American Legion Post #163 sues Town of Friday Harbor

November 15, 2024 1:30 am
Heather Spaulding \ Staff photo Looking from the Port parking lot toward the proposed site of a multiple story parking garage for Friday Harbor House.
Heather Spaulding \ Staff photo Looking from the Port parking lot toward the proposed site of a multiple story parking garage for Friday Harbor House.

By Jeff Noedel, Journal contributor

The Hackett-Larson Post #163 of The American Legion has sued the Town of Friday Harbor in San Juan County Superior Court. The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 15. The Legion post is represented by Carla J. Higginson with the Higginson Beyer law firm with offices in Friday Harbor and Seattle. The Town of Friday Harbor is represented by Hillary J. Evans of Kenyon Disend, PLLC in Issaquah, Washington.

The Legion Post is asking the Court to block the implementation of a proposed development agreement between the Town government and FHH Real Estate, LLC, owner of the Friday Harbor House hotel. FHH Real Estate owns parcel number 351350502 and wants to expand the hotel onto that parcel.

On the day the lawsuit was filed, the plaintiffs also made a motion to disqualify Presiding Judge Kathryn C. Loring; she acknowledged the disqualification on Oct. 18. The case has since been assigned to Island County Superior Court Judge Carolyn Cliff.

On Nov. 5, the Court granted a motion by FHH Real Estate to join the case. The attorney for FHH is Christopher I. Brain of the Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC law firm in Seattle.

At the center of the case, a design for new construction and expansion of the hotel on the parcel in question specifies a height of the new structure that the Legion says is several feet taller than is permitted in a 2001 agreement between the Legion and the previous owner of the parcel, the Port of Friday Harbor. The Legion believes the extra height would take away from their view. The lawsuit argues that a 2001 agreement limiting the height is still in force.

In addition to an impact on their view, the Legion’s lawsuit raises objections over environmental issues and alleged contamination of soil on the parcel which was once a petroleum storage facility until 1983.

The Legion lawsuit aims to block the development agreement with the Town as it is currently written, and it asks the judge to order reimbursement of the Legion’s legal fees.

The Oct. 15 filing of the lawsuit led to the cancelation of a hearing on the proposed development agreement that had been scheduled for Oct. 17.

AHBL is a firm with four offices in Western Washington that provides engineering, landscape architecture, surveying and community planning services. FHH is one of AHBL’s clients. Lisa Klein, associate principal of AHBL, Inc., said Thursday, “Until [the lawsuit] is resolved we are standing by … the hearing on the FHH Development Agreement has been postponed indefinitely.”