News Release No. 2007-6
July 27, 2007
|
Judge Says 19-Acre Parcel Presumed To Be 20 Acres July 27, 2007 Whatcom County Judge Steven Mura ruled Thursday that under certain circumstances a County government must treat a parcel of land as if it is larger than it really is. The judge ruled in favor of the owners of a parcel on San Juan Island who had been denied permission to divide the land into two parcels, on the grounds that it would result in parcels smaller than the minimum 10 acres permitted in the district. "This ruling demonstrates that even mathematics and surveys are open to judicial interpretation," said Prosecutor Randall K. Gaylord. The matter came to the court on an appeal by Richard Durhack and Virginia Norgaard whose property deed describes the parcel in question as 1/32nd of a section of land. Because a section of land is 640 acres, the Durhacks argued that they are entitled to be treated under County land use ordinances as if their parcel is a full 20 acres, even though they acknowledge it is nearly an acre smaller than that. Since l998, the County Code has required land to be measured to the nearest 1/100th of an acre using either the Assessor's GIS figures or a recorded survey and the latest GIS mapping showed the parcel to be just 19.1 acres. The Durhacks do not dispute the measurement. However, Judge Mura said state law requires that a uniform method of measurement be used statewide, and uniformity requires the County to allow property owners to rely on the presumptive fractional acreages resulting from the original federal land surveys as long as a modern survey has not been recorded. Judge Mura's ruling means that, under state law, a landowner whose deed is written as a fraction of a section can rely on the presumption that the fraction is based on a full 640 acres whether that is accurate or not, unless a new survey has been recorded. According to Gaylord, the ruling runs counter to the desire to use the best information available to make decisions. "It is counterintuitive to say that the County Assessor knows a parcel to be 19.1 acres in size but the County Planner must presume the parcel is 20 acres," said Gaylord. Gaylord said that he will await a final, written ruling from the Court and then discuss the options for implementing the ruling or seeking review by the Court of Appeals. "Judge Mura said at the oral argument that he expected the County may want to appeal his decision, and we will certainly discuss that option with the County Council," said Gaylord. |