GMHB Decisions
Cost: Members – $30, Non-Members – $40, Students – Free
Several recent hearings board cases have addressed efforts of local jurisdictions to comply with new Growth Management Act amendments—specifically provisions addressing housing. This session will provide an update on these and other decisions of the Growth Management Hearings Board involving implementation of the GMA, the Shoreline Management Act, and the State Environmental Policy Act.
Speakers: Rick Eichstaedt & Phil Olbrechts
About the Speaker – Rick Eichstaedt:
Rick was appointed to the eastern Washington regional panel of the board in 2020. He previously served as the director of Gonzaga University’s environmental law clinic representing organizations and individuals on a variety of environmental and land use matters in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. He started his legal career as a staff attorney for the Nez Perce Tribe in north-central Idaho. During his seven years with the Tribe, he worked on a wide variety of water right, environmental, natural resource, cultural resource, and treaty rights protection cases. Mr. Eichstaedt also served as the executive director of the Center for Justice, a Spokane-based public interest law firm. Mr. Eichstaedt has a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and political science from Hamline University and a law degree with a certificate in environmental and natural resource law from the Northwest School of Law of Lewis and Clark College. Mr. Eichstaedt is licensed to practice law in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, as well as federal courts in all three states, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has published articles on environmental and natural resources in various journals and legal publications.
About the Speaker – Phil Olbrechts
Phil has been serving as a hearing examiner and city attorney for more than 30 jurisdictions over the past 25+ years. He has made hundreds of presentations on land use law to planners and other attorneys throughout the state. He has served as a planning director for two jurisdictions, served on the Seattle and Clallam County Planning Commissions, and taught land use law at the University of Washington Department of Urban Design and Planning. He currently hosts the Municipal Research and Services Center bi-yearly case law updates, and he created and presented the original boot camps for the Planning Association of Washington.