Grant PUD claims Sunland homeowner agreement null and void

EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD is contending that violations by other landowners have nullified the covenant agreed to by homeowners in Sunland Estates near Quincy. The PUD says that means a lawsuit filed by the homeowners association against the PUD should be dismissed.

The lawsuit was filed in Grant County Superior Court March 16 after PUD officials filed a request to include a lot they owned in the development, Lot 51, in the PUD boundary. The Sunland Estates HOA claims in its lawsuit that the governing covenants mandate the land in question only can be used for residences.

Utility district officials have said putting the land within the project boundary would allow it to be used as an access point for PUD vehicles, and “as a potential public and community access point to the PUD shoreline property.”

The PUD’s answer, filed Thursday, claimed there are at least 80 violations of the covenant, violations of height restrictions and setbacks, and houses being used as vacation rentals. “These violations, many of which we believe are longstanding with no apparent enforcement, have resulted in Sunland HOA waiving, abandoning and undermining its claimed planned community,” wrote public information specialist Chuck Allen.

If the court rules the covenant is still in effect, the PUD is asking that other landowners be forced to comply, if they’re found to be out of compliance.

The two sides have been talking about the land since June 2015, when HOA officials notified the PUD they were out of compliance, said HOA president Dean Sprayberry in an earlier interview. The land was being used to access PUD property along the shoreline.

There is a common space currently used as a park, and the PUD had been using that to access the shoreline, along with access through the Quilcene Yacht Club. But the PUD’s lawsuit claims the homeowners association blocked access through the park and pressured the yacht club to deny access through the club property.

Sprayberry disputed the contention that the PUD had been denied access through the park. He said the HOA had asked what kind of machinery the PUD would be bringing through the park, in case the HOA needed to relocate the park’s sprinkler system.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.