A long-running lawsuit over a failed development proposal in Valley County is over.
In June, attorneys for Boise developer Trident Holdings and the Idaho Department of Lands reached an agreement to end a dispute over the denial of a complex proposal to swap 26 square miles of land around Payette Lake to make way for development on state-owned forests in the area. The land swap would have required the approval of the Idaho Land Board, which turned down the idea in 2021.
This denial triggered a petition for judicial review from Trident Holdings. But, after a few hearings in late 2021, the case remained dormant by the winter of 2022.
As BoiseDev reported, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office asked the court to dismiss the suit over inactivity earlier this year. The state said the court wrote to David Arkoosh, the attorney for Trident, in the spring of 2022 looking to set a hearing date, but that Arkoosh did not reply.
Judge Samuel Hoagland ruled against the state in May. He said while Arkoosh should have set a date for the hearing and it was his responsibility to keep the case moving forward since it was his client who filed the suit, the state didn’t sufficiently prove they were harmed by the delay in the case, and he allowed it to move ahead.
However, Hoagland denied Trident Holdings’ request to conduct a deposition, add more information to the record in the case, and more time. Hoagland’s order said the requests were not filed by the deadlines set by the court, and Trident provided “no reason” why it wanted an extension well after the deadline.
“Arkoosh attested that he was ‘personally aware’ of certain records that have not been included; however, he provides no example or detail of what these records are and how they are material to the instant proceeding.”
By the 15th of June, Trident Holdings and the Idaho Department of Lands filed paperwork to dismiss the case, with both sides covering their own attorneys’ fees.
