Chelan County District Court Mandated to Hold Court Hearing for Noise Complaint Case Against Grace City Church
The City of Wenatchee’s noise violation case against Grace City Church will require a new hearing after Chelan County Superior Court determined that Chelan County District Court failed to submit their local rules.
Superior Court Clerk Marty Young mandated this case to District Court on Monday, affirming Chelan County Superior Court Judge Kristin Ferrera’s legal findings.
On May 11, Judge Ferrera wrote that the local rules used to dismiss this case were not enacted properly, requiring a new court hearing.
This case began when city attorneys filed a case against Grace City Church last year, after receiving multiple noise complaints from neighbors between May 2021 and February 2022.
Grace City Church is an evangelical church located in the Sunnyslope area of Wenatchee.
On April 26, 2022, Judge Pro Tempore Jon Volyn dismissed this case in District Court after receiving written statements from Grace City Church staff.
The case reached Superior Court in May of 2022, after the city appealed the District Court’s decision to dismiss their case based on written statements, rather than a court hearing.
Earlier in January, Judge Ferrera wrote to both parties asking for additional information on the local rules process between 2015-22.
Then in March, Judge Ferrera reversed District Court’s dismissal of this case a year prior to her ruling, ordering the court to conduct a new hearing.
Both legal parties were ordered to submit the Administration Office of the Courts (AOC) instructions to Chelan County District Court on local rule submissions between that timeframe.
They were also told to submit copies of those submissions between 2016 to 2022 to the AOC.
According to court records, District Court sent copies of local rules to the AOC in 2013, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Judge Ferrera concluded that the District Court failed to properly notify AOC of this local rule since 2019.
The court also found that the city was not at fault for their delay in filing their brief, due to the court failing to issue a briefing schedule in time.
There is currently no date set for the new hearing.
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