Whitefish Lakeshore property owners sue over planned annexation

A group of 18 property owners along the east shore of Whitefish Lake are suing the city of Whitefish over the anticipated annexation of their property.

The Houston Lakeshore Tract Property Owners Against Annexation, represented by Whitefish attorney Sean Frampton, filed a complaint for declaratory judgment May 22 in Flathead County District Court.

The group alleges the portion of state law the city is using to annex wholly surrounded properties isn’t applicable, and that it prohibits the city from attempting to annex more than one property at the same time.

In August 2013 the Whitefish City Council directed city staff to move forward with the annexation of 16 parcels in the East Lakeshore area and 50 properties along Houston Drive. Since then the council had held work sessions on the proposed annexation but the council has not developed a timeline or taken any formal action on the proposal.

The East Lakeshore properties were put on the back burner when the city discovered it didn’t have a majority of property owners who had petitioned to annex. The City Council then chose to focus on the Houston Drive area.

The property owners’ complaint asserts that Houston Lakeshore Tracts subdivision is not wholly surrounded because it’s not surrounded on four sides by the city, but rather is bordered by the city on only one side.

“Houston Lakeshore is not wholly surrounded because it is possible to reach the properties without crossing city streets, including traveling over state and county roads and via Whitefish Lake,” the complaint states.

City officials cited the water quality of Whitefish Lake as a key reason for wanting to annex areas around the lake. Other neighborhoods targeted for future annexation include the West Lakeshore Drive and Ramsey Avenue areas.

It’s also a way to make residents who live adjacent to city limits pay for the city services they regularly use.

“It really comes down to taxation equity, paying for services one receives and ending subsidies, which are very difficult topics for people to accept,” Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns said in a report to the council early last year.

Frampton sent a letter to the city in February 2014 raising objections to the Houston Drive annexations. He represents both the Houston Lake Shore Property Owners Against Annexation and the Stocking Addition Property Owners Against Annexation.

“The city must follow the statutory scheme ... which does not authorize annexing two or more tracts under one resolution,” Frampton stated in his letter. “The city has been well aware of this limitation since attorney Leo Tracy pointed it out in his letter to the city of Oct. 1, 1983.”

The city attempted unsuccessfully to annex the Houston Drive area in 1983 and again in 2000.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.