NLI alleges Dover Bay encroached on its easement

SANDPOINT — A Sagle-based utility cooperative intends to seek a default judgment against the developer of a waterfront housing project for allegedly constructing a pool and spa within a power line easement.

An attorney for Northern Lights Inc. filed notice Thursday the company will seek the entry of the judgment if counsel for Dover Bay developer Ralph Sletager does not file an answer to a civil complaint by Monday.

Northern Lights sued Sletager’s companies, Waterfront Property Management and Dover Bay Development, in May.

The utility alleges Sletager constructed the spa and pool inside an 41-year-old easement.

Northern Lights is calling on a 1st District Judge to declare the right-of-way easement valid and Dover Bay’s structures an encroachment subject to removal.

Although a response to the suit has not been filed, Northern Lights said in its complaint that Sletager disputes that the pool and spa encroach within the utility’s right of way and declines to move them.

The former owner of the Dover Bay property, Pack River Lumber Co., granted the easement in 1966 to accommodate power lines and a structure to carry them across the Pend Oreille River.

An Idaho state electrical inspector discovered the pool and spa beneath a guy wire between its anchor and a power pole in April, the complaint said. Northern Lights subsequently called on Sletager to remove them.

The utility company said in the suit it had agreed in April 2007 to relocate an eastern anchor to make room for a marina building. Sletager asked for the western anchor to be shifted, but he never responded to an engineered proposal for the work, Northern Lights alleges.

Northern Lights asserts the structures interfere with its ability to conduct maintenance on the power lines and presents a safety hazard for people using the pool and spa.