Page 11 - Flathead Beacon // 12.31.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS DECEMBER 31, 2014 | 11
Whitefish Subdivision Seeks Intervention in Lawsuit Over Gated Communities
Permanent gates on Mountainside Drive put on hold while groups re- solve lawsuit against city
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
WHITEFISH – A group of home- owners who oppose gated communities in the Grouse Mountain Estates subdi- vision is seeking to join a lawsuit against the city of Whitefish, supporting the city’s decision to ban the use of perma- nent gates and asserting their private rights to use the roadways.
Grouse Mountain Homeowners Inc. has asked the court to allow the group to intervene in a lawsuit against the city of Whitefish filed by The Estate Home- owners Association. The Grouse Moun- tain Homeowners group alleges the gates infringe on the group’s existing easement rights.
The Estate Homeowners Associa- tion argues in its lawsuit that there is
enough public traffic on its private roads year-round to merit the installation of permanent gates, particularly as traffic is diverted by construction on U.S. High- way 93 West.
The Whitefish City Council passed a resolution in October strengthening the city’s policy against gated communities, and the Estates put its gate project on hold while it sued the city.
Grouse Mountain is a residential subdivision near Grouse Mountain Lodge and the southern portion of the Whitefish Lake Golf Course.
Grouse Mountain Homeowners Inc. regulates the original two phases of Grouse Mountain in the lower area of the neighborhood that surrounds the golf course, an area that is primar- ily served by Fairway Drive. The Es- tates Homeowners Association man- ages a third phase of development to the west on Grouse Mountain itself, called Grouse Mountain Estates, which is served by Mountainside Drive, where the gates were going to be installed, and Grouse Ridge Drive.
Grouse Mountain residents use
Mountainside Drive daily, both for in- gress and egress, according to the mo- tion to intervene filed in Flathead Coun- ty District Court.
“The motion serves two purposes. The first is to defend the city’s decision, which we agree with as a matter of pub- lic policy,” said Terry Trieweiler, the at- torney who filed the motion on behalf of the Grouse Mountain Homeowners Inc. “And the second is to support our own private contractual right to use Moun- tainside Drive.”
In 1996, the two homeowner asso- ciations exchanged mutual agreements providing residents of Grouse Mountain Estates with an easement over Fairway Drive and, in turn, residents of Grouse Mountain with an easement over Moun- tainside Drive, according to the motion.
In 2001 and 2002, the Estates Home- owners Association installed gates on Grouse Ridge Drive, and earlier this year intended to install permanent gates at the entrances of the subdivision on op- posite ends of Mountainside Drive.
“Notably, gates have been generally disfavored and disallowed by the City
Council in a number of other neighbor- hoods as antithetical to the type of com- munity in which the majority of White- fish residents would like to live,” accord- ing to the lawsuit. “To that end, on Oct. 6, the City passed Resolution 14-48 which prohibits any subdivision or residential neighborhood from gating its streets so as to prohibit public access.”
Grouse Mountain Homeowners Inc. wishes to intervene in the lawsuit to “op- pose Grouse Mountain Estates proposed installation of gates, enforce and defend its contractual rights, and to otherwise protect its residents’ rights to unimped- ed and unobstructed use of Mountain- side Drive.”
A judge has not yet ruled on the mo- tion, and has 14 days from the date of its filing with the court to do so.
“I don’t know what led to their deci- sion to put in permanent gates. I think there are people up there who just need to be in a gated community to feel good about themselves,” Trieweiler said. “It’s not the majority of the residents, but it’s the people running the show.”
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