Two organizations of Harrison residents have dropped their appeal of the city's recent annexation of property on Powderhorn Peninsula.

The groups are convinced that the appeal would not be successful, said spokeswoman Bev Twillmann, in light of a recent Idaho Supreme Court decision that sets precedent to shoot down their case.

"We decided this was the only way to go," said Twillmann, adding that she had just signed documents stipulating dismissal with the groups' attorneys, Scott Reed and Kathy Kolts. "There was no way we could win this, with the case that was just decided upon."

Two 501 3Cs, Citizens of Harrison Opposing Powderhorn and Citizens Protecting their Rural Communities, had filed an appeal last October after the Harrison City Council approved annexing 2,000 acres belonging to Powderhorn Ranch, LLC.

The company had planned to build a gated development on the property that included 1,300 luxury homes and multiple golf courses.

The citizen groups, which included about 100 individuals, Twillmann said, had contended the annexation was invalid, because the Powderhorn property was separated from the city by a lake and was not contiguous.

"(City maps) show that land is clearly underwater," she said.

They also argued that part of the property belonged to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

Although First District Judge Benjamin Simpson had affirmed that the groups had a right to petition for judicial review, Reed was discouraged by a Supreme Court opinion filed last week over the case Steele v. City of Shelley.

In it, the justices ruled unanimously against individuals contesting an annexation because of contiguity issues.

The annexation cannot be subject to judicial review, the decision states, because the annexation was considered Category A, where all landowners had agreed to the annexation.

The court further deemed that opponents failed to show evidence that requirements for a Category A annexation were not met.

Reed considered this case to set an unfortunate precedent, he said on Thursday.

"This same issue that was decided in our favor by the district court judge was decided by the Supreme Court contrary to what he said," Reed said. "Since that's the Supreme Court and he is district court, that's all she wrote."

Judge Simpson had asked the parties to attend a hearing on the impact of the Steele decision on the Powderhorn appeal, but Reed anticipated the outcome.

"It is crystal clear to me," Reed wrote in a letter to Twillmann, that the judge would rule that the Shelley case "constituted total approval of Powderhorn Peninsula by the city of Harrison."

He added in the letter that the stipulation to dismiss the appeal would be without award of costs or attorney fees, though he and Kolts have put in time worth $25,000 on the case.

Reed doesn't expect the homes to be built on the Powderhorn property soon, he added.

"As an economic matter, the likelihood of Powderhorn being developed in the near future is quite remote, given the present market," he wrote.

Powderhorn LLC's office line in Harrison is no longer in service.

Harrison City Council members and the city attorney could not be reached on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe could not be reached to comment on whether the tribe will pursue any legal action over the annexation.

Twillmann said she was disappointed to end the case. The two groups have spent thousands of dollars on the appeal, she said, and hundreds of hours.

She had also been involved in an unsuccessful suit against Kootenai County a few years ago over the Powderhorn development, when the company ventured to obtain a zone change on the property through the county.

Twillmann doesn't see either legal battle as fruitless, she said.

"There have been no homes built there," she said of the Powderhorn property. "If we hadn't stepped in, there would have been a zombie subdivision there, or a torn up mountain as we've seen in other situations. We've been able to maintain part of the beauty of Idaho by taking a stand."