It's been at the heart of the zoning controvery for over a year. For the city of Woodinville the nightmare never seems to end after the now famous illegable survey map and one-page CCR containing the legal description, utility easements and a boilerplate road dedication were submitted by Phoenix Development. It was packaged in over 650 pages of records for the hearing examiner, Phoenix's building application for the infamous Montevello.
It seems like yesterday that the outsourced hearing examiner Greg Smith ruled in favor of Phoenix. Their victory was not long lasting however - the Woodinville City Council swiftly voted the ruling moot to which Phoenix filed a 5 million dollar lawsuit against the city...which they also lost and is currently in the Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile the little road still breaths. Residents Todd & Susan Huso discovered late in the process while viewing the latest designs at the hearing examiner public hearing that the road they have been using to access the back of their property was erased.
When this was brought to the city and the city council, the city, council in tow, chose to align themselves with Phoenix.
By not requiring a road vacation the city has usurped RCW 64.04.175 the state statute defining the only way to extinguish a publicly dedicated road is to go through a vacation.
Taking that position is risky if they can't convince the Huso's to go away.
Should the courts determine that the defendents vacate the ROW, each abutting property owner has claim to the dirt to mid-line which is a bonus of 40 feet to those abutting property owners and 12 less building lots for Phoenix AND 12 less households to tax for the city.