A group of Somers and Lakeside area landowners filed a lawsuit against Flathead County Thursday afternoon, accusing the county of conducting neighborhood planning efforts in each community secretly and in violation of state and local laws.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Flathead County District Court, also lists the Lakeside Neighborhood Planning Committee and Planning and Zoning Director Jeff Harris – both individually and as director of the department – as defendants.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs allege the LNPC, with the help of the county planning office, knowingly held private meetings, maintained a “secret Web site,” and failed to include all of the property owners in the affected area. They accuse the defendants of violating state open meeting laws, the Flathead County growth policy and several statutes of the Montana Constitution, including denying or destroying public records.
“By having a secret Web site, and by holding meetings in private residences, plaintiffs were not afforded participation in the operations of the LNPC,” court documents say.
In the case of the proposed Somers neighborhood plan, which is in just the earliest stages of providing information and gauging community support, the plaintiffs say the county failed to contact all affected landowners, started the process without the necessary majority of landowners, and lied about a pre-existing draft of the plan.
They are asking the court to declare the draft of the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan illegal and unconstitutional; declare efforts on the Somers Neighborhood Plan so far are “null and void;” and prevent the county from pursuing any future neighborhood planning efforts, including those in Somers, until the appropriate process has been clarified. The plaintiffs have also requested damages, including their costs and attorney fees.
Twenty-four people, who according to the complaint, own “property in the Lakeside and/or Somers proposed neighborhood plan districts,” are listed as plaintiffs on the lawsuit. They are: David Allen, Eleanor Allen, Johnathon Allen, Aaron Allen, Kristy Allen, Darren Clarke, James Frame, Roxanne Frame, John Day, Bill Blomgren, Charles Harris, Judy Harris, Dennis Thornton, Donna Thornton, Jim Etzler, Beverly Etzler, Chris Rasmussen, Remi Rasmussen, Lawrence Ask, Carol Ask, Joyce Day, Rudy Mendez, Gena Mendez and Pauline Dyer.