Crescent Bar residents sue Grant County PUD

EPHRATA - A group of Crescent Bar leaseholders sued Grant County PUD in January for not renewing their lease to live on the publicly-owned island.

In 2011, residents asked the White House for help in November by submitting a petition with 5,000 signatures.

In November, the PUD's attorneys were disqualified because one partner with Jeffers Danielson had done work for the PUD.

In December, the PUD brought on new attorneys for the case, the Spokane firm Pain Hamblen.

The lawsuit comes after the district allegedly promised to renew the lease, according to the lawsuit filed in January in U.S. District Court in Spokane.

Some of the 400 leaseholders live on Crescent Bar Island full-time and use the area as their homes, said Dale Foreman of Wenatchee, one of the group's attorneys.

The case's plaintiffs are: James V. Kelly; Lawrence H. and H. Teresa Cain; Randall S. and Margret R. Hoefer; Ronald A. and Joyce E. Karlsten; Gary B. and Karen S. Wirta; Xavier H. and Jeanne B. Ramirez; Crescent Bar Condo?minium Master Association; Crescent Bar Recreational Vehicle Home Owners Association and Crescent Bar South R.V. Park Owners Association.

The lawsuit asks the PUD to let islanders stay through the term of the district's 44 year federal license or at least until 2023, Foreman said.

The lease currently expires in 2012.

If they cannot remain on the island, they are asking for monetary damages to be determined at a later time, he said.

He believes it's a 12-month wait for a trial date.

"We were still hoping the case can get resolved through some type of mediation," he said.

Foreman claims that islanders testified that before they invested and bought their place, they asked PUD staff what would happen after 2012. The lease allowing them to live there expires that year.

They were told the current people could stay, Foreman alleges.

"This has happened with so many different people, with so many different times," he said. "They did it after proper investigation."

They had a choice of filing the lawsuit in Grant County Superior Court or U.S. District Court.

"We thought we should have this heard in federal court," Foreman said.

It's because the case involves a number of federal statutes and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that grants the PUD the license to own and operate its dams.

Crescent Bar Island is located inside the boundaries of the PUD's Priest Rapids Project for its dams.

There have not been any mediation sessions between the PUD and attorneys yet, Foreman said.

As is standard practice with a government agency, Foreman first filed a tort claim against the PUD last year.

Now with the lawsuit, the court normally orders both sides to come together for a mediation before going to trial.

"We're still hopeful the case can get resolved," he said.

The Port of Quincy and Crescent Bar, Inc., were also sued with Grant PUD.

Port of Quincy Commissioner Patric Connelly said he hadn't read the court documents yet.

"We were anticipating it was going to happen," Connelly said.

The PUD hadn't received court papers as of Thursday, said Dorothy Harris, a district spokesperson.

Once the claim has been served, legal counsel reviews the document, she said.