Tulip Valley Farms pair back in court

Tulip Valley Farms proprietor Andrew Miller and Mount Vernon farmer Larry Jensen are named defendants in Skagit County Superior Court for pretrial hearings March 21 with the Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office for the August 2023 lawsuit the county filed for the lack of permits on Jensen’s Bradshaw Road property.

The county restated that list: “The defendants never obtained permits for this development, even after a stop-work order was issued - no building permit, no county road access permit, no fill and grade permit, no floodplain permit, no temporary event permit” in its motion for default and default judgment filed March 13.

The original complaint sought court confirmation that the violations are a public nuisance, to permanently enjoin them, and order Jensen and Miller to abate them. Jensen first filed a motion Sept. 8, 2023, to dismiss the case.

Jensen’s March 1, 2024, notice of motion is his fifth dismissal attempt. Judge Laura Riquelme signed an order Dec. 18, 2023, denying all Jensen’s motions after a summary judgment hearing Dec. 14. She also denied Jensen’s jurisdictional motion.

Thursday’s hearing is on Jensen’s motion for “writ of quo warranto,” a common law practice used to challenge a person’s right to hold a public office. His Sept. 8 motion to dismiss claimed the prosecutor lacked “lawful authority to perform any official action, including filing the complaint against the Defendant,” on the grounds that Prosecuting Attorney Rick Weyrich and the county commissioners did not “file the official bonds” on time when they were sworn in after their elections.

Deputy prosecutor Jason D’Avignon told the Weekly News Monday that the county has “tried to work with Jensen for a settlement.” He said that “Jensen, as landowner, has declined to sign on to permits for his property.”

The county’s motion for default and default judgment again seeks “an order enjoining defendant’s nuisance, authorizing Skagit County to abate the nuisance, assigning the costs as a lien on the property.”