A group of Blankenship neighbors have filed a lawsuit in Flathead County District Court claiming a planned resort is in violation of a prescriptive easement on Teakettle Road.

Glassview Glacier LLC is advertising a luxury resort with glass cabins where people can look out into the woods and skies above according to its website. The resort, still under development, is off Teakettle Road, a private road that takes off west of Rabe Road. While the road is private, it does run through public lands owned by the Forest Service on the east side of Teakettle Mountain.

Several neighbors, Stephen and Monica Haas, the Daniel L. Diamond Trust, Alison Flury, Ethan and Tricia King and Stephen Willis filed suit May 29 against Glassview Glacier, claiming the resort is in violation of the prescriptive easement for the road.

“... Glassview Glacier’s right to use Teakettle Road is pursuant to the prescriptive easement. Therefore, Glassview Glacier’s access to its property via Teakettle Road is limited to the historical use that occurred during the prescriptive period that was used to establish and create the prescriptive easement. The historical use during the prescriptive period was solely to access properties with private residences,” the suit maintains.

In other words, the traffic it would create is beyond the scope of the easement.

The use claims that the commercial use “exceed(s) the character, nature, scope, extent and/or intensity of the prescriptive easement, enlarge the extent and scope of the prescriptive easement; and overburden the servient estates that are burdened with the prescriptive easement, including plaintiff’s properties.”

According to the suit, Glassview Glacier is planning to build 30 luxury cabins on the site, with mirrored glass walls as a “luxury glamping” attraction. The resort’s website features a drone photo of the Flathead River near Columbia Falls as well as concept photos of the cabins.

Glassview did not respond to an emailed request for comment via the company’s website.

The area is unzoned and since the cabins are all on one contiguous lot, it is not subject to subdivision regulations, the county planning office previously told the Hungry Horse News.

The neighbors are asking the court to prohibit the resort from using Teakettle Road for its operations. It also seek to recoup attorneys’ fees as well.

The neighbors are represented by David M. Sandler and Sean E. Christensen of Moore, Cockrell, Goicoechea and Johnson of Kalispell.

Since the suit was filed however, the property has been listed for sale, so the legal action may be moot. Whitefish Sotheby’s has the nearly 80-acre parcel listed for $2.75 million.

Diamond, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said the broader issue is large scale commercial development in unzoned areas like Teakettle Mountain.

“Neither the county or the state have any regulations that will stop it outside of sanitary approval,” he said.