Judge rules against family in cabin lease case

BOISE (AP) - A north Idaho judge has ruled against a family challenging new rules governing the auction of its state cabin lease at Priest Lake, finding that cabin owners who lease state land have no right to continue leases once they expire.

In her decision, 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan also concluded that cabin owners have no right to appeal property appraisals before competitive public auctions are held on the leases.

The decision comes in a lawsuit filed by Jan Nunemaker, whose family has built a cabin on land leased from the state for nearly a century. Nunemaker was one of two Priest Lake cabin owners who were outbid for a new lease at a conflict auction required as part of a new state policy for expired leases.

The judge ruled cabin owners have no automatic right to continue their leases under terms spelled out by the state land board and a previous decision by the Idaho Supreme Court, the Spokesman-Review reported Monday.

"Even if the lease could be construed to provide a right of continuation past the expiration of the lease, such right is unenforceable as a matter of law given the Idaho Supreme Court's recent determination that the Idaho Constitution prohibits the Board from offering a lease renewal ... without first making the lease available for public auction," Buchanan wrote.

For decades, state policy protected cabin owners, who own the structures they've built on land leased from the state, from competitive auctions when the lease expires.

But the state and the Land Board have been trying to get out of the cabin-site rental business, especially after the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the policies set up to protect lease holders is unconstitutional. The court ruled that because the land around Priest and Payette lakes is owned by the state's endowment, the state has the obligation to manage the property for maximum long-term returns to the endowment's beneficiaries, including public schools.

As a result, the Land Board authorized a competitive bidding process for expired leases.

Nunemaker bid $1,000 to keep her family's longstanding lease, but was outbid by Denver attorney and businessman Peter Mounsey, who bid $2,000, according to the newspaper.

Nunemaker's attorney, J. Scott Miller, said the family intends to pursue an administrative appeal of the auction.

"This is something that's moving forward - it isn't over," he said.

Miller also said he was surprised that Buchanan didn't address the unique circumstances of Nunemaker's lease, the fact that remains of five family members are buried on the property and marked by permanent memorials.

Nunamaker's grandfather, John Morton Starlin, hand-built the cabin out of salvaged materials in 1933 that he brought in 10 miles by rowboat because the cabin site has no road access. Starlin's descendants have been gathering at the modest cabin, and another small A-frame one they own next door, also on leased state land, for decades.