GMA & Land Use Litigation
As a deputy prosecutor for almost a decade, Ryan provided legal advice to the Skagit County Planning Department and Board of County Commissioners. Working with the litigants and advising the county through program development, Ryan resolved Skagit County's final two GMA compliance cases, making Skagit County compliant with GMA for the first time.
SB 5290 Implementation
Cities and counties are facing challenges implementing the Legislature's permit procedures reform bill, SB 5290 (2023), which requires implementation measures by January 1, 2025. Ryan has provided advice and written implementing procedures for several jurisdictions, from comprehensive overhauls to quick fixes, and is the legal advisor to the state Department of Commerce's implementation of SB 5290.
Code Updates
Ryan has worked on municipal code update projects large and small, including:
- City of Issaquah Development Code Permit Procedures
- City of Stanwood Municipal Code Update
- Samish Nation code update and development code
- Skagit County Dangerous Dogs code
- Skagit County Dangerous Wild Animals code
- Skagit County Bayview Ridge Subarea Plan
- Skagit County Permit Procedures Code Update
- Skagit County Shoreline Master Program regulations
- Skagit County Transfer of Development Rights program regulations
As an Anacortes City Councilmember, Ryan has drafted and shepherded to adoption:
- Permit Procedures Update for SB5290 compliance [pending]
- Unified Development Code Permit Procedures
- Lodging Tax and Advisory Committee regulations
- Parks and forestlands regulations
- Comprehensive criminal code update
- Parking code, including towing of vehicles used as a residence
- Acceptance of Donations and Interests in Real Property
- Appointive Officers
Program Development
Following Skagit County's victory at the state Supreme Court, as a prosecutor and then as assistant planning director, Ryan represented Skagit County in the decade-long statewide SSB 5248 Ruckelshaus Center process to resolve the problem of riparian protection in agricultural areas, and led the County through revisions to its critical areas regulations for ongoing agriculture and adoption of its first Voluntary Stewardship Program.
Ryan has drafted strategic plans for Skagit County (2017), City of Anacortes tourism promotion (2016), and the Samish Nation (2021).
As a City Councilmember, Ryan led Anacortes through successful passage of three ballot measures: a levy lid lift for fire/medics and police offices; an affordable housing program with state sales tax rebate; and a pavement management program.
Conservation Easements
At Skagit County, Ryan worked with the Farmland Legacy Program, funded by a conservation futures tax levied under RCW 84.34.230, which over more than 25 years has preserved more than 10% of the County's designated agricultural land from residential or other non-agricultural development by buying development rights from willing sellers. According to a 2021 American Farmland Trust report, Skagit County's Farmland Legacy Program is one of the most successful farmland preservation programs in the country.
As the attorney for the program, Ryan advised the program through difficult negotiations with federal agency funding partners to resolve compliance problems with earlier executed easements. Working with the program's advisory committee in a year-long process, Ryan drafted a new plain-language easement template that is more easily understandable and usable by both landowners and the program administrators.
Training
Ryan teaches classes in the Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act to fulfill Washington State Open Government Trainings Act requirements. He has repeatedly taught the legal basis of planning as part of the Department of Commerce’s Short Course on Local Planning, and developed and taught a six-hour course on the history and operation of the Growth Management Act.