Whenever any person is interested in the vacation of any subdivision or portion thereof, or any area designated or dedicated for public use, that person shall file an application for vacation with the legislative authority of the city, town, or county in which the subdivision is located. The application shall set forth the reasons for vacation and shall contain signatures of all parties having an ownership interest in that portion of the subdivision subject to vacation. If the subdivision is subject to restrictive covenants which were filed at the time of the approval of the subdivision, and the application for vacation would result in the violation of a covenant, the application shall contain an agreement signed by all parties subject to the covenants providing that the parties agree to terminate or alter the relevant covenants to accomplish the purpose of the vacation of the subdivision or portion thereof.

     When the vacation application is specifically for a county road or city or town street, the procedures for road vacation or street vacation in chapter 36.87 or 35.79 RCW shall be utilized for the road or street vacation. When the application is for the vacation of the plat together with the roads and/or streets, the procedure for vacation in this section shall be used, but vacations of streets may not be made that are prohibited under *RCW 35.79.030, and vacations of roads may not be made that are prohibited under RCW 36.87.130.

     The legislative authority of the city, town, or county shall give notice as provided in RCW 58.17.080 and 58.17.090 and shall conduct a public hearing on the application for a vacation and may approve or deny the application for vacation of the subdivision after determining the public use and interest to be served by the vacation of the subdivision. If any portion of the land contained in the subdivision was dedicated to the public for public use or benefit, such land, if not deeded to the city, town, or county, shall be deeded to the city, town, or county unless the legislative authority shall set forth findings that the public use would not be served in retaining title to those lands.

     Title to the vacated property shall vest with the rightful owner as shown in the county records. If the vacated land is land that was dedicated to the public, for public use other than a road or street, and the legislative authority has found that retaining title to the land is not in the public interest, title thereto shall vest with the person or persons owning the property on each side thereof, as determined by the legislative authority. When the road or street that is to be vacated was contained wholly within the subdivision and is part of the boundary of the subdivision, title to the vacated road or street shall vest with the owner or owners of property contained within the vacated subdivision.

     This section shall not be construed as applying to the vacation of any plat of state-granted tide or shore lands.

[1987 c 354 § 3.]

NOTES:

     *Reviser's note: After amendment by 1987 c 228 § 1, RCW 35.79.030 no longer prohibited vacations of streets. Limitations on vacations of streets abutting bodies of water are now found in RCW 35.79.035.