Apartment developer settles suit, will make facilities wheelchair accessible

A local developer has agreed to remodel five apartment complexes to make them accessible for disabled people in compliance with the federal Fair Housing Act.

Rudeen Development LLC also agreed to pay $225,000 to the National Fair Housing Alliance and its local affiliates to settle a lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court in Spokane.

“I think we all worked together to get a settlement that works,” Kevin Rudeen, the company’s president, said Tuesday.

The suit alleged that bathrooms, sidewalks and disabled parking spaces weren’t adequately designed to accommodate people in wheelchairs.

The properties listed were: Bentley Apartments in Spokane; Mirabolante Apartments in Spokane Valley; Riverview at Mill River Apartments and Villas at Riverview Apartments, both in Coeur d’Alene; and Mountain View Village Apartments in Ponderay, Idaho.