Developers, neighbors clash over Big Mountain subdivision

The future of a long-proposed subdivision on Big Mountain remains in the balance as developers and neighbors continue to sort out their differences.

Developers, Thomas Penaluna and Kenneth Lockard of Elk Highlands Inc., last week asked city council for a second two-year extension of the preliminary plat for Wapiti Woods at Elk Highlands.

Council tabled the request after a long line of neighbors spoke against the project as proposed. Neighbors cited concerns about housing density, small lot size, safety of roads, emergency access, and most notably, maintenance of the access road.

The developers were given 30 days to work through these concerns before the council reconsiders the plat extension at their Aug. 4 meeting.

Wapiti Woods is a 34-lot subdivision on 24 acres on Big Mountain between Ridge Top Drive, Elk Highlands Drive and Northern Lights Drive. The subdivision faces Big Mountain and has been in the works since 2003.

The preliminary plat first was approved in 2009. A two-year extension was granted in 2012, which is set to expire Aug. 17. The developers said the flailing housing market and recession drove the request for plat extensions. Now that the market is recovering, the developers say they’re ready to start engineering this winter and hope to break ground in the summer of 2015.

“We’re standing ready with hammer in hand,” Lockard said.

Council planned to consider the latest request for an extension at their April 7 meeting, but the developers postponed the discussion in order to meet with neighbors and address their ongoing concerns.

The project is designed with a main entrance off Northern Lights Drive and a gated secondary emergency access into the Sunrise Ridge subdivision to the east.

A main sticking point for many neighbors who spoke during public comment was the subdivision’s relationship with the larger Elk Highlands Homeowners’ Association as far as maintaining the roads.

Attorney Ryan Purdy, who is representing lot owners at Elk Highlands, said his clients have already met with the developers, but were unable to reach an agreement on who is responsible for road maintenance.

According to Purdy, the Wapiti subdivision isn’t a phase of Elk Highlands as originally planned. This means property owners in Wapiti won’t contribute funds to the Elk Highlands Homeowners’ Association, which is responsible for maintaining the private access road that would be used to reach Wapiti.

Paul Okerberg, a former president of the Big Mountain Homeowners Association, asked if there was an alternate route to access Wapiti. He said the HOA spends about $75,000 every five years on road maintenance.

“It’s not fair if Wapiti Woods doesn’t share in the cost,” he said.

A condition of the preliminary plat says the Sun Rise Ridge Homeowners’ Association is to issue an approval for the use of their roadway for emergency vehicles, and that the road should be maintain and plowed.

The developers say when they purchased the Wapiti Wood property, it contained an Emergency Access Easement Agreement granting Elk Highlands use of Ridge Run Drive as emergency egress, “thereby fulfilling the condition of approval for the Sun Rise Ridge Development and also providing for reciprocal use by Elk Highlands, Inc. properties.”

The developers go on to say refusal by the Sun Rise Ridge HOA to allow gated emergency egress on Ridge Run Drive would be a violation of the subdivision approval that was granted in 1991.

Other neighbors spoke about the density and small lot size planned for the project.

In 2009, council approved an increase in density of the project from 18 units to 34 units with the intention of building clusters of smaller “luxury cabins” to preserve open space.

Sunrise Ridge resident Jerry Meislik said properties around Wapiti are all much larger than the planned cabins. He said Wapiti’s small lots would drive down nearby property values.

The developers, however, said the market is oversaturated with large single-family lots.

“This is going to be a very different type of product,” said Lockard. “The goal is to differentiate ourselves. We have to look forward 50 years, and plan to do something that will stand the test of time.”