

Initiative 164, the citizens’ measure that passed the Legislature earlier this year, would require governments to pay property owners if any regulations decreased the value of their land.

Weyerhaeuser’s neutrality puts it at odds with several timber companies and an alliance of business interests.

Opponents of the law say it would prohibit local governments from enforcing zoning laws, put the Growth Management Act at risk and could bankrupt cities and counties as they were forced to pay for limitations on land development.

The signature drive last year to bring I-164 to the Legislature was fueled by a last-minute infusion of $200,000 from timber companies, builders and real estate agents.

A coalition of environmentalists and watchdog organizations is mounting a referendum effort to repeal the law.

If 90,000 valid signatures are collected by July 22, voters will decide in November whether the law should take effect. If the drive fails, the law takes effect next month.

“We are neutral on the referendum, and we did not support 164 during the legislative session,” Weyerhaeuser spokeswoman Montye Male said.

“We do believe that private-property rights are a critical issue for the company, but there is a broad acknowledgement that 164 has potential for problems because of its potential breadth and ambiguity,” she said.

Weyerhaeuser doesn’t think it’s appropriate to legislate by initiative or referendum “because that approach generally does not provide for careful consideration of opposing views,” Male said.

Tom McCabe, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, a major supporter of the property rights measure, said Weyerhaeuser is conspicuous by its absence in the campaign.

The same goes for The Boeing Co., which also has expressed neutrality, he said.

If the referendum ends up on the November ballot, other businesses not directly affected by the property rights fight may look at Boeing and Weyerhaeuser on the sidelines and decide this is not a fight they need to join, McCabe said.