Grant PUD claims Sunland homeowner agreement null and void
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 10 months AGO
CBH Columbia Basin Herald Local News
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | May 2, 2016 6:00 AM
EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD is contending that violations by other landowners have nullified the covenant agreed to by homeowners in Sunland Estates near Quincy. The PUD says that means a lawsuit filed by the homeowners association against the PUD should be dismissed.
The lawsuit was filed in Grant County Superior Court March 16 after PUD officials filed a request to include a lot they owned in the development, Lot 51, in the PUD boundary. The Sunland Estates HOA claims in its lawsuit that the governing covenants mandate the land in question only can be used for residences.
Utility district officials have said putting the land within the project boundary would allow it to be used as an access point for PUD vehicles, and “as a potential public and community access point to the PUD shoreline property.”
The PUD’s answer, filed Thursday, claimed there are at least 80 violations of the covenant, violations of height restrictions and setbacks, and houses being used as vacation rentals. “These violations, many of which we believe are longstanding with no apparent enforcement, have resulted in Sunland HOA waiving, abandoning and undermining its claimed planned community,” wrote public information specialist Chuck Allen.
If the court rules the covenant is still in effect, the PUD is asking that other landowners be forced to comply, if they’re found to be out of compliance.
The two sides have been talking about the land since June 2015, when HOA officials notified the PUD they were out of compliance, said HOA president Dean Sprayberry in an earlier interview. The land was being used to access PUD property along the shoreline.
There is a common space currently used as a park, and the PUD had been using that to access the shoreline, along with access through the Quilcene Yacht Club. But the PUD’s lawsuit claims the homeowners association blocked access through the park and pressured the yacht club to deny access through the club property.
Sprayberry disputed the contention that the PUD had been denied access through the park. He said the HOA had asked what kind of machinery the PUD would be bringing through the park, in case the HOA needed to relocate the park’s sprinkler system.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
New Samaritan Hospital opens its doors
MOSES LAKE — The tarp covering the “Emergency” sign at the new Samaritan Hospital could be removed a few minutes early, but it wasn’t officially open until the sign’s lighting was turned on. The timing had to be precise. “I’ve got to wait until 6:59 (a.m.),” said Jason Wilbur of Graham Construction.
Coolidge Rd. extension to improve access to Moses Lake Community Health
MOSES LAKE — Construction is scheduled to be completed in late April on a project to extend South Coolidge Street to connect it with East Wheeler Road. The goal, said Moses Lake Community Health Center Sheila Berschauer, is to improve access MLCHC.
With fewer applicants, Grant PUD trying to fill what’s left
EPHRATA — A steep increase in application fees for Grant County PUD customers has reduced the number of pending applications dramatically. Andy Wendell, vice-president of customer experience, said that was one of the goals, but there were others. “There were a number of things that we wanted to do. We wanted to become contemporary. What I mean by that is that we (want to) have application processes that are providing certainty in our queue,” Wendell said. “(We wanted to ensure) that when we dedicate engineering and planning staff to reviewing applications, we want to increase the probability that we're working on applications that are going to come to fruition as much as possible. So yes, we did achieve results that we had hoped for, which is to have applicants in the queue that are more certain (to) come to fruition.”