City sued over plan to annex Houston Drive

Eighteen property owners along Whitefish Lake in the Houston Drive neighborhood are asking Flathead County District Court to decide if their properties can be annexed into the city.

The property owners, known as Houston Lakeshore Tract Property Owners Against Annexation, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the city of Whitefish on May 22.

The suit claims that Houston Drive isn’t wholly surrounded by the city and can’t be annexed under that method because Whitefish Lake is on one side of the neighborhood. The property owners are represented by Whitefish attorney Sean Frampton.

Last year the city placed about 50 properties along Houston Drive at the top of its priority list for possible annexation. During a work session, city council directed city staff to look further into annexation of the neighborhood adjacent to city limits, citing annexation as a way to have residents pay for the city services they already use.

During public meetings, about a half dozen Houston Drive residents spoke out in opposition.

At the time, the city said it was considering the wholly surrounded method of annexation because the property must be within the city and be impossible to reach without crossing through city limits.

State law allows cities to annex wholly surrounded properties despite any and all protests.

In court documents, Frampton said the Houston Lakeshore tracts are not wholly surrounded because they are only surrounded on one side by the city. Also because it is possible to reach the properties without crossing city streets, including traveling over state and county roads and across Whitefish Lake, documents claim.

In addition, he said, state law does not allow a municipality to annex more than one tract under the wholly surrounded type of annexation.

The property owners have filed a complaint for declaratory judgment asking the court to rule on the matter.

The city attempted to annex Houston Drive in 1983 and 2000.