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Experience
Land Use, Environmental, and Real Estate
Land Use and Environmental Counseling
- Lead land use and environmental due diligence and permitting review for real estate investment trusts (REITs), pension funds, and private equity investors in acquisition of urban and suburban mixed-use, residential, commercial, industrial, hotel, and office projects in Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Tacoma, Everett, Vancouver, and several other Washington cities.
- Lead land use and municipal law counsel for Oak View Group and Seattle Arena Company in their agreements with the city of Seattle and permits and environmental review processes for the major, privately financed redevelopment of the landmarked arena at Seattle Center, Climate Pledge Arena, helping it to attract a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, the Seattle Kraken.
- Lead counsel for development, permitting, operations, planning, development agreements, service contracts, and other permitting and approvals problem-solving for data centers, with focus in the Pacific Northwest, California, and southwest United States.
- Advises utilities and developers regarding energy infrastructure siting, permitting, real estate documents, condemnation, and development issues. These include interstate and international electric transmission facilities, hydroelectric projects, solar projects, wind projects, hydrogen production and distribution projects, electric distribution lines and substations, electric vehicle charging stations, thermal projects, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines, and storage facilities.
- Advised developer/owner in due diligence and permitting for acquisition and development of Lincoln Square, a mixed-use retail, office, hotel, and residential project in Bellevue, Washington; and in permitting and approvals to add 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use development through Lincoln Square expansion project. Lead land use and environmental review counsel for development, permitting, operations, planning, and problem-solving for corporate office headquarters and campuses.
- Counsel private and public clients regarding structure and scope of environmental review processes, mitigation, and documentation under federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requirements.
- Advise property owners regarding federal, state, and local historic landmark designation proceedings and related documents and programs.
- Advised food bank distributor nonprofit Food Lifeline and local food banks (University District Food Bank, Rainier Valley Food Bank, and Ballard Food Bank) regarding site acquisitions and development of new facilities for program and service expansion.
- Negotiated purchase and development agreement and advised MainStreet Property Group in acquisition and development of Six Oaks, Spencer 68, The Linq, and The Junction projects in Bothell and Kenmore, Washington.
- Developed and implemented successful legislative strategies for rezone, comprehensive plan amendments, impact fees adjustments, and establishment of incentive programs (floor area ratio (FAR), green building, affordable housing, transit-oriented development) for private, public, and municipal corporation.
- Advised large natural resource company in site permitting and environmental review for development of a large potash storage and export facility at port terminal site in Washington state.
- Conduct land use and real estate due diligence for multiple corporate clients in mergers and acquisitions involving real estate assets and advised regarding future entitlement, use, expansion, and financing/assignment opportunities.
- Developed and implemented wetland mitigation banking, conservation easements, transfer of development rights (TDR), and other open space and conservation transactions.
- Advised developers and owners in preparation and approval of project master plans, phasing plans, subdivision approvals, binding site plans, and boundary line adjustments for development of large, multiphase urban developments.
- Developed permitting strategy and advised on implementation of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building, and Energy Star certification processes; counseled regarding corporate sustainability and facility policies; and contracting and permitting related to same.
- Counsel private and public clients regarding cultural resource issues and negotiation of agreements with Native American tribes regarding development activities.
- Develop permitting strategy and conducted due diligence for industrial developments involving leases from state or federal agencies.
- Performed siting analysis and assisted in agreement negotiations for aerospace manufacturing facility development.
- Advising school districts in preparation and defense of permits for school construction, capital facilities plans, Growth Management Act (GMA) impact fee proceedings, and mitigation under SEPA and Subdivision Act.
Real Estate and Land Use Agreements
- Successfully negotiated development agreements with multiple Washington cities regarding development of public-private partnership projects and phased, mixed-use, and multifamily developments.
- Advising public-private partnership clients (developers and municipal corporations) regarding transactional documents; municipal financing; municipal procedures and constitutional, statutory, code, and regulatory compliance; and infrastructure planning opportunities.
- Counseled clients regarding land use and environmental due diligence and successfully negotiated agreements with agencies and other parties to enable development of mixed-use, residential, commercial, industrial, hotel, and office projects.
- Advising public agencies in negotiating and implementing interlocal agreements, joint planning and annexation agreements, intergovernmental disposition of property agreements, lead agency agreements, and jointly managed construction and acquisition agreements.
Land Use and Environmental Litigation
- Successfully represented citizen petitioners in state growth management hearings board and land use petition challenges to city contract that improperly amended comprehensive plan and growth management policies.
- Represented project developer/permittee as defendant-intervenor in a federal court challenge to agency issuance of Clean Water Act permit for a hydroelectric project. Won dismissal of lawsuit and affirmance of judgment on appeal.
- Represented project developer in defense of city-issued permits and SEPA environmental record and in successful settlement of land use appeal involving over 100 pro se
- Successfully settled claims regarding a Washington state agency's condemnation of commercial/retail investment property.
- Successfully defended utility in land use petition and shoreline hearings board challenges to shoreline permits.
- Represented project developer/licensee in successful defense of federal court challenge to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license for operation and construction of improvements to a hydroelectric project.
- Successfully defended school district in state land use petition challenge to its permit and SEPA environmental review record for new high school construction.
- Represented school district regarding school impact fee collection and vesting issues. Won dismissal of state land use petition and affirmance of judgment on appeal.
- Successfully defended school district in state land use petition challenge to city’s conditional use permit condition regarding age-restricted development and collection of school impact fees.
- Negotiated settlements of lease disputes, especially regarding options to purchase, tenant improvements, and common area maintenance.
Energy
Project Development
- Advising utilities and developers/investors regarding energy infrastructure siting, permitting, real estate documents, and development issues, including interstate and international electric transmission facilities; hydroelectric projects; solar projects; wind projects; hydrogen production and distribution projects; electric distribution lines and substations; electric vehicle charging stations; thermal projects; and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines, and storage facilities.
Project Financing and Contracts
- Counseling utilities and developers/investors regarding local, state, and federal legislative policies affecting financing (e.g., environmental review and permitting related to federal and state grant programs).
- Advising utilities and developers/investors regarding federal, state, and local grants; production tax credits; contracting and compliance related to generation and trading of environmental attributes (e.g., renewable energy credits); and financing agreements.
- Assisting private property owners with negotiation of contracts regarding distributed generation, net metering, and energy services contracting (i.e., thermal heating, rooftop solar leases).
Regulatory Counseling, Compliance and Administrative Litigation
- Represented energy clients and intervenors in administrative proceedings before regulatory bodies, including the FERC and Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. These proceedings including hydroelectric license and preliminary permit processes, rulemakings, petitions for declaratory orders, and compliance filings.
- Advising companies in legislative proceedings at local, state, and federal levels regarding the impacts of proposed legislation and assisting in the drafting of alternative legislative bills, amendments, and communications.
- Counseling companies regarding current and potential federal, state, and local climate change regulations, including cap and trade programs, carbon tax or pricing, NEPA/SEPA environmental review, legislative proceedings, agency rulemakings, and executive orders.
Federal and State Court Litigation
- Represented project developer/permittee as defendant-intervenor in a federal court challenge to agency issuance of Clean Water Act permit for a hydroelectric project. Won dismissal of lawsuit and affirmance of judgment on appeal.
- Represented project developer/licensee as defendant-intervenor in federal court challenge to FERC issuance of hydroelectric license for 50-megawatt project.
- Represented project developer/federal licensee and permittee in multiple state and local administrative appeal and appellate court proceedings related to Coastal Zone Management Act consistency determination and Water Quality Certification for hydroelectric project.
