Cleanup ordered for Smith Island

Published 9:00 pm Friday, February 16, 2007

EVERETT – A regional topsoil company has been ordered to remove 10 to 15 acres of dirt and concrete rubble it allegedly piled on Smith Island without a permit.

The debris is likely atop a wetland, Snohomish County officials contend. They’ve ordered Everett-based Pacific Topsoils to clean up the area by April 6. The company could face fines of $250 per day.

“This is a particularly large-scale violation,” said Brian Parry, executive administrator for County Executive Aaron Reardon.

“We need to assess if this was a wetland, what was damaged and what needs to be done to restore it and take those steps immediately.”

Janusz Bajsarowicz, Pacific Topsoils environmental director, said only the company attorney could comment on the county’s order. The attorney did not immediately return a phone call Friday.

Peggy Toepel, president of the Everett Shorelines Coalition, said she discovered the fill during a walk along the slough.

Her group has tried to protect Everett wetlands since forming in 2002. The group’s members know wetland locations well on Smith Island, Toepel said.

Members of the group took photos and filed a complaint with the county in June. The group provided aerial photos to inspectors.

“There’s a remnant slough that’s a candidate for enhancement or restoration, and the filling was progressing right toward that sensitive area,” Toepel said. “We were kind of alarmed with how far they were going to go with this. They were flouting the regulations everyone else has to follow.”

The county moved “incredibly, incredibly slow,” but the action this month is encouraging, she said.

Parry said county officials inspected the site in July and found dirt and concrete rubble piled 10 to 15 feet high.

In September, officials gave four months for the company to voluntary seek permits for the work.

No progress was made, Parry said.

State Department of Ecology officials have been contacted by the county and might also take action against the company, Parry said.

The county wants an environmental study. If it proves wetlands were damaged, a restoration plan will be required for review and approval, Parry said.

Pacific Topsoils Inc., which has 12 locations in King and Snohomish counties, has run afoul of county codes in the past with several violations.

The company was ordered to stop grinding glass and aluminum as a commercial operation on Monroe farmland in 2004, according to the county prosecutor’s office.

A decade earlier, the county fined the company $5,000 for mining peat without a grading permit at Thomas Lake, east of Mill Creek. The case went to the state Supreme Court and the county won, senior deputy prosecuting attorney Jason Cummings said.

The company also has been cited for unauthorized grading in King County.

Pacific Topsoils has until Feb. 26 to appeal the order to the county hearing examiner.

Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.