Court order voids permit for Lake Five resort

Flathead County District Court Judge Amy Eddy issued an order Monday that both voids a major land-use permit for a resort on Lake Five and orders the property owner to restore the land “to its previous unaltered condition,” which includes removing several buildings on the property.

The case stems from a suit filed by a group called Friends of Lake Five against Flathead County and the county commissioners.

The county granted Whistlestop Retreat owner Dr. Susie Dietz and the G&M Trust a major land use permit on Feb. 28, 2020 to turn a sleepy piece of property at the west end of Lake Five into a resort that Dietz would call the Whistlestop Retreat.

The county permit came after Dietz apparently started developing the property, without permits, after she bought it from the estate of James Sherwood in 2018.

The development came despite the fact that the access road to the property contained easement that specifically said it could not serve commercial development.

Dietz, according to court records, kept on developing the property — which was broken into two tracts — adding guest cabins, houses and docks on Lake Five.

Friends of Lake Five, seeing what was happening, in turn, filed suit.

Eddy castigated the county and Dietz in her ruling.

“This case provides a cautionary example of the dangers of developing property without a valid permit to do so—conduct which is driving time consuming and expensive litigation before the courts,” Eddy wrote. “While Ms. Dietz testified she developed the property in good faith ignorance of the various regulations, this is not the first time Ms. Dietz has developed property — both in Canada and Montana — for his exact purpose. The Court is unconvinced Ms. Deitz thought she could develop a 70-person capacity commercial resort without legal access, permits for building or septic, or in consideration of lakeshore protection. This conclusion is supported by Ms. Dietz’s lack of communication with regulatory agencies during the permitting process, continuing to develop the property without a permit after she was on notice she needed one, and then continuing to develop the property beyond the scope of the permit which was obtained. The ‘ask for forgiveness instead of permission approach,’ which can be fostered by a regulatory review process that is primarily complaint driven, is not legally sufficient in this matter.”

The county attorney’s office declined to comment on the case. Dietz could not be immediately reached for comment.

Dietz and her staff have been advertising the resort on Facebook and vacation rental sites.

On Airbnb it lists for $1,800 a night.

But Eddy has ordered that several of the structures Dietz has put up over the years be removed and any new construction by halted immediately.

“All construction on the property, in or out of the lakeshore zone, shall cease immediately. G&M Trust shall restore the property to its previous unaltered condition, and, to that end, shall remove … the caboose; the fire tower, and the swim docks and restore the lakeshore by removal of the ‘fire hydrant pad’ and restoration of the walking trail,” Eddy wrote in her order.

Eddy also ordered that developments on what was known as tract 2 “be restored to their condition at purchase by the G&M Trust, other than repair work that does not require a permit.”

In addition, unless Dietz can get permits again from Flathead County, she must not use the property for commercial uses.

“The court hereby grants a permanent injunction preventing construction or expansion of use or conversion of the property to commercial uses, including but not limited to, overnight vacation resort accommodations, absent G&M Trust or its successors obtaining legal access and compliance with all State and local regulation, including Canyon Area Land Use Regulatory system regulations, Flathead County Lakeshore Regulations, and Flathead County Zoning regulations,” Eddy ordered.

The court also ordered the county to pay Friends of Lake Five’s attorney’s fees in the case.