The board has five members appointed by the governor for staggered, 6-year terms. Members are a mix of attorneys and former county or city elected officials, representing
three regions of the state.
Western Washington Region: This region includes all counties and cities west of the crest of the Cascade Mountains that are required to plan or choose to plan under the Growth Management Act but are not in the Central Puget Sound Board's jurisdictional boundaries.
Central Puget Sound Region: This region includes King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties and the cities within those counties.
Eastern Washington Region: This region includes all counties and cities east of the crest of the Cascade Mountains that are required to plan or choose to plan under the Growth Management Act.
Board Members
Rick Eichstaedt, Chair
Rick Eichstaedt was appointed to the eastern Washington regional panel of the board in 2020. He previously served as the director of Gonzaga University’s environmental law clinic representing organizations and individuals on a variety of environmental and land-use matters in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. He started his legal career as a staff attorney for the Nez Perce Tribe in north-central Idaho. During his seven years with the Tribe, he worked on a wide variety of water right, environmental, natural resource, cultural resource, and treaty rights protection cases. Mr. Eichstaedt also served as the executive director of the Center for Justice, a Spokane-based public interest law firm. Mr. Eichstaedt has a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and political science from Hamline University and a law degree with a certificate in environmental and natural resource law from the Northwest School of Law of Lewis and Clark College. Mr. Eichstaedt is licensed to practice law in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, as well as federal courts in all three states, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has published articles on environmental and natural resources in various journals and legal publications.
Mark McClain
Mark began his legal career in Kittitas County in 2001, serving as a civil and criminal Deputy Prosecutor, and also served on the Planning Commission. In 2006, he was elected Kittitas County Commissioner and opened a general practice law firm. In 2011, Mark accepted a position in the Pacific County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He was later promoted to Chief and twice elected as Pacific County’s Prosecuting Attorney. Mark has also served as a Deputy Prosecutor in Lewis and Spokane County, where he served as their land use attorney and later Chief Civil Deputy Prosecutor. After leaving Spokane County, Mark served as an Administrative Law Judge and Hearing Examiner before being appointed to the Growth Management Hearings Board.
James McNamara
James McNamara was appointed to the Growth Management Hearings Board in July 2020. He previously served on the board from 2006 to 2012. Before his most recent appointment, Mr. McNamara was the city attorney for Longview. He also has served as assistant city attorney for the cities of Bremerton, Federal Way, and Vancouver. Mr. McNamara has a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Virginia Tech, and a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law.
Alex Sidles
Alex Sidles has been a land use and environmental lawyer in Seattle since 2017. Prior to joining the Growth Management Hearings Board in 2024, he was a land use hearing examiner for two years and a litigator in private practice for five years before that. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mr. Sidles was a staff sergeant in the Marine Corps and a high school and elementary school English teacher in Micronesia. Mr. Sidles has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a law degree, both from the University of Washington.
Vacancies
There is one vacancy on the board. See details about the openings and how to apply.
Apply to Serve on the Board
Visit the Governor’s Web site to find information about how to apply to serve on this board.