Shadow Valley Lane saga endures
The case Matthew and Elizabeth Deen and David and June Walker brought against Bonner County has grown expansive over the years. (Photo by KEITH KINNAIRD)
SANDPOINT — A trial date is looming in the convoluted and protracted struggle over Shadow Valley Lane.
Repeated attempts between Matthew and Elizabeth Deen and David and June Walker and Bonner County officials have borne no fruit and motions for summary judgment have been unable to head off a trial in 1st District Court, court records show.
As a result, a five-day bench trial remains set for April 2018.
The Deens and Walkers filed suit against Bonner County to keep it from developing a public road through their property and home off Shadow Valley Lane.
The county contends the home was constructed in a public right of way that was never abandoned.
The dispute arose amid an adjacent dispute over access to Liberty Heights, a subdivision which planned to use Stoney Brook Lane as its legal access. Stoney Brook Lane, however, was determined not to be a public right of way.
Faced with having approved a subdivision that had no access, the county discovered Shadow Valley Lane was found in county records to be formerly known as Brush Road.
The county moved for summary judgment on grounds that Brush Road was never abandoned as a right of way, while the Deens countered that Brush Road was actually located northeast of Shadow Valley Lane. However, district Judge Lansing Haynes ruled that the county’s counsel had misinterpreted case law, court records show.
The litigation spurred several other lawsuits concerning public access and private roads in the rural neighborhood in the Cabinet Mountains. Those actions have been folded into the Deens’ suit, according to court records.
The Deens have since moved from Bonner County and vow never to return, according to a website the couple established to highlight their struggle with the county (shadowvalleylane.info). However, they remain entangled in the litigation and are eager to settle.
“We have offered to give them the land for a turnaround at the end of our property, only asking that the right of way be moved over 25 feet from the edge of the house,” the couple said on the website.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.