A first version of the Highlands community was created in the early 1900s when a tract of Spokane Country Club (SCC) land was planned for development with a plat (approved by the County Engineer on October 5, 1910 and recorded on February 2, 1911) that declares:

 

“Know all men by these presents, that the Spokane Country Club, a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Washington, has laid off and platted into Lots, Blocks, Streets and Alleys, the land shown on the attached plat to be known as SPOKANE COUNTRY CLUB TRACTS, Spokane County Washington, the land in said plot being more particularly described as follows to-wit: Beginning at the East ¼ Corner of Section 12 Township 26 North Range 42 East of Willamette Meridian, Thence … and it does hereby dedicate to the public, forever, the streets and alleys marked and shown upon said plat.”

 

On November 25, 1955, the SCC recorded a modified version of the 1910 plat as the REPLAT of SPOKANE COUNTRY CLUB TRACTS.  The 1955 plat also included a DEDICATION that contained an introduction similar to the 1910 words quoted above, and continued with:

 

“The dedication of this plat is made upon the conditions and covenants following, to-wit: … ” followed by 14 numbered paragraphs making the SCC board of trustees the final authority not only on property rules and regulations, but on property ownership as well:  

 

“4. No property within this plat shall be conveyed, sold or otherwise disposed of in whole or in part to any person not a resident member of Spokane Country Club, and shall not be rented to or occupied by any person unless duly elected to membership in said Club according to his, or her, proper classification. … .”

 

Note:  In 2012 the Highlands Homeowners Association (HHA) created and approved a revision of their By-Laws (revised version here) and updated the Covenants which, in effect, replaced the Spokane Country Club board of trustees with “the board of trustees of the Highlands Homeowners Association of Spokane Inc. (HHA)”

 

The Highlands Homeowners Association 1989 Report of: The Long Range Planning Committee was submitted to members on April 10, 1989, with a section prepared by member Fred Burnet that provided a “chronological recital of major events in the Highlands history which have led to the current Association.”  The following is an excerpt from that report.

 

“In 1956 the Country Club constructed the road system and installed sewer and water lines which were connected to the Club systems.  Washington Water Power installed utility lines with cost of the street lights to the Club’s account.  At that time the Club’s water system consisted of a pumping station adjacent to #8 tee and spring water was pumped to the water reservoirs, then located on the present circle park.  Water lines from these reservoirs served the Club and Highlands needs.  The Club provided snow removal services after Mr. Chud Wendle made a donation to the Club of a truck equipped with a snow plow, which the Club used to clear their roads.

 

The Club sold most of the lots by an auction held in the Club House.  In 1960 the Highland Homeowners Association was formed and it took over some maintenance of roads and paid the Club the cost of street lighting.  The Club continued to supply snow removal services.  In 1974 members were assessed $15.00 a month by the Association, collected through the Club, to cover these expenditures.

 

In June 1970 the Country Club sold its water distribution system to Whitworth Water District No. 2 and the Club and Highland owners became customers of that District.  The Club sold the water reservoirs and the Association assumed landscaping costs for the park.  In the 1970’s the Association installed the first part of the fence on the Fairwood-Highlands boundary from Waikiki Street.  This fence was completed in the 1980’s.

 

In the late 1970’s (?) the Association relaid the asphalt on the entrance road.

 

In January 1980 the Association set up a Planning Committee to consider incorporation and draft pertinent by-laws.  These were approved by the membership and the Highlands Home Owners Association was incorporated under the laws of the State of Washington and registered in Olympia on June 18, 1980.

 

In June of 1981 the Planning Committee expressed concern over the deterioration of the roadway.  A program to seal large cracks in the roadbed was instituted in 1981 & 1982 at a cost of several thousand dollars to the Association.

 

In September 1981 the Country Club deeded the streets and entrance road to the Association, reserving the right of access over the entrance road to the Club’s maintenance roads and the Club notified the Association that the equipment donated by Mr Wendle was now beyond repair.  The Association became responsible for snow removal and all other operating costs.”

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Details: After corresponding with the HHA, the SCC agreed to the September 22, 1981, quit claim deed for our circle park and for “all Streets, Alleys, Roads, Avenues, Drives, and Courts … ” as shown in the 1955 replat “… together with Access Road extending south from the southeast corner of said Replat as access to Public Road” with the SCC retaining the right of access to travel on the community streets and access road:  "In the interest of maintenance of the golf course and its main water line from the back nine through the Highlands area to the main water pump lying in the valley floor north of and beyond the Highlands properties, the Club retained an easement to use the roads for those purposes."  (Excerpt from the February 7, 1987, letter jointly signed by J. C. MacLean, President of the Spokane Country Club, and Richard F. Hewett, for the Highlands Homeowners Association, as part of the 1981 Quit Claim Deed, vol 1292 page 1273, filed May, 1992)

 

Later, in 1995, the HHA and SCC recorded a Sewer Connection Agreement that laid out the plan for jointly maintaining a private sewer system that would serve both parties until other options became available.

 

The Spokane Country Club became the Kalispel Golf and Country Club (KGCC) after the sale in December, 2015.  Since then, the HHA and the KGCC have been reviewing their records with the understanding that clarifications, corrections, and changes need to be made to the current legal relationship. 

 

Notes on the present and near future: HHA has been working on several projects.

 

Community Streets  It turns out that in the County Assessor records, the SCC was owner and tax payer of our community streets (Pinehill, Country Club, Fairway) up until December 2016.  The HHA is now owner and taxpayer of this parcel (number 26121.0501). 

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Access Road  The County agreed to the HHA request that our access road be officially named North Highlands Lane (or N Highlands Ln).  The access road belongs to the HHA, but still is shown as part of a plat (number 26124.9025) owned by the KGCC.  Negotiations are underway to properly and clearly define HHA (1981 quitclaim) ownership of the access road for purposes of County records.

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Signs and Maps  The HHA installed new road signs in 2017: a new N Highlands Ln - Waikiki intersection street sign, two new private-no outlet signs posted on Highlands Ln near Waikiki, a replacement W Country Club Ct street sign, and a more visible sign to replace the street direction sign located on the east side of the circle.  The County SCOUT website, OpenStreetMap website, Apple, Bing, and Google Maps currently show up to date information.  Background and details can be found here .

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Sewer  The HHA and KGCC will continue to work together on an extension of the current sewer plan and to request the County plan and provide gravity-fed public sewer service to both entities.

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