A local citizen group has appealed a decision by the Spokane County Commissioners to rezone a hotly debated 3.6-acre lot on the north shore of Liberty Lake.

Earlier this month, CAUSE, an organization of local residents concerned with development in the Liberty Lake watershed, filed the appeal with the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board.

"What I marvel at (is) how many people were against it," Steve Shirley, CAUSE president and a Liberty Lake resident, said of the commissioners' rezone decision. "I feel they've thumbed their nose at all these people who have had input."

In December, the commissioners approved a change from rural traditional zoning to a low-density residential for the property, which has been owned for more than 50 years by Liberty Lake's Lancaster family.

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The decision went against the recommendation of the county's planning commission and against vocal opposition by neighbors and others, who said they were concerned about the precedent set by the rezone and the environmental impact of such a development on the lake.

Commissioner Mark Richard said in December that the application was approved with the stipulation that a development agreement be reached between Spokane County and Lancaster Enterprises LLC, requiring the Lancasters to follow through with their stated intention of separating the parcel into no more than five lots used specifically for single-family residences.

A low-density residential zone normally can include as many as six units per acre. Richard also said he would ask the family to consider limiting building height to one-story on the property.

Richard said in December that one reason the commissioners didn't come to the same conclusion as the planning commission was that the planners "kind of wrangled with issues that are really supposed to be wrangled with at the building permit phase." Capital facility concerns can be expressed once the application reaches that phase, he said last month.

Richard said he discussed the application with the county's legal counsel and determined that approval "met the test of the law" and thereby would not set a legal precedent. As far as a political precedent, Richard said the property is so unique it would be rare to find another that could be approved citing the same case commissioners used in this instance.

The CAUSE group, however, disagrees.

"It is opening the door. Land uses are established by precedent," Shirley said. "Four houses will not be the end of the lake; it's what if that happens at Sandy Beach?"

The Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board is holding a pre-hearing conference with the involved parties early next month. From the day the appeal is filed, the board has six months to issue a decision, if the case runs its course, according to a board representative.

Richard and the Lancaster family could not be reached for comment regarding the appeal.