Columbia Legal Services (CLS) announced on Feb. 14 that it would join more than 60 community organizations in their attempt to stop the construction of a new youth detention center that King County plans to replace the existing facility at 12th Avenue and Alder Street.
The move, led by Ending the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC), challenges the decision by the city of Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) to allow the approval of a master use permit, the last procedural hurdle before the controversial project can move forward.
EPIC appealed the decision to the Office of the Hearing Examiner in early January. SDCI announced the approval on Dec. 22, just days before the winter holidays, a move that opponents believe was calculated to hurt their chances of filing a timely appeal. The appeal window is 14 calendar days, irrespective of weekends or holidays.
CLS will join the law firm of Smith & Lowney to represent EPIC, which has been fighting the youth detention center for five years since the measure, and the taxes needed to pay for it, were approved by voters in 2012.
EPIC and dozens of other social justice organizations argue that the plans for the detention center have changed over the course of time, changes so substantial that they merit an additional environmental review under the State Environmental Protection Act. They also asked the Hearing Examiner to consider the impact that the facility will have on the community, such as the damage done to children while incarcerated, the disproportionate number of Black and Brown children behind bars and the taxation burden, during the appeal.
City and county attorneys responded that it’s too late to appeal many of the environmental concerns, a process that would have had to take place in January 2014 when the county first published its declaration that environmental concerns at the site could be mitigated. They also assert that many of the issues raised by EPIC can’t be heard by the Hearing Examiner anyway, including issues of social policy and points about racial discrimination or economics, referencing the taxation argument.
The next scheduled hearing in the case is April 10.