A judge denied a motion related to a Freeland motel that is being transitioned into low-income housing, but the litigation is not over.
At a hearing Tuesday, Island County Superior Court Judge Carolyn Cliff declined to impose Freeland Concerned Citizens LLC’s request for a preliminary injunction, saying that preliminary injunctions an extraordinary and rare relief and that the LLC hasn’t shown a clear legal or equitable argument that it would likely prevail on the underlying lawsuit.
“Conspicuous by its absence, either in its material before the court or in oral argument, was a straightforward basis or explanation for the court of its legal basis to take the action sought,” Cliff said.
A hearing on the defendants’ summary-judgment motions to dismiss the underlying lawsuit is scheduled for a Sept. 16 hearing.
Last month, Freeland Concerned Citizens LLC filed an appeal and motion for preliminary injunction against Island County; the Low Income Housing Institute, a nonprofit organization known as LIHI; Lucky Bones, the former owner of the motel; the state Department of Commerce; and two commissioners individually. The plaintiff’s attorney, Randal Thiel of Bellevue, said Tuesday that the two commissioners were voluntarily dismissed from the lawsuit since they still hadn’t been served.
The lawsuit challenges the county commissioners’ 2-1 vote to provide LIHI with $1.5 million in recording fees to purchase Freeland’s Harbor Inn and convert it into a combination of bridge and supportive housing. LIHI already had a grant from the state.
The motion for a preliminary injunction asked the judge to set aside or void the transfer of funds, cancel any pending purchase and sales agreement and/or cancel any deeds to trust if the transaction is closed, which it is. The motion alleged Open Public Meetings Act violations.
About 20 people showed up for the hearing. Freeland Concerned Citizens LLC was represented by Thiel while three attorneys represented different plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.
Coupeville resident Gary Wray, one of the three “governors” of Freeland Concerned Citizens LLC, said after the hearing that he actually supports the Harbor Inn housing project and that he’s a long-time proponent of affordable housing projects; he’s a member of county’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board. He said he and the other members of the LLC were concerned about the process.
“I want the contract to succeed,” he said. “I just want it to be done right from the beginning.”
As attorneys and the judge pointed out Tuesday, Thiel changed his arguments in pleadings following the original motion for a preliminary injunction. The other attorneys said they didn’t even know which points to argue.
“What we’ve got today is not clarity, it’s massive confusion,” Island County Chief Civil Prosecutor Peter Smiley said.
In a recent filing, Thiel wrote that LIHI was accountable for a man’s recent death at the Harbor Inn, but he didn’t mention that in his oral arguments. He asked the court Tuesday to stop LIHI from all future development — maintain the status quo — until the underlying lawsuit was adjudicated, arguing that LIHI’s use of the motel violates zoning rules.
Cliff called the motion “a moving target.”
“In candor, it is not clear to this court, and it wasn’t for lack of trying, to determine whether FCC was still asking the court to cancel or nullify the sale of Harbor Inn until the case was fully adjudicated,” Cliff said.
Cliff questioned Thiel about how the Open Public Meetings Act was violated, pointing out that complaints about a generic lack of transparency is not a legal basis for action. In the end, she concluded that Freeland Concerned Citizens LLC did not appear to be asserting any OPMA violations.
As far as zoning codes, Cliff said Freeland Concerned Citizens LLC has not fleshed out its arguments over how the project violates land-use rules, but said she would be willing to listen to future arguments.
