Subdivision error found 15 years later

POST FALLS - A planning oversight on a Post Falls subdivision 15 years ago has erupted into a controversy today.

An error was made on the plat for Sunset Ridge at the southeast corner of Chase and Poleline in 1995 that inadvertently dedicated the streets to the public, City Administrator Eric Keck said.

The homeowners association has maintained the streets since the subdivision was developed, but now that the mistake has been discovered neither the residents nor the city want the responsibility, he said.

The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight on city staff's request to vacate rights of way for Columbine and Yarrow courts, the only streets in the 33-home, 8.3-acre subdivision, with the intention of the residents continuing maintenance.

"The roads !uc!2026 were always intended to be private, per the developer's (Pacific Projects) request," Keck said. "The city had no intention of accepting the streets because they did not meet city standards."

Keck said it would be difficult for the city to take over maintaining the streets because they're not wide enough to handle the city's equipment.

"They actually do not connect to anywhere to make a compelling purpose for taking them over," Keck said.

But residents believe the city should take responsibility for the mistake and take over street maintenance.

Ray Kimball, president of the Sunset Ridge Homeowners Association and an engineer with Inland Northwest Consultants, said he noticed the error when he was purchasing property from the HOA.

"It's legally the city of Post Falls' streets," he said.

Both the city and HOA agree that the mistake was made by the developer's surveyor and the former city engineer for not catching it.

Kimball said each homeowner pays about $150 per year for street maintenance such as snow removal, patching and seal coating. However, the streets will need resurfacing in the near future, so the fee could double to pay for the project.

"That's the main reason we've asked the city to take over maintenance," Kimball said.

Kimball said he approached the city in 2007 to take over maintenance, but the request was denied because they didn't meet city street width standards. Later that year, the city adopted a new standard which Sunset Ridge streets would meet.

However, Keck said street construction standards used were "suspect and would not pass muster."

Keck said city staff can't justify taking over streets in a subdivision that received special infrastructure considerations during the approval process, not built to the city's standard at the time and now in need of work.

"This would not be fair to the rest of the taxpaying public," Keck said.

Residents don't buy the argument.

The residents say the subdivision's recorded covenants do not reference street maintenance. Therefore, they bought their homes with the "reasonable expectation" that the city would maintain the streets.

"We believe that an approval of this vacation would devalue our homes and constitute a misrepresentation of the conditions under which we purchased our property," the letter states.

Kimball also sees it as an issue of fairness, but to the Sunset Ridge HOA.

"From an engineer's standpoint, when we make a mistake, we're supposed to stand up and take responsibility," he said. "I wonder if the city will be on the hook to make it right."

Keck said the vacation request is intended to make the plat right and concur with what the HOA has been doing all along - maintaining the streets.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at 408 N. Spokane St.