Court rules in variance dispute

PRIEST LAKE — The Idaho Supreme Court is affirming a lower court’s ruling in a variance dispute between neighboring landowners at Mosquito Bay.

The dispute centered around after-the-fact variances obtained by Stejer’s Inc. in 2016 to bring existing structures into compliance with Bonner County’s 25-foot setback standards and to convert a storage garage from a six-bedroom duplex into a single-family dwelling at the north end of the lake.

The Bonner County Planning & Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on the variances in 2017 and denied the requests, finding that the need for the variances arose out of Stejer’s own improper actions because the storage building was not built in compliance with a building location permit and was used as a six-bedroom residence without obtaining the proper permits from the Panhandle Health District.

The county’s land use code only allow variances to be granted when circumstances of the proposal originated from circumstance over which the applicant had no control.

Stejer’s Inc. appealed the denial to the board of county commissioners, which overturned the P&Z ruling because a denial would punish a new generation of Stejers for the transgressions of their predecessors. Additionally, the board held that the building had already been in place for 20 years, resulting in no additional harm.

The Hungate Trust petitioned in 1st District Court for a judicial review of the board’s decision, arguing that it was not supported by the evidence on record and an abuse of discretion. Hungate Trust further argued that the decision prejudiced their substantial rights. The county did not dispute that the board had erred, but it maintained the Hungates could not show any of their substantial rights that any of their substantial rights were prejudiced.

Judge Cynthia C.K. Meyer found that the board committed several errors in approving the variances, but held that the Hungate Trust had failed to demonstrate that a substantial right had been prejudiced.

The Hungate Trust appealed, contending that the decision diminished their property value by way of increased intensity of use and traffic, excessive lot coverage, reduced privacy and enjoyment of wildlife and scenic views on Priest Lake. However, the trust failed to argue to argue that the variances would reduce their property values before the board, which precluded that argument on appeal, the supreme court said in a 13-page ruling filed on Tuesday. The supreme court agreed that the impacts to the lakefront and rural location of the property could potentially prejudice the use and enjoyment of the Hungate property.

“Even so, the Hungates have again provided no evidence in the record to explain how the board’s action to grant the variances has undermined the use or enjoyment of their property, given that the structures have been in place for 20 years,” Justice G. Richard Bevan said in the ruling.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.