Discrimination or just a delay?

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Come and get it.

If Island County Planning Director Phil Bakke could post a sign outside the county building it would say “We are trying to issue Gilbert F. Cuadra a building permit.”

Bakke’s sign would be in answer to a banner Cuadra hung across the front of his Greenbank building, a sign that accuses Phil Bakke of holding up his building permit. But what is not on the sign is the fact that Cuadra, a Hispanic man, is claiming that the county is discriminating against him on the basis of race.

Cuadra and his wife, Susan, own the former Greenbank fire station on Highway 525. This week, they hung a banner across the front of the building claiming that Island County’s permitting process is standing in the way of their work to remodel the station.

While the sign has the ability to inspire a wry laugh out of a passing motorist, there is nothing funny about the situation for the Cuadras.

“I will not rule out taking this as far as a lawsuit,” Susan Cuadra said Tuesday, a day after she and her husband posted the sign on their building. “This is not a good way for the county to be to be treating it residents. It’s just not fair.”

In March 2002, the Cuadras were issued an informal stop-work order by county inspectors for remodeling the old fire station without a permit. In April, the Cuadras applied for a building permit to remodel the station into an office.

Susan Cuadra said she and her husband met the additional requirements of the county building code in August 2002 and worked with an architect to ensure they met the requirements of the code.

In an interview Monday, Bakke said this is not so. He said remodel plans submitted to the county were rough and incomplete.

“We have been ready to issue the building permit since July 2003, as long as Cuadra pays the appropriate fees and meets the conditions of the permit,” he said, maintaining his stance that their construction permit is incomplete.

In a letter to the Cuadra’s attorney, Bakke stated that the delay in issuing a building permit was caused by the Cuadra’s failure to submit energy code worksheets and to submit a plan showing how the building would comply with handicap accessibility requirements.

Susan Cuadra claims she and her husband submitted these in August 2002.

And so it has gone between the planning department and the Cuadra’s, without resolution. Cuadra said the county continues to ask for more requirements be met, while Bakke maintains that his department is ready to issue a permit as soon as it has the information it needs.

“We didn’t expect a rubber stamp,” she said.

Over the months and years, the Cuadras’ response has been a barrage of letters and e-mails threatening Bakke with a lawsuit and asking for information on how the county dealt with other building projects in Greenbank along Highway 525. In addition, the couple claims discriminatory treatment.

In a nine-page letter sent to Bakke on Jan. 6, 2004, the Cuadras claim “the planning staff and Bakke are engaged in discriminatory practices intended to deny me (Gilbert Cuadra) a Hispanic businessman and a licensed real estate broker the opportunity to open business in my Greenbank building.”

The letter further states that a “reasonable person reviewing these records could easily see that your office has two sets of standards, one standard for non-Hispanics and other standards for Hispanics. The effect of this double standard is a failure to treat people equally under the law.”

Bakke could not respond to this charge Monday due to the threat of a lawsuit.

The Cuadras are asking public officials at both the state and federal levels to investigate the county’s actions. They will also ask the National Council of La Raza to further investigate the case. In addition, the couple has asked the Seattle Times to assign an investigative reporter tell their story.

There has been some back and forth over the issue indicating that both sides bear some responsibility. After the couple and the county cleared up the stop-work order, Bakke wrote a letter to the Cuadras in June 2002 apologizing for the delay and informing them the county would “swiftly review future submittals.

In an e-mail between the planning department and the Cuadras on Dec. 21, 2002 the county’s building permit coordinator wrote that she and Bakke had signed off on the permit but they were waiting for county’s building official “to do his thing.”

matter.

Bakke said Island County has worked in good faith to resolve the dispute.

“All parties need to work diligently to permits processed but because Mr. Cuadra has threatened a lawsuit we have had to seek legal outside legal council,” Bakke said.

Meanwhile, the paperwork continues to mount. The Cuadra files at the county are about three inches thick with letters and e-mails from several attorneys. The Cuadras have kept their own files in three-ring binders that are as hefty.

The Cuadras have requested — under the states public disclosure law — a number of building permits, designs and correspondence between the county and these other permit applicants. They have also requested a list of commercial permits issued since March 2002 when they started their process.

Island County’s Bakke said he wants resolve this issue quickly, but noted he also has other permits and duties to handle.