The city department in charge of building permits asked the Seattle Hearing Examiner’s Office on March 20 to hold a hearing on a new motion by community organizations that oppose a proposed youth detention center, arguing that to do otherwise would be “unfair.”
A Seattle hearing examiner had dismissed an appeal by Ending the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC) and over 60 other groups on March 1, a final administrative hurdle to construction of the youth jail planned to replace the current facility in the Central District.
The appeal questioned a decision by the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SCDI) allowing the approval of a master use permit. Although SCDI joined King County to fight the initial appeal, the department sent in a letter of support of EPIC’s request to reconsider the dismissal, saying new arguments raised by the group should get their day in court.
The dismissal held that community groups did not have the ability to appeal SCDI’s decision in the first place. In its motion to reconsider, EPIC’s attorneys hold that they do based on city ordinances and actions by the City Council.