Easement road causes kerfuffle for school district

Published 2:00 pm Monday, October 1, 2007

An access road alongside Gordon Elementary in Kingston has become a point of contention between the North Kitsap School District, which owns the property, and Ken Lassesen who was granted a private road easement to use it as a driveway onto his property.

After the Kingston Community News ran a satellite map last month showing walking trails connecting Carpenter Lake, Gordon Elementary and Kingston High School, Lassesen contacted the newspaper and took issue with publishing a map, provided by the school district, that showed the proposed trail crossing the easement in question. The school district was aware of the conflicting interpretations of whether or not the easement allows public access and has since contacted its lawyers for clarification.

“We understand the issue and we will do what is consistent with the easement and what the law says,” said Gene Medina, superintendent of NKSD. “The issue will get resolved.”

Many local residents know the trail, and some planned to park at Gordon Elementary and walk over to Kingston High School for the opening celebration last month. But when Lassesen claimed the trail crossed his private road easement, the trail was closed. Private property signs were posted along the road and painted on it, presumably by Lassesen.

The easement road is the entryway into Gordon Elementary; it forks off to the left behind the fenced play area and according to Lassesen, only school buses, emergency vehicles and those he grants permission to are allowed to use it.

“We’re seeking a legal interpretation of what (the easement road) can and can’t be used for,” said Nancy Moffat, executive director of finance and operations for the school district. “We want to be good neighbors as well. We’re not trying to be stinkers.”

If it turns out that public access is not allowed, the district will post its own signage and “make sure the easement stays clear.” The district would also work with trails committees to come up with a revised trail system.

Naomi Maasberg, director of the Stillwaters Environmental Education Center located down Barber Cutoff Road from Gordon and caretaker of the nearby Carpenter Lake and trail, said she is aware of the conflict and was contacted by Kitsap County Commissioner Steve Bauer’s assistant, Kathy Brown, about a potential meeting with Stillwaters, Lassesen, the county and school district. The meeting, she said, may be to sit down and find a creative way to purchase the property.

Bauer said Lassesen had contacted him and indicated he was interested in selling his property to the county. Bauer then asked Brown to confer with the parties involved to see what they think about it. A meeting will not be scheduled, Bauer said, “until I hear from the experts.”

Lassesen currently owns three parcels of land adjacent to the school, including two adjoining, undeveloped rectangular lots of 10 acres each. He lives on a five-acre parcel that is accessed by the easement road.

Lassesen said his private road easement is extremely specific, acquired before the layout of the school was complete, and that originally, three access roads were planned to lead up to the school, which was built in 1994. Instead, he said, due to budget shortfalls, the district took a shortcut and only one road was created and shifted over to the edge of the district property to curve around wetlands. In the mornings and afternoons, the road up to Gordon Elementary is clogged with parents dropping off or picking up students.

The two 10-acre parcels will soon be listed as for sale, Lassesen said, at $300,000-$400,000 each. They are zoned as Urban Residential, which allows for one to five houses per acre. The traffic flow in and out of the school is “a major inhibitor for anyone looking at buying the property,” Lassesen said.

He offered the three parcels, totaling 25 acres, to the county or school district for $3.3 million, about $1 million less than what he thinks the land would be worth if it was divided and individual lots sold. He said the assessed value of his land is increasing by double digits each year.

The conflict with the easement, he said, came to a head when he met with the county last year and they told him that if he wants to develop the property now, there is a “long list” of requirements he’d have to meet in order to get permitting, including access for a public trail system.

“The request was unreasonable,” he said. “We’re being hammered between government bureaucracies … It’s the culmination of an awkward situation which is awkward for all. The best solution for the community is for all that land to be a part of the (Carpenter Lake) park.”

He pointed out that it would resolve the issue of public access to the trails and create an easy link for the county’s Public Utilities District, which plans to build a sewer pump station near Carpenter Lake. If the county doesn’t purchase the property, it will have to either deal with individual property owners should his land be subdivided and developed, or run lines around his property, which would add great expense. The same would go for the school district, which would have to renegotiate the property easement with new property owners.

Lassesen and his wife Laurie purchased the property nine years ago from the Yamashita family, who farmed the land from 1907 until the early 1970s and were famous for the celery they grew that was shipped over to Edmonds and taken by train as far away as Chicago. The Yamashitas were part of the Japanese farming community that settled in the Kingston environs, but largely dissolved after many were sent to internment camps during World War II.

Lassesen said there is still an old hand-built tractor and other farm equipment that the Yamashitas left behind, which he’s offered to give to Stillwaters or may donate to the Kitsap Historical Museum. He and his wife live in the farmhouse the Yamashitas built in 1960.

They are in the process of moving from the Kingston area and have purchased 25 acres of land elsewhere that they hope to build a home on. “We want to get cash out of this property in a reasonable length of time,” he said. “What we were looking for disappeared.”