Land Use and Administrative Hearing Examiners

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Attorneys Yoshi Kumara and Peregrin Sorter serve as Hearing Examiners for land use application hearings for several jurisdictions in Washington.  Our Hearings Examiners are experienced in all types of land use applications, from relatively simple single-family residential variances to multi-permit mixed-use development projects and complex development proposals requiring analysis of state and local environmental and shoreline regulations.  We understand that people may have strong and sometimes opposing views about development projects in their community.  Our Hearing Examiners strive to create an atmosphere that is welcoming, informative for all hearing participants, and where every perspective is heard and appropriately considered in an efficient and orderly manner. 

Laminar Law also provides our jurisdictions with hearing examiner services related to all manners of administrative appeals, including appeals from administrative land use decisions, threshold determinations and final environmental impact statements under the State Environmental Policy Act, notices of violation, denial or revocation of business licenses, and code interpretations.  To ensure an efficient and fair appeal hearing process, our Hearing Examiner’s provide clear instructions to the parties on their responsibilities for the filing of exhibits, motions, and briefs, and for the presentation of evidence and witness testimony at the hearing, either through a written prehearing order and/or though introductory remarks at the outset of the hearing.  Our Hearing Examiners and support team endeavor to consistently produce appeal decisions that are clear, concise, and justified by a thorough legal analysis.   

In addition, Laminar Law provides code enforcement hearings for several of our jurisdictions, including monthly code enforcement hearings for the City of Bremerton.  During a code enforcement hearing, our Hearing Examiners are focused on trying to resolve code violations.  We strive to provide a forum where a person accused of a code violation understands the basis for the allegation, the evidence in support, and any corrective actions required to remedy a proven violation.  Our Hearing Examiners have found that the parties to a code enforcement matter often share a mutual goal of resolving alleged code violations and, when appropriate, our hearing examiners may help to facilitate mutual agreement between the code enforcement office and the responsible party on the needed corrective actions and timeline for compliance.