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2014, 03-18 Easement Ltr from HomeownerDear Mr. Doug Powell: Project # RECEIVED MAR 202014 March 18, 2014 CSV PERMIT CENTER SUB z" r -1 REV. # This is in regards to the access easement located on the property at 3715 S. Woodruff Rd., Spokane Valley, WA 99206. Parcel 45321-2302. The house was purchased in the summer of 2003. At the closing meeting with the agents, we were in the process of signing papers when my now late husband, Rick, noticed the plat map showed a dashed line for a 15' access easement along the north boundary of the property. The house was built in 1990 and to our knowledge, this wasn't disclosed or noticed earlier by the prior 3 owners of the house or their realtors. The 15' easement was clearly located through the living room, dining room, kitchen and deck of the house. Rick refused to complete signing the papers until we talked with our realtor. This caused an issue with the title insurance and Rick had many conversations with our realtor and an attorney, Pam Rohr, who he hired to help sort out the problem. Rick was angry at the seller's realtor - last name Thoen - who worked with John L. Scott as this should have been pointed out in disclosure. I remember him not being too pleased with our realtor, Gayle Earling, either. Since our house was built on the last piece of property on Woodruff, it was evident that the 15' access easement was put on it to allow county or city vehicle access to remove limbs and debris from the running creek/swale area on our neighbor's property. This supposed swale has never even puddled or otherwise had standing water on it since we purchased our home in 2003 - over 10 years ago. As I said before, the swale in question is not even located on our property. We signed paperwork that addressed a vacation of the easement that our neighbors, Joe and Alice Espinoza, and Rick and I completed before a notary. The swale area was once farmland and orchards and was originally owned by Dr. Gudgel and subsequently purchased by the Espinozas. We lived here for six years when Rick died suddenly in April of 2009. During that six year period of time, no mention was made about anything regarding the swale or the access easement. No county or City of Spokane Valley vehicle has ever driven on our property to access anything beyond our property line/fence line on the east side of our property. I assumed that the paperwork we had notarized removed the 15' access easement on the north side of our property. My fiance, Larry Hoffman, and I have been together for several years. Larry sold his house last spring and we made plans to do an addition to my house here on Woodruff. As you know, part of the process of a major remodel was to get a building permit. So in the summer of 2013, we applied for a permit at the City of Spokane Valley permit center. Karen Kendall pulled the area plat map up on her computer and she informed us that the 15' easement still existed on the north side of our property. I told her that we had signed papers to vacate that access easement back when the house was purchased in 2003. She checked with the auditor's office along with others in the permit center and concluded that the easement had not been vacated or if it had, the change had not been recorded. Since the planned addition to our house was on the south side of the property and within the original footprint of the foundation, we were granted the permit and given the go ahead to have our general contractor begin. Larry paid for the addition and we want to add him to the title of the property. We want a clean title to the property free of any easements, so I pursued the issue of finding out why the 15' access easement on the north side of the property was still showing up on the plat map. Karen Kendall told me to go to Simpson Engineering and talk to them. I spoke to Duane there and we agreed to do what was necessary to deal with the easement issue. I believe they went to the extent of redrawing the plat without the swale and easement and then ordered the property certificate. It was when Simpson Engineering received the certificate that they found out the easement had been moved to the south side of the property. I have no paperwork to document that move. Karen Kendall and the permit people have no record of it, nor could they see it on their computer. The roof line and support posts of our already completed addition are now inside that apparent 15' easement on the south side of the property. Larry and I have spent a significant sum adding on and remodeling our house. We made our plans based on information we were given by the permit center at the City of Spokane Valley. I recently received a $1,382.50 invoice from Simpson Engineers dated 2/3/14 for services rendered 10/29/13 - 11/22/13. This is referring to the plat alteration that I have never been given and that should have never been done had the property certificate been pulled before Simpson made any assumptions or did anything. Why would I agree to pay $1,382.50 for something that hasn't benefited us in the least and should have been addressed by the county or city years earlier? We are asking that the City of Spokane Valley re -survey our property and remove the aforementioned access easement. Furthermore, we in no way feel obligated to pay any fees for the survey or process of eliminating the access easement as this is clearly the result of mistakes and omissions made by the county, the city, or both. We have made many plans and final decisions based on information from the City of Spokane Valley that was totally false and technically incorrect. We were directed to deal with an engineering firm that apparently doesn't know what they are doing. Karen Kendall reviewed our case with a co-worker from her office who was supposed to contact me within a week. I believe his name is Scott Kuhta. I have yet to hear from him. My last phone conversation with Karen occurred in September or October of 2013. We by no means mean to imply that Karen was anything but professional in our dealings with her. She was pleasant and as helpful as possible given the information she was able to gather. If you wish to discuss this further, please contact Larry at (509)869-4999; but we wish to be clear that this issue needs to be resolved in the next 60 days so we can move forward to pursue a clean title on our property. Otherwise, we will hand this off to our attorney who specializes in this type of legal matter. Regards, Barbara Berkseth Larry Hoffman z / `\ r" %, t\ 01-� 0 z F VL o �r F+ W 10 i+p i` tiy. Itj. sy'2 Fi' V,o,4 .OrQar 10 y V' r fyi n a 0 m�. 7 �41C F ¢� f IQ iF? 0 7 3`-� J` :O i Q1 cq WE x