An
application for current use classification or reclassification
under RCW 84.34.020(3) shall be made to the county legislative
authority.
(1) The application shall be made upon forms prepared by the
department of revenue and supplied by the granting authority and
shall include the following elements that constitute a timber
management plan:
(a) A legal description of, or assessor's parcel numbers
for, all land the applicant desires to be classified as timber
land;
(b) The date or dates of acquisition of the land;
(c) A brief description of the timber on the land, or if the
timber has been harvested, the owner's plan for restocking;
(d) Whether there is a forest management plan for the land;
(e) If so, the nature and extent of implementation of the
plan;
(f) Whether the land is used for grazing;
(g) Whether the land has been subdivided or a plat filed
with respect to the land;
(h) Whether the land and the applicant are in compliance
with the restocking, forest management, fire protection, insect
and disease control, weed control, and forest debris provisions
of Title 76 RCW or applicable rules under Title 76 RCW;
(i) Whether the land is subject to forest fire protection
assessments pursuant to RCW 76.04.610;
(j) Whether the land is subject to a lease, option, or other
right that permits it to be used for a purpose other than growing
and harvesting timber;
(k) A summary of the past experience and activity of the
applicant in growing and harvesting timber;
(l) A summary of current and continuing activity of the
applicant in growing and harvesting timber;
(m) A statement that the applicant is aware of the potential
tax liability involved when the land ceases to be classified as
timber land.
(2) An application made for classification of land under RCW 84.34.020(3) shall be acted upon after a public hearing and after
notice of the hearing is given by one publication in a newspaper
of general circulation in the area at least ten days before the
hearing. Application for classification of land in an
incorporated area shall be acted upon by: (a) A granting
authority composed of three members of the county legislative
body and three members of the city legislative body in which the
land is located in a meeting where members may be physically
absent but participating through telephonic connection; or (b)
separate affirmative acts by both the county and city legislative
bodies where both bodies affirm the entirety of an application
without modification or both bodies affirm an application with
identical modifications.
(3) The granting authority shall act upon the application
with due regard to all relevant evidence and without any one or
more items of evidence necessarily being determinative, except
that the application may be denied for one of the following
reasons, without regard to other items:
(a) The land does not contain a stand of timber as defined
in chapter 76.09 RCW and applicable rules, except this reason
shall not alone be sufficient to deny the application (i) if the
land has been recently harvested or supports a growth of brush or
noncommercial type timber, and the application includes a plan
for restocking within three years or the longer period
necessitated by unavailability of seed or seedlings, or (ii) if
only isolated areas within the land do not meet minimum standards
due to rock outcroppings, swamps, unproductive soil, or other
natural conditions;
(b) The applicant, with respect to the land, has failed to
comply with a final administrative or judicial order with respect
to a violation of the restocking, forest management, fire
protection, insect and disease control, weed control, and forest
debris provisions of Title 76 RCW or applicable rules under Title 76 RCW;
(c) The land abuts a body of salt water and lies between the
line of ordinary high tide and a line paralleling the ordinary
high tide line and two hundred feet horizontally landward from
the high tide line.
(4) The timber management plan must be filed with the county
legislative authority either: (a) When an application for
classification under this chapter is submitted; (b) when a sale
or transfer of timber land occurs and a notice of continuance is
signed; or (c) within sixty days of the date the application for
reclassification under this chapter or from designated forest
land is received. The application for reclassification shall be
accepted, but shall not be processed until the timber management
plan is received. If the timber management plan is not received
within sixty days of the date the application for
reclassification is received, the application for
reclassification shall be denied.
If circumstances require it, the county assessor may allow
in writing an extension of time for submitting a timber
management plan when an application for classification or
reclassification or notice of continuance is filed. When the
assessor approves an extension of time for filing the timber
management plan, the county legislative authority may delay
processing an application until the timber management plan is
received. If the timber management plan is not received by the
date set by the assessor, the application or the notice of
continuance shall be denied.
The granting authority may approve the application with
respect to only part of the land that is described in the
application, and if any part of the application is denied, the
applicant may withdraw the entire application. The granting
authority, in approving in part or whole an application for land
classified pursuant to RCW 84.34.020(3), may also require that
certain conditions be met.
Granting or denial of an application for current use
classification is a legislative determination and shall be
reviewable only for arbitrary and capricious actions. The
granting authority may not require the granting of easements for
land classified pursuant to RCW 84.34.020(3).
The granting authority shall approve or disapprove an
application made under this section within six months following
the date the application is received.
[2009 c 350 § 14; 2002 c 315 § 2; 1992 c 69 § 20.]