Wash. Lawyer Sues Suburb Over Planned Salmon Hatchery at His Own Home
Bill Weinstein says officials in the Seattle suburb in which he is building a waterfront home agreed he could have a salmon hatchery there, as part of a settlement of earlier construction litigation.
But Bellevue officials say Weinstein is wrong. Now they are in court again, as the Washington state attorney argues in a U.S. District Court suit that the muncipality, unhappy over the 2004 settlement, is retaliating against him by citing him over new construction and environmental issues concerning his 5,000-square-foot home and its landscaping, reports the Seattle Times.
A mediation hearing is scheduled today.
Salmon are now few and far between in the Coal Creek area, and Weinstein contends his planned hatchery will help them thrive.
His battle to obtain an occupancy permit has now been ongoing for about a year. “It may be five years before I can move in,” Weinstein predicts.
A senior litigation attorney with the city declined the newspaper’s request for comment.
