Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project - land use and adjudication

Our Council conducted a land use consistency hearing on May 1, 2003, in Ellensburg, Washington, after which they issued Order No. 776 dated May 7, 2003, finding that the project was inconsistent with local land use plans and zoning ordinances.

Order 776 directed the applicant to attempt to resolve noncompliance issues with the local authorities within 90 days. Our Council agreed to several applicant-requested extensions of the 90-day deadline. However, on February 9, 2004, the applicant filed a request for preemption after determining that it could not achieve land use consistency through the county process. After several further requested delays in an attempt to resolve differences between the applicant and the county and to avoid preemption, our Council formally scheduled adjudicative proceedings to begin in September 2006 based on a renewed request for preemption filed in June 2006.

After careful consideration of the public record going back to the May 2003 land use consistency hearing and three days of adjudicative hearings in September 2006, a majority of our Council recommended preemption of Kittitas County's local Wind Farm Overlay Ordinance on March 27, 2007, as part of Council Order No. 826.

Prior to holding a formal Adjudicative Proceeding regarding the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project application, we issued a formal Notice of Intent to Hold Adjudicative Proceeding on May 6, 2003. Subsequent to that notice, we convened 14 pre-hearing conferences between June 2003 and September 2006, which resulted in the issuance of Prehearing Orders Nos. 1-26 (Council Orders Nos. 777, 778, 781, 782, 783, 786, 789, 790, 792, 793, 794, 795, 796, 799, 800, 801, 802, 804, 816, 817, 818, 819, 820, 821, 822, and 823).

On May 6, 2003, our Council issued its Notice of Intent to Hold Adjudicative Proceeding and set June 26, 2003, as the deadline to file petitions for intervention.

The adjudicative hearings were originally scheduled for August 2004 to discuss the application for site certification and the accompanying request for preemption. After scheduling the hearing, the Council postponed the adjudicative hearings until late September and early October 2004 to allow time for consideration of the Draft Supplemental EIS published on August 11, 2004.

On September 20, 2004, the applicant and Kittitas County filed a Joint Motion to Continue the adjudicative hearings so that both parties could prioritize another wind power application and could engage in further negotiations on resolving land use consistency issues. The Council granted the Joint Motion and postponed the matter indefinitely.

At a May 2006 public hearing, the Kittitas Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution formally denying the applicant's Development Activities Application. Shortly thereafter, the Council formally rescheduled the adjudicative proceeding to begin in September 2006.

The formal adjudicative proceeding took place from September 18-21, 2006, in Ellensburg, WA. Three evenings of public hearings also took place with one in Seattle on September 12 and two in Ellensburg on September 20 and 21.