SSHI LLC dba DR Horton v. City of Olympia

Developer DR Horton challenged the City of Olympia’s denial of its master plan application for an 80-acre “neighborhood village.” In its challenge under the Washington Land Use Petition Act, DR Horton claimed, among other things, that the City Council erred in denying the application for failure to satisfy public transit requirements. In an unpublished opinion, the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s orders dismissing the petition. With respect to the public transit requirements, the appellate court held that the Council had not erred in concluding that the proposed master plan failed to satisfy transit requirements. The court also concluded that the public transit requirement did not violate the developer’s substantive due process rights because it was grounded in the legitimate public purpose of reducing greenhouse gases.