Evan Clifthorne: On the Record.

My, oh my.

This week many Ken Lake homeowners received a flyer at their door from a group of candidates, with a long list of complaints about me personally. It's sad to have to deal with more nonsense and negativity, but I felt it was important to set the record straight.

No, I do not support building multiplexes in Ken Lake, and no I do not support changes to zoning in Ken Lake, or anything of the sort. I also do not support opening our parks to the public, and I am not attempting to disregard or eliminate our covenants, nor would any single director or even the board have the power to do so.

The claims on the flyer are, quite frankly, mostly nonsense.

In fact, you can see our platform for yourselves right here on this website. It's of course disappointing that these candidates chose to misrepresent my positions so deeply and willfully, but what's more concerning is that it hides the real reason for the attacks.

Here's a little background:

Some of the candidates making the accusations, along with some current board members, have spent the past few couple years aggressively targeting a specific homeowner who they've accused of building an ADU in violation of the covenants. This ultimately resulted in their decision to file a lawsuit against the homeowner earlier this month, which is currently publicly reviewable through the Washington court system.

[Update: fortunately, following intense discussion, the lawsuit is being withdrawn by the board]

This years-long effort has cost the HOA tens of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees already, and what I have said publicly about the issue is that I believe those fees were (and are) an extremely unwise use of limited community funds. 

I publicly voted NOT to move forward with the suit, because my individual interpretation as a board member was that: 

1. Recent changes to state laws have prohibit HOAs from enforcing certain types of covenants, depending on the conditions, leading to uncertain outcomes. 

   
   

2. I don't believe our covenants (section 7b) allow us to issue citations for construction that was completed by the homeowner, let alone from over sixteen years ago, which is when this construction in question was completed. 

   
   

3. The construction in question didn't involve any new or exterior buildings. It was a basement remodel, which our ACC doesn't have any jurisdiction over.
   

4. I'm concerned about the precedent of coming after homeowners' for ambiguous circumstances.
   

5. I'm concerned about draining the resources of the community with costly lawsuits.

   
   

For all these reasons and others, I felt the years-long effort was a bad use of funds. We have limited money available to us, and now the board is proposing to raise our annual dues, specifically to help cover the costs of spiraling attorneys fees. I have publicly opposed that plan as well and, unfortunately, these it appears these other candidates have chosen to use my opposition to costly lawsuits as an excuse to accuse me of holding positions that I do not hold. 

All I can say is that hopefully, these other candidates will come up short. I also hope you'll consider supporting the candidates from the Friends of Ken Lake, who are committed to using your dues money with greater care.