Scablands Development Under Fire Critics Seek Injunction Against Whitman County Amendment

A Pullman attorney went to court Monday, seeking a temporary halt to any development in Whitman County’s scablands.

The injunction request marks the latest escalation in a battle over how, and how much, development should occur in the county.

“We will see her in court,” Whitman County Commissioner Les Wigen responded Monday.

Attorney Dawn Reynolds filed the request for an injunction Monday on behalf of three people - Pullman raptor researcher Lester Boyd, avid outdoorsman Scott Cornelius and Washington State University planner and former county Planning Commissioner Barbara Ryder. All three opposed recent changes in the county’s comprehensive plan.

Passed 2-1 late last month with support from commissioners Wigen and Hollis Jamison, the controversial Planned Residential Development (PRD) amendments to the county’s comprehensive plan opened up portions of southern and western Whitman County to low-density residential development.

The nontillable agricultural land - including areas along the Snake River breaks and Rock Lake - could only be developed in minimum parcels of 200 acres, with a maximum of 10 houses.

In their affidavits supporting the injunction request, the residents expressed concern that the changes would damage some of the county’s most sensitive environmental areas.

The county’s public process was flawed and “driven by the desire of public officials to pander to a few property rights advocates and developers at the expense of the public good,” Cornelius said in his affidavit.

Cornelius argued that recreation enthusiasts who use the land will suffer irreparable harm from development, and said struggling small towns wouldn’t be able to afford the infrastructure and services necessary to support the development.

Boyd, a Pullman falconer, argued that development would have a negative impact on raptors, especially prairie falcons and golden eagles nesting in the area.

In her affidavit, Ryder delivered a blistering attack on Whitman County’s planning process, alleging water-right concerns were dismissed, taxpayer money was squandered and special interests were given extra influence.

Ryder also said that by moving ahead with the development, Whitman County was ignoring a Thurston County judge’s ruling last fall that several of Whitman County’s critical areas ordinances - those governing aquifer recharge, flood plains and wildlife habitat - were not in compliance with the Growth Management Act.

Wigen said Monday he stands by his decision to approve the PRD amendments, which he believes were thoroughly and fairly researched.

He called allegations of a conflict of interest on the part of Rock Lake landowner Clinton Miller unfounded. Miller, a Planning Commission member, financed the writing of the ordinance and donated it to the Planning Commission, but did not participate in the decisionmaking process.

In the court motion, Reynolds argues that Miller had a conflict of interest because he owns land that he could develop under the new ordinance. The county should have put out to bid the job of writing the ordinances, rather than let that process be directed by Miller, she maintains. But Wigen said it was generous of Miller to donate the services of the Spokane planner that he hired.

“I figured this was a gift to Whitman County, that he took this on, on his own,” Wigen said. “It’s not just for him, it’s for the whole county.”

Whitman County has 20 days to respond to the request for an injunction.