By Don Nelson
Move the Hut, a local nonprofit organization that is fighting the placement of a small cabin on the brow of Flagg Mountain near Mazama, where it is visible from many parts of the valley floor below, is nearing its goal of raising $30,000 to cover the group’s legal costs.
Move the Hut has filed a lawsuit in Okanogan County Superior Court alleging that the cabin’s construction violated restrictive covenants that were intended to protect views from the valley floor.
The defendants are the cabin’s Seattle-based owners James Dow, Tom and Jeannie Kundig, and Ben Rand. Kundig is an internationally acclaimed architect whose most visible project in the valley is the Rolling Huts Cabins development on Highway 20.
Depositions are completed and a trial date is expected in 2014, the group reported this week. Earlier attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement were not successful. Seattle attorney David Bricklin of Bricklin & Newman is representing the plaintiffs.
Move the Hut has collected more than 700 signatures on a petition asking the owners to move the cabin, familiarly known in the Mazama area as the “hanging hut.”
Bill Pope, a Move the Hut organizer, said the group is within a few thousand dollars of reaching its fundraising goal of $15,000. Several local donors have offered to match that total to create a $30,000 legal fund.
Pope reported that anyone who donates $25 or more by Nov. 15 will get a chance to win two nights for two people at the Freestone Inn, North Cascades Basecamp, Mazama Ranch House, Timberline Meadows or Mazama Country Inn.
Move the Hut also reported than an independent filmmaker, Katie Turinski, has produced a short documentary video on the controversy, called Moving Mazama, which can be seen at http://youtu.be/lllN6ubp-DA. Pope said Move the Hut wasn’t involved in producing the video.
More information is available at movethehut.org.
