Post by Steve Zehm. Representative Plaintiff.
Some of the members of this group have voiced their desire for the Plaintiffs to immediately drop the lawsuit so the golf course can be sold and rebuilding can commence. If the lawsuit is immediately dropped, the appeal will be dismissed with the court of appeals. Also, the August 19th hearing at the Whatcom County Superior Court will be withdrawn in which two important issues will be heard by Judge Freeman:
- Whether homeowners that paid into the voided 6th amendment get refunded their money back. Totals approximately $40,000
- Whether homeowners that paid the requested amount under the voided 7th amended get their $57 per month overpayment back. Some homeowners are owed almost $2000. Totals approximately $800,000
If the lawsuit is immediately dropped:
- Is there a binding purchase and sales agreement in place? if so, who with? The plaintiffs, on behalf of the class, would not want to drop the lawsuit and have the golf course go directly back to Chen.
- If the golf course is sold, will the new Declarant keep the fees at $36 with the 5% max yearly escalation in place? No amendments that change that?
- If the golf course is sold, will the new Declarant renounce special assessments against homeowners? No amendments that change that?
- If the golf course is sold, will the new Declarant disclose where every penny of homeowner fees is going and allocate a certain percentage to a reserve fund?
- If the golf course is sold, and the golf course returns a profit at the end of the year, will the owner transfer the excess portion of the homeowner fees that was not used to maintain the common open space to the reserve fund?
- If the golf course is sold, will the new Declarant allow homeowners to form and elect an HOA and then convey the Homestead common open space over to this newly elected HOA before the law becomes effective on January 1st, 2028?
When the Plaintiffs heard about the two options from Pat Starr (via the Facebook post on June 5th) we said perfect! We, on behalf of the class, choose option 1. We would immediately drop the lawsuit. The appeal and any litigation for refunding monies collected under the voided 6th and 7th amendments foregoing what they are owed as an investment in the future of Lynden. In fact, option 1 was the settlement offer we proposed multiple times to 18 Paradise over the past five years. Then we waited. And waited. Crickets. And then we heard that after multiple extensions of the feasibility study, the potential buyer has backed out of offering option 1 as a choice to homeowners and will only buy the golf course if they have option 2, homeowner funds for rebuilding and the new owner would not convey over the common open space to an elected HOA. The purchase and sales agreement has been voided with 18 Paradise.
Final thoughts. I have so many here but will try to condense down. First, so many are blaming the Plaintiffs for the condition of the golf course when the finger pointing should solely be on 18 Paradise and MJ Management. As the owner of the property, 18 Paradise could have easily replaced MJ Management a long time ago with another manager after MJ failed to make their rent payments. When they finally kicked them out, they had no plan to maintain their investment. They just let it go to wasteland just like they did with the Sea Links course in Birch Bay. Why didn’t they plug in another property management company to run the golf course? Because they don’t care about it! Heck, instead of buying the course last year, Duane could have worked out a lease option with Chen while the case was ongoing. Second, 18 Paradise would rather bankrupt themselves in court and legal fees than give one penny to Whatcom County or the residents of Homestead. Do you know that in addition to not maintaining the golf course and common open space, they haven’t paid their county property taxes since the end of 2023. They are almost two years in default.
Finally, I just want to say that we, the Plaintiffs on behalf of so many the live in the Homestead PRD, are fighting for our property, for accountability of our funds, and for the voice on how those funds are used. We are open for negotiation, but need to have some guarantees for the folks that are counting on us before we just drop the lawsuit and hope for the best.