Day v. Santorsola

76 P.3d 1190, 118 Wash. App. 746
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided July 28, 2003·No. No. 50462-2-I·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

Schindler, J.

Russell and RuthAnne Day purchased a lot in the Burton Estates subdivision. The subdivision has restrictive covenants which require a committee (Committee) to consent to construction of a house. The Committee rejected proposed plans for the Days’ house. The Days sued the Committee and all the property owners, alleging that the Committee’s rejection of their plans was not permitted under the covenants and that the Committee acted unrea[749]*749sonably and in bad faith. The trial court concluded that the intent of the covenants was to regulate the height of houses, not to protect view, and that the Committee’s rejection of the Days’ revised and compromise plans was not reasonable and was not in good faith. The court entered judgment in favor of the Days, finding that they are entitled to build a house on their lot, not to exceed a specified height and roof pitch, and awarded them attorney fees as the prevailing parties.

We affirm the trial court’s interpretation of the covenants and its conclusion that the Committee acted unreasonably and in bad faith by rejecting the Days’ plans. We reverse the trial court’s imposition of height and roof pitch limitations, however, and remand for the entry of a judgment that allows the Days to construct a house pursuant to either their revised plans or their compromise plans. We also remand for entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law setting forth the way in which the trial court determined the award of attorney fees to the Days. We award the Days attorney fees on appeal as prevailing parties.

FACTS

Burton Estates is a 20-lot subdivision located on a hillside in the Juanita/Kirkland area. Many of the lots have views of Mount Rainier, Lake Washington, and Bellevue. Restrictive covenants for each lot were recorded when the Burton Estates plat was filed in 1958. The provisions of the covenants relevant to this appeal include:

• [T]he restrictions hereinafter set forth with respect to height limitations of trees or other natural objects, buildings or other man-made structures, shall never be changed.[1]
• No building shall be erected, placed or altered on any tract until the building plans, specifications and plot plan showing the location of such building shall have been approved in writing by the committee as to all conditions of design and [750]*750construction, and particularly as to height and as to conformity and harmony of external design with existing structures in the above-described property, and as to location of the building with respect to topography and finished ground elevation.[2]
• No building shall be erected or maintained on any tract when any part thereof shall be nearer than 25 feet from said easement premises, nor nearer than 25 feet from the boundary of such tract most distant from said easement premises, nor nearer than ten feet from any side tract line.[3]
• No structure shall be erected, altered, placed or permitted to remain on any tract within the above-described premises other than one detached single family dwelling for single family occupancy only, not to exceed two stories in height (as limited by the power of the committee to limit the height of any structure in said premises), the habitable main floor of which, exclusive of garage, open entries, porches and patios shall not be less than 1,200 square feet, except a private garage for not more than three cars and outbuildings incidental and necessary to residential uses of the premises.[4]
• No trees or shrubs shall be permitted to remain or allowed to grow to a height exceeding 20 feet, nor to any height which tends to block the view from other tracts within said premises.[5]
• The provisions of this instrument may be enforced by any owner of any property included in said subdivision (“owner” shall be construed to include mortgagors and contract vendees) upon the violation or attempt to violate any of the provisions hereof, by any proceeding at law or in equity either to prevent him or them from such violation or to recover damages arising from such violation; and in the event a successful action is instituted by any person, the person or persons instituting such action shall be entitled to [751]*751their costs incurred, together with a reasonable attorney’s fee to be fixed by the Court.[6]

In 1998, the Days purchased Lot 14, an undeveloped lot in Burton Estates. In May 1999, they complied with the requirements of the covenants and submitted plans for a house to the Committee for its approval. In May 1999, the Committee was comprised of Julie Santorsola, David Heimbach, and Howard Barnebey. The Santorsolas own a house located behind and uphill from Lot 14 and the Days’ proposed house.

On June 2, 1999, the Days submitted a building permit application with their proposed plans to the City of Kirkland. On June 12, 1999, the Committee informed the Days by letter that it rejected their plans because: (1) the plans showed a three-story house, not a two-story house; (2) the proposed house would block all of the Santorsolas’ views from their first floor and partially obstruct their views from the second floor and would impact views from three other properties; (3) the plans violated the restriction that garages could be no larger than a three-car garage; and (4) the proposed house violated setback lines on two sides.

On June 21, 1999, Mr. Day met with the Committee and raised concerns about Santorsola’s participation in the review of the Days’ plans because of her interest in protecting the view from her house.

On June 30,1999, the Days submitted revised plans that addressed and corrected the third and fourth reasons the Committee disapproved their original plans, specifically, the size of the garage and the violation of setback lines. The Days disputed the Committee’s conclusion that their plans called for a three-story house and that a daylight basement should be considered a story. They also disagreed that the covenants permitted rejection solely because of the impact of the proposed house on other homeowners’ views. The Committee held a meeting regarding the revised plans on July 22, 1999. At that meeting, Santorsola recused herself [752]*752from the Committee for purposes of considering the Days’ revised plans, and Chuck Carey replaced her. The Committee rejected the revised plans by letter dated July 25, 1999. Carey testified, however, that when he became a member of the Committee, the decision to reject the revised plans had already been made, and he did not participate in drafting the July 25 rejection letter.

The Committee stated in its July 25 letter that it rejected the Days’ revised plans because:

• The Days did not provide information the Committee had requested regarding elevations.
• The plans called for a house of more than two stories because the daylight basement was not completely below the current mean grade of the property.
• The height of the proposed house had a negative impact on the view from the Santorsolas’ house and would cause them to completely lose their views from their first floor and partially lose them from their second floor.

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Day v. Santorsola, 76 P.3d 1190, 118 Wash. App. 746 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003).

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Day v. Santorsola
76 P.3d 1190 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2003)