PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A woman who runs a pet recovery service in Vancouver, Washington, says her non-profit’s normal operations are in jeopardy because of a construction project adjacent to her home that is encroaching on her property after she signed an easement agreement with the developer.
Keri-Lyn Jakubs is the director of I Paw’d it Forward, which is a pet recovery, lost and found, transport and tracking service in Southwest Washington. She said she was misled in the agreement by Hurley Development and now scrambling to get her property in order for the demolition that begins Monday.
Jakubs bought a property owned by a subsidiary of Hurley, called Tenny Creek Subdivision, LLC., back in January 2019, Hurley Development Executive Vice President Greg McGreevey confirmed to KOIN 6 News via email Thursday. McGreevey said she signed a publicly recorded construction permit and blanket easement at the time.
The document states that Tenny Creek Subdivison, LLC is granted “ingress and egress over, across and upon,” Jakubs’ property.
In addition to that agreement, Jakubs said she was also given an “Estimated Impact Area” of where the construction would take place and how much of the overflow space would occur on her property. She said she indicated to developers where she planned to place two buildings related to the non-profit, which they agreed to.
“Before I signed on the dotted line, Hurley made me show them where my buildings would be and where my fence would be before they would even consider closing on this house,” Jakubs told KOIN 6 News.
Jakubs said when the company finally got around to beginning the process of developing the road bordering her property about a month ago, they told her the impact area would extend farther than the previously agreed upon amount indicated in the initial estimate and will overlap with the two buildings and her garden.
“They’re saying that they didn’t change anything. But what they showed me versus what the map says is not the same thing,” Jakubs said.
Hurley Development disputes Jakubs claims the company altered the construction plan from what they initially set out to do.
“The impact area was shared with Ms. Jakubs in early 2019, prior to the sale,” a statement from Hurley said. “Additionally, her property has been formally surveyed and it has been staked twice to communicate the area. The impact area has not changed.”
Jakubs said her property was staked to indicate the impact area only once, in the last two weeks.
Jakubs said she’s spoken to a lawyer who told her because she signed a blanket easement, she doesn’t have legal recourse without incurring tens of thousands of dollars in litigation fees, even though the situation has rendered many aspects of her operation at a stand still.
Jakubs said back in September, an employee of Hurley Development told her that “if Hurley wanted to, they could just keep me in litigation until I was bankrupt or quit.”
“What they’re doing is legal, just bad business. It’s unethical,” she said.
Hurley Development shared a letter to KOIN 6 News from the company’s legal representation, Paige Spratt, addressed to Jakubs’ lawyer, Steven Andersen, asking for Jakubs to “cease and desist” what Spratt called “posting misrepresentations” on social media about the company, on threat of filing a restraining order.
The letter had an accompanying screenshot of a Facebook post from what appeared to be the I Paw’d it Forward Facebook page saying Hurley Development didn’t “abide by their agreement.”
The letter also said Jakubs trespassed onto Tenny Creek property by parking her car in a hay barn of a plot adjacent to her home and included a photo. However Jakubs said she got permission to park in the hay barn by a Hurley Development project manager.
Jakubs said the Hurley construction project near her home was delayed for many months and caused inconveniences to her organization, including being blocked from her driveway and being unable to unload one of the buildings onto her property in a timely manner. She admitted that she told the person delivering one of the buildings dropped on her property to use a neighbor’s driveway but did not get the neighbor’s permission to do so beforehand.
She had contacted Hurley Development hoping they could contact the neighbor, whose property they had purchased from the company, Jakubs said. It appears from a text message exchange with a Hurley Development project manager that Jakubs provided to KOIN 6 News that the neighbor’s contact information was given to Jakubs.
Jakubs said she has had to stop doing search and rescue of lost dogs and limit stray dog pick ups, which normally would be a regular part of her operations in Southwest Washington and surrounding areas. Back in July, KOIN 6 News covered a story in which the non-profit helped facilitate the rescue of a cat that was stolen from someone’s porch.
However, the non-profit still responds to emergencies, as she is contracted with Clark County to be an after-hours emergency animal service. For instance, the other night they were on possum removal duty after it had invaded someone’s home, she said. Another time this week, they had to transport a dog that had been hit by a car with two broken hind legs to Columbia River Veterinary Specialists.
The buildings on her property contain things like kennels for dogs, traps, and other items that she would normally use for her search and rescue and stray animal pick up missions, Jakubs said. The equipment costs thousands of dollars and the buildings in which they are housed cost $26,000, partly raised from community funds, she said.
“I followed everything that they told me to do. I put the buildings where they said they would be safe. I did everything they’ve asked me to do and now they’ve marked them in the construction zone,” Jakubs said.
Jakubs said she will now need to spend well over $20,000 to extend her back patio and install new fencing in order to make a temporary safe space for the dogs on the property as construction is being completed.
With easement agreements, the developer in question is responsible for fixing anything that may get damaged after the construction is completed. In this case, “the construction on her property will occur in two 45-day periods,” Hurley VP McGreevey said in an email to KOIN 6 News.
“We have committed, as required by the easement, to installing pet-safe temporary fencing during that time, rebuilding anything that is impacted by construction, including replacing the driveway, providing new fencing, landscaping and more, as needed.” McGreevey said. “We are working to resolve this conflict and minimize any impact on the property.”
Hurley Development’s full, official statement is below:
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include Keri-Lyn Jekubs’ responses to some claims made by Hurley Development’s official statement.