Buechel v. Department of Ecology

Facts of Case

This case involves review of a Shorelines Hearings Board decision denying a landowner’s application for a variance to allow the building of a residence on Hood Canal.

In 1983, Richard Buechel (hereafter the landowner) purchased a narrow waterfront lot which lies between the Hood Canal shoreline and State Highway 106. The property had an "urban residential” zoning classification which requires a minimum 10,000-square-foot lot in order to build a structure on a shoreline and requires the structure to be set back at least 15 feet from the line of ordinary high water. The land owner…