A Washington state appellate court panel here again has reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that Spokane County commissioners improperly authorized the construction of a road through dedicated parkland in the Wandermere area north of Spokane.

“For a second time, we’re tasked with reviewing whether Friends of North Spokane Parks can overcome procedural obstacles in order to challenge a decision of the Spokane County Board of Commissioners permitting road construction through a park,” the court writes in its 3-0 ruling.

“Previously, we reversed an order of dismissal based on standing. We now consider whether Friends’ suit was timely. We hold it was,” the court writes in its Jan. 24 decision.

The legal dispute involves a natural, unimproved 4-acre strip of land known as “Freddy Park” that’s located behind the Fred Meyer store at 12120 N. Division, just south of Hastings Road. The wooded parkland serves as a natural buffer between the big Fred Meyer store and a residential area to the east.

Star Saylor LLC, a private real estate developer, has proposed construction of an apartment complex near the park.

Spokane County is requiring the developer to build an access way to the complex through part of the park to connect to Regina Avenue north of Spokane, says Steve Eugster, the Spokane attorney representing Friends of North Spokane Parks.

Eugster says the group remains committed to blocking the construction of a road through the park. Mike Maurer, attorney for Star Saylor LLC, couldn’t be reached for comment.

In November 2014, the state appellate court unanimously held that Spokane County Superior Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark erred when she ruled that nonprofit plaintiff Friends of North Spokane County Parks lacked taxpayer standing and didn’t state a claim on which relief could be granted.

The case was sent back to Superior Court for further proceedings after that first appeals court ruling.

In the second round of arguments, the respondents, Spokane County, Fred Meyer Stores Inc., and Star Saylor LLC, a private real estate developer, argued before Clark that Friends of North Spokane Parks failed to comply with the statute of limitations, court documents say.

Clark granted the respondents’ motion for summary judgment and denied Friends of North Spokane County Parks’ motion for reconsideration. The Friends group then appealed for a second time.

“At issue is RCW 36.32.330,” the court writes. The statute says any person may appeal to the Superior Court from any decision or order of the board of county commissioners. An appeal must be started within 20 days of the decision, says the statute.

“Because Friends was not a party to the challenged proceedings, the statutory appeal … was not applicable. Nor was the 20-day filing deadline. Summary judgment on the basis of RCW 36.32.330 was improper,” the court writes.

The entire matter dates to 2001, when Spokane County adopted a resolution to accept 4 acres of land Fred Meyer Stores Inc. donated for park use. The 2001 deed specified the property—eventually known as “Freddy Park”—was to be held, conveyed, sold, and improved only as a natural community or regional park, court records say.

Roundup Co., a Fred Meyer affiliate, offered the land to the county for use as a park in connection with its development of property near the corner of U.S. Highway 395 and Hastings Road for the Fred Meyer store, court documents say.

The deed prohibited “vehicular ingress or egress from the property” except from Standard Drive, which stretches south from Hastings a short distance to the edge of the parkland. The county accepted the donation by resolution, subject to those conditions, court records say.

In 2007, Star Saylor applied to the county for a preliminary plat for its nearby land, but one of the conditions imposed by the county hearing examiner was that “the applicant shall secure and construct a second ingress/egress roadway to serve the proposed development,” court records say.

The condition also stated that the proposed second access “must be dedicated through the park land owned by Spokane County north of the (proposed development) site,” the records say.

County commissioners favored allowing construction of the road through the park-designated land. However, out of concern that its authority to approve the road might be questioned in light of the 2001 deed and restrictions, the county asked that Roundup and affiliates Fred Meyer Inc. and Fred Meyer Stores execute an amendment to the 2001 deed allowing for the road’s construction, court records say.

They agreed to do so, but only if the county represented and defended them in the event of litigation resulting from the amendment, and the county agreed to that stipulation, the records say.