Neighbors sue over Whitefish vacation rental

A group of neighbors has filed a lawsuit in Flathead County District Court over a vacation rental they claim is operating illegally in their rural subdivision north of Whitefish.

The neighbors are challenging a decision by the Flathead County Board of Adjustment granting a conditional-use permit for a short-term rental in a residential home on Cantrell Court. In filing the lawsuit against the board and the owners of the vacation rental property, Christa and William Beveridge, they are asking the court to void the decision approving the permit.

The neighbors — Sharon Morrison, Molly and William Hobgood, Dorothea LeDonne, Lorelle Kenneth Kitzmiller, Mike and Teri McDonald, Virginia and Roderick Farmer, and Kirsten and Reid Sabin — all own property in the subdivision.

The board of adjustment in December 2021 approved a permit for the vacation rental to operate under the management of Vacasa property management after the owners purchased the property in June of that year, according to court documents.

However, the covenants for the subdivision prohibit commercial uses of any sort, including bed and breakfast, and thus the neighbors say the board should not have approved the permit.

The covenants for the subdivision, the neighbors claim in court documents, demonstrate a “clear attempt to protect against commercial operations, including any form of lodging, in the remote neighborhood.”

The lawsuit goes on to claim that the county planning staff erred in finding that the county is not responsible for determining compliance with subdivision covenants.

The planning staff report states that the applicant is responsible for reviewing and adhering to covenants or any other homeowner association documents. “Flathead County shall not be responsible for the determination as to the compliance with such Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions and shall have no duty to enforce them,” the staff report states.

The neighbors also claim the owner’s application with the county was incomplete and contained erroneous information.

They say the application lists the property as being on a well when the property uses a common water system, and that the jurisdictions of police and fire protection are listed but no mention is made of the remote location of the property, meaning that emergency responses would likely be delayed.

The application, court documents say, contains an untrue statement that the vacation rental has three bedrooms while the Vacasa listing for the property describes it as having four bedrooms. The listing also states that it is available for sleeping with three king-size beds, one double bed and three twin-size beds.

“This is crucial misinformation since the county septic report limits the septic system at the structure to six persons,” the neighbors say in documents. “If sufficient customers arrive to fill the beds, the traffic, septic and water use, and parking would involve up to twice the allowed number.”

THE NEIGHBORS also point out what they claim are false statements in the county planning staff report regarding the application for a permit, including that the approval of the traffic flow is tied to the occupancy limit of six persons, but that number of beds challenges that.

In addition, the neighbors point to incidents when guests of the vacation rental allegedly became stuck on the road accessing the home preventing ingress or egress.

Since the board of adjustment decision to grant the permit was based on what the neighbors claim was erroneous facts provided in the owner’s application, the board did not address public comment against the application, which was largely against granting the permit, the covenants for the property prohibit commercial uses and the planning staff report on the application allegedly included incorrect information, the neighbors say the board’s decision should be ruled as unlawful.

Neither Flathead County nor the owners of the vacation rental property had filed a response to the lawsuit as of Thursday.

Features editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.