LAKELAND VILLAGE -- A bitter, years-long dispute between hang gliders and an Orange County developer over highly coveted land near the northeastern end of the lake is about to make its way back into a Riverside County courtroom.

Nearly seven years after the two sides -- the Elsinore Hang Gliding Association and CKS Concordia Development -- reached a settlement over use of the 56 acres in question, the two are butting heads over the terms of that agreement.

CKS Concordia, which owns the land, is planning to build houses on it. The gliders, who, through an easement, have for years had the legal right to use the property no matter who owns it, use it as a landing zone.

A jury could begin considering as early as next month a lawsuit filed in 2004 by the hang-gliding association.

At issue is whether the May 2000 agreement reached by both sides, which stipulated that the gliders would give up their rights to 46 of the 56 acres, still stands. The settlement was reached after the sixth day of a trial sparked by a hang-gliding association lawsuit.

The developer contends that the gliders have failed to live up to their end of the deal because they haven't worked out with the Riverside County Flood Control District a viable plan for construction of a debris basin on their 10 acres. The settlement included a provision that the gliders would share their 10 acres with the basin.

CKS Concordia's attorney, Frederick Moore, said Friday that it's been more than six years since the settlement was reached and the hang gliders have yet to reach an agreement with the Flood Control District on the basin. And it doesn't appear like anything's coming down the line either, he said.

"Six years and nothing has happened," Moore said. "It doesn't appear to us that the hang gliders are interested in having that happen."

According to the agreement, he also said, not until the Flood Control District signs off on the design for the basin will the hang gliders be given the rights to their 10 acres. Since the gliders have been given ample time to get that done without success, he said, CKS Concordia should be excused from having to follow the settlement any longer.

The hang-gliding association disagrees. Its attorney, John Mulvana, said that interpretation of the agreement is incorrect, that the developer automatically relinquished its rights to the 10 acres when it agreed to the settlement. All that's up in the air now is the design of the landing zone and debris basin, he said.

The problem, Mulvana added, is that the Flood Control District won't allow the basin and the landing zone to coexist.

According to General Manager Dusty Williams, the district can't allow any recreational use, whether it be baseball or hang gliding, on one of its basins. It legally can't take on the liability associated with anything bad that might happen on the basin while a hang glider is trying to land on it, he said.

Until an acceptable plan is presented, Williams said, the district won't sign off on it.

Member Ken Niemi said that the hang-gliding association is going to continue to fight CKS Concordia's attempt to get out of the settlement. The landing zone is too valuable an asset for Lake Elsinore, which prides itself on being an extreme sports mecca.

If the association loses the landing zone, Niemi said, then it will likely lose a permit from the U.S. Forest Service it has for a launching zone in the nearby Cleveland National Forest. As a condition of that permit, he said, the association is required to maintain a landing zone in the area.

Though CKS Concordia is attempting to assert rights over the land and is demanding that they stop landing there, Niemi said that gliders are going to continue to use the spot. The latest developments in this saga are only emboldening them, he said.

"We're diehards," he said. "I think people are going to get together and we're all going to get brave."

Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com. Comment at www.californian.com.