Length of stay remains unclear for Perch Point residents

Lawyer, county still working out settlement details

MOSES LAKE - Attorneys for Perch Point Resort and Grant County are trying to decide how long seasonal residents will be allowed to stay there and if they can leave their recreational vehicles there once they've gone home.

The talks come five years after Grant County cracked down on the resort when neighbors complained about an overloaded sewage system threatening their wells and because of a neighbor's complaint over the violation of a conditional use permit for the property. The permit only allows residents to live at the resort seasonally.

One possibility currently being discussed is a 180-day limit for seasonal residents, said Ted Vanden Bosch, an attorney for one of Perch Point's co-owners, Linda Tanferani-Jackson.

It also hasn't been decided if the resort will use a lease for seasonal residents and how long people can leave their recreational vehicles at the resort once they've left for the season, he said.

Vanden Bosch said he hopes the lease would be permitted because ensuring seasonal residents are staying at the resort only a certain number of days would be "impossible to enforce," he said.

Grant County sued past and present owners of the resort in 2003 to ensure instructions of the permit were followed. As part of the lawsuit's settlement, about 18 residents who live at the resort full time were recently told by resort management they have a year to move their mobile homes.

Neighbors in the O'Sullivan Shores subdivision below the resort complained to county and state officials in 2003 about the raw surfacing sewage that was flowing to areas near their property.

Tanferani-Jackson started operating the resort in 2004 after the past owner reportedly didn't make payments to her while trying to buy the resort, Vanden Bosch said.

Grant County's Environmental Health Director Jerry Campbell said adequate work was never done on the sewage system, but about four homes were removed from the resort to reduce the amount of sewage. He said too many people had been using the system.

There haven't been any reports of surfacing sewage at the resort since 2003, Campbell said. The sewage problems occurred under a different owner, Leonard Kelley, Campbell confirmed.

"Linda's a much better manager," Campbell said.

Neighbor Tom O'Dell said he is still concerned about the resort because he learned from a resort resident that construction workers were staying there and the workers could be at the resort for up to three years to complete area work projects.

He said he believes if the workers stay that long, they would likely produce more sewage than the full-time residents being asked to leave in a year.

O'Dell also said many people return to the resort about 5 p.m., apparently when they get off work.

Vanden Bosch said what O'Dell heard about the construction workers was not accurate and seasonal workers were not moving to the resort to use it as a full-time residence.

If a seasonal resident is receiving mail at the resort and has children in area schools, they're violating the permit, he said.

"We're using the county's interpretation and the court's," Vanden Bosch said.

Tanferani-Jackson said on Sunday seasonal residents, including construction workers, rent from month to month and "we never know when they're going to be going and coming."

About 50 people, including permanent residents and the recreational vehicle users, now stay at the resort, she said.

Tanferani-Jackson said the workers have been leaving the resort when their jobs are complete and are not planning to stay at the park for three years.

She said the resort has met state water and septic requirements.