Developer Rex Harder Appeals Rejection Of Orchards Subdivision

Thu., Feb. 24, 2000

By Lorie Hutson lorieh@spokesman.com (509) 459-5446

Developer Rex Harder has appealed a Spokane County Commission decision denying his controversial Liberty Lake subdivision.

Harder claims commissioners misinterpreted the shoreline exemption, a provision of the county’s land-use plan that allows dense shoreline developments in some rural areas.

“The commissioners erred in their interpretation of the comprehensive plan,” said Rick Dullanty, Harder’s attorney.

Also, the board did not give the county hearing examiner’s approval of the Orchards due consideration in its deliberations, Dullanty said. He filed the appeal this week in Lincoln County Superior Court.

Commissioners last month rejected Harder’s proposal to build 37 homes on 109 acres east of Liberty Lake, near Neyland and Lakeside roads. Harder wants build up to one house per acre on land that’s zoned for 10-acre lots. Some parts of the proposed Orchards development would have 10-acre lots.

The commission overturned County Hearing Examiner Mike Dempsey’s ruling that the smaller lots should be allowed, saying he erred in applying the shoreline exemption to Harder’s proposal.

“The project is an upland parcel that is not contiguous to the Liberty Lake shoreline,” commissioners ruled.

Members of the Liberty Lake Property Owners Association appealed Dempsey’s decision to the commissioners over concerns that the development would cause erosion and otherwise pollute the sensitive lake. They also feared it would lead to more dense developments on the east side of the lake.

The Orchards at Liberty Lake is outside the county’s interim urban growth boundaries, where the minimum lot size is restricted to 10 acres regardless of zoning. However, Harder was exempt from that guideline because he applied for the subdivision before the interim growth boundaries were adopted in 1997.

Harder has already received county approval for a second development across the road from the proposed Orchards at Liberty Lake. He is building a 44-home waterfront subdivision on 24.5 acres at MacKenzie Bay.

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