Peter J. Eglick, Partner. VCard

Our Team

Peter Eglick has practiced in Washington since 1979. He has represented clients before numerous local hearing examiners and agencies, the Washington Shorelines Hearings Board, the Growth Management Hearings Board, trial and appellate courts, including the Washington Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has been designated annually by his peers as a Washington Law and Politics "Super Lawyer," and has annually received Martindale Hubbell's peer review rating of "AV Preeminent."

Mr. Eglick has litigated matters under the Growth Management Act since its inception, starting with Robison v. Bainbridge Island (in which he represented the Bainbridge Island School District as well as the South Bainbridge Island Community Association) and the West Seattle Defense Fund series of cases, and later including successful defense of a City of Bothell revised GMA Comprehensive Plan.

Recently, Mr. Eglick and his partner, Josh Whited, represented Friends of Sammamish Valley and a coalition of local farming and co-op organizations before the Growth Management Hearings Board, twice obtaining Board decisions invalidating a King County ordinance that weakened protections against urban sprawl in the King County Rural Area and Agricultural zones.

Both Mr. Eglick and his partner Josh Whited regularly advise longstanding homeowner association clients and both have represented them in litigation concerning enforcement of HOA covenants and regulations.

Mr. Eglick, along with partner Josh Whited, was lead counsel for the City of Puyallup in City of Puyallup v. Pierce County, et al., 8 Wn. App. 2d 323. This published first-of-its-kind decision under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) upheld Puyallup's assumption of SEPA lead agency status from the original lead agency (Pierce County) as well as Puyallup's order for preparation of an environmental impact statement on a warehouse complex for which the County had issued a Determination of Nonsignificance.

Mr. Eglick was lead counsel and successfully argued as Puyallup counsel in Homeward Bound in Puyallup v. Cent. Puget Sound Growth Mgmt. Hr'gs Bd., et al., 517 P.3d 1098 (2022) for reasonable discretion and deference for the City in its Code chapter concerning Homeless Drop-In Centers and Overnight Shelters.

Mr. Eglick also serves as lead counsel with his partner Josh Whited in representing HUSH (Helicopters Unsafe Here) concerning a private helistop situated among high rises in a densely populated area of downtown Bellevue.

Mr. Eglick successfully defended the City of Olympia's denial of a major national developer's proposed village master plan due to its failure to comply with transit requirements in SSHI LLC v. City of Olympia, 2013 Wash.App. LEXIS 2296, 2013 WL 5436406 (2013).

Mr. Eglick and Mr. Whited were also counsel for the Committee for the Preservation of the Seattle Federal Reserve Bank Building in its efforts, under the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, to prevent the demolition of the former Seattle Federal Reserve Bank Building in downtown Seattle. As a result of successful litigation conducted by Mr. Eglick and partner Josh Whited in Comm. for the Pres. of the Seattle FRB Bldg. v. FRB of San Francisco, et al., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26084, 2010 WL 1138407 (2010), the structure was placed on the National Register and its significant features have now been restored and preserved within a larger development.

In addition to their other clientele, Mr. Eglick and his partner have served over the years as outside counsel in various individual matters for area municipalities including the cities of Auburn, Bothell, Brier, Covington, Federal Way, Mercer Island, Olympia, Port Townsend (ethics hearing officer), Sammamish, Sequim, Snohomish and Woodinville. Mr. Eglick was also lead counsel for the Airport Communities Coalition composed of the five South King County cities (Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Normandy Park and Tukwila) seeking mitigation for the construction of the SeaTac third runway.

Mr. Eglick has also been a lecturer/author on land use matters at Continuing Legal Education seminars for lawyers and other professionals in the field. These lectures and publications have addressed topical questions in land use and environmental law as well as ethical issues which confront practitioners.