Culp v. City of Seattle

Andersen, A.C.J.

(concurring) — I concur that the decision of the trial court should be affirmed.

Boards of adjustment have considerable discretion. That discretion is not unlimited, however. What the Seattle Board of Adjustment did here was to try to stretch the meaning of the Seattle Zoning Code past what the Seattle City Council intended when it enacted that code.

The problem with stretching the definitions of the words "family" and "home" in the zoning code to achieve that which is felt to be socially desirable (that is, to allow special housing for retarded citizens to be established in single family residential neighborhoods) is that once stretched, the definition may also accommodate that which may not necessarily be so socially desirable, such as mini-prisons, for example.

As the learned trial judge pointed out in his oral decision, if the Seattle City Council, as the legislative branch of that city's government, considers it appropriate that homes such as are here at issue be established in residential neighborhoods, then the straightforward way of doing this is to amend the city's zoning ordinance to so provide.