Olympic Stewardship Foundation v. State of Washington Environmental and Land Use Hearings Office

The Washington Court of Appeals upheld Jefferson County’s 2014 Shoreline Master Program, which is a combination of planning policies and development regulations that address shoreline uses and development. One party challenging the Master Program—Citizen’s Alliance for Property Rights Jefferson County (CAPR)—had argued that a provision in the Master Program goals section addressing climate change and sea-level rise was unconstitutionally vague. The court said that the Master Program guidelines acknowledged that policy goals might not be achievable and should only be pursued via development regulations that would unconstitutionally infringe on private property rights. The court rejected the argument that the provisions were vague and held that “CAPR’s mere assertions that the Master Program will be administered arbitrarily or capriciously are speculative and do not meet CAPR’s burden of proof to establish that the Master Program is unconstitutionally vague.”