Amid the now decade-long legal battle over the private “bridge to nowhere” that connects the north shore of Flathead Lake to Dockstader Island, property owner Jolene Dugan has added another layer by filing suit against Flathead County for inverse condemnation.
Dugan’s complaint stems from a court order requiring her to remove the 519-foot-long bridge from her property. Since Dugan was initially permitted by the county to construct the bridge, the complaint states the removal order amounts to a taking and the county should provide reasonable compensation.
The bridge has been a running controversy since 2011, when the Flathead County Commission issued a permit for its construction without hearing public comment. A citizen group, the Community Association for North Shore Conservation (CANSC), with the help of Kalispell attorney Donald Murray, challenged the permit, arguing that the commissioners did not adequately assess impacts to Flathead Lake’s scenic values and that the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office erroneously determined that a “vehicular bridge” was not a “road,” which would be prohibited by the Lakeshore Protection Zone.
In 2016 Judge Robert Allison ruled that the lakeshore permit was invalid, the structure would have to be removed and the area would have to be restored to its natural state, a decision the Montana Supreme Court upheld.
In December of last year, Allison expressed frustration over repeated delays of the bridge removal, including a submitted plan he deemed to have “an absurd level of complexity,” and while the bridge was built with a single permit from the county, the plan to demolish it “calls for at least seven permits, and the involvement of five different agencies.” Allison ordered the appointment of an engineer by CANSC to act as Special Master to develop an expedited plan for removal, to be paid for by Dugan.
Dugan and her father, Roger Sortino, have repeatedly told the court that they do not have the money to pay for removal of the bridge. Dugan has three children, health problems, no job and lives in rental housing, according to court records, while Sortino has told the court he lost his $4.5 million retirement and has been unable to sell a piece of land adjacent to the bridge that would provide the funds for removal.
Dugan has told the court that the bridge cost more than $800,000 to build, and a balance of $560,000 is still owed on the loan that she obtained to fund construction.
At an April 27 status hearing, Murray, CANSC’s attorney, announced the designation of Mitch Stelling of Great Falls as Special Master for the work and Great West Engineering as the firm leading all investigations and demolition.
A scope-of-work plan was also submitted to the court, detailing initial coordination with Flathead County and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to utilize roadways and adjacent property to access the area, plans to drill samples of the bridge to determine the difficulty of removal and establish approximate costs for the process.
Murray made a request that the county pay for the removal and bear the responsibility of recouping money from Dugan, to which the county attorney objected.
At the same hearing, Dugan was ordered to submit a payment plan by July 1 with failure to submit a plan resulting in an order for sale of the property.
On July 1, Dugan and her father submitted affidavits to the court regarding the cost of removal. The documents argue that the requirement of a payment plan prior to knowing the full scope and cost of the work is based on speculation and akin to requesting a blank check.
Sortino wrote that as Dugan’s power of attorney he was committed to providing funds for the bridge removal, lakebed restoration and Special Master’s fees. Sortino also noted that he and Dugan had been working with the local contractors who built the bridge and came up with a cost estimate of $150,000 for removal, not counting additional fees, significantly less than his previous estimate of roughly a half million dollars. He listed several options to fund the demolition, including selling his Washington house or the parcel of land on Flathead Lake, or a home equity loan.
CANSC submitted a response on July 15, accusing Sortino and Dugan of “more avoidance and delay,” and again requested the court proceed with the sale of the bridge property at a public auction.
On July 22, Dugan filed her complaint in a separate suit against Flathead County stating that the erroneous issuance of the bridge permit “resulted in the bridge being removed by force of law, devesting Dugan of her property constructed pursuant to the County’s permit, and proximately causing a taking of, or damage to her property.”
Dugan demands a jury trial to settle all issues.