August 10, 2001
In the first public hearing on the matter, the
Board of Trustees vowed to meet head-on the beach access suit filed
against the Incline Village General Improvement District.
The
suit asks for declaratory relief for some local residents who are
denied access to Incline and Burnt Cedar beaches by a deed
restriction. The suit was filed July 24 by 2001 Beach Access, Inc.,
a nonprofit corporation made up of Cal-Neva Resort owner Chuck Bluth
and others, and served on IVGID July 27.
"There is a general
consensus that we need to defend this vigorously and back up the
votes we made," said board Chair Kenny Kinsman.
Restricted
access to the beach was affirmed by the Board of Trustees April 11
in a 3-to-1 vote, with trustee Bob Wolf opposing and trustee Ted
Fuller away on holiday.
Kinsman added that IVGID had started
a search for outside litigators who would assist if the case goes to
trial.
"If it ever gets (that) far we'll get some hired
guns," he said.
During comments on the case, IVGID general
counsel Scott Brooke characterized the suit as "flawed," and
asserted that the non-profit corporation had no standing to file the
suit.
"The plaintiff (2001 Beach Access, Inc.) , as formed,
has no interest," he said. "It has no property and is not a
resident."
On the other hand, Brooke said, many residents
within IVGID are "proper parties" to such a suit because they each
have an easement right to beach access that transfers with their
properties.
Brooke said he would meet with trustees one or
two at a time to discuss the matter in confidential conferences
protected by attorney-client privileges, but added he would provide
ongoing information to the general public as
appropriate.
Also present at the meeting were attorneys Mike
Johnson, representing Incline resident Maryanne Ingemanson, and Tom
Hall, representing Incline residents Claude and Sandra Gaubert, whom
Hall has said oppose opening beach access. Although neither attorney
offered comments during the meeting, in recent comments, Ingemanson
said she and a group of others would "definitely be intervening" in
the case.
However, these attorneys have been retained by the
Village League to Save Incine Assets, Inc., a non-profit Nevada
corporation, to reply to the 2001 Beach Access, Inc.,
lawsuit.
Public comment during the meeting overwhelmingly
reflected a sentiment that the suit was brought by Crystal Bay
interests, with little or no participation by residents from the
other, smaller portions of IVGID that do not enjoy beach access.
However, because corporation board member Chuck Bluth said he was
going to keep the 2001 Beach Access, Inc., membership list private
for the time being, this cannot be substantiated.
The public
comments also focused the propriety of granting Crystal Bay
properties any recreation privileges at all, and on the right of
trustees to convey IVGID assets such as the beaches to third
parties.
IVGID resident Tom Menning, who took out an
advertisement in the Aug. 8 *Bonanza* announcing the formation of
the League to Protect Our Deed, said no document explicitly granted
recreation privileges to the merging CBGID properties, and that this
made the board which granted them culpable in events that lead to
the filing of the beach access law suit.
IVGID counsel Brooke
said repeatedly during the meeting that the merger was proper and
legal, and that language in the enacting county ordinance, No. 928,
implied the granting of all recreation rights to the former CBGID
properties, except beach access. The relevant passage, in Section 3,
states:
"The surviving District as hereby created shall have
all the powers and purposes of the former CBGID as provided in
Ordinance No. 199 ... and all the powers and purposes of IVGID as
provided in Ordinance No. 397, as amended, and as provided in
Ordinance No. 84."
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Washoe
County District Attorney Madelyn Shipman said, in her opinion, state
law implied that the merger granted CBGID properties owners the same
rights and privileges enjoyed in by owners in the pre-merged IVGID,
unless explicitly denied