BOTHELL — Park Ridge Community Church got into the Christmas spirit Friday by hoisting a lighted star high onto a pole at its Maltby Road property.
It’s a tradition the church has kept during the past three seasons — but one that’s threatened by a code conflict with Snohomish County.
County officials say the church lacks the proper permits for the 90-foot-tall wooden pole. A code-enforcement officer handed the congregation a notice of violation in November. At that time, the pole was topped with a cross.
Now, the church could face a $1,500 fine if it doesn’t clear up the issue to the county’s satisfaction.
“Essentially, they’re just picking on this church,” said Gene Miller, a county planning commissioner and consultant who’s representing the congregation. “The real issue is that they’re trying to classify this as a flagpole and trying to get the church to get building permits for something that’s not referenced in county code.”
The church has appealed. The county hearing examiner is scheduled to consider the case Jan. 4.
County officials aren’t picking on the church, Deputy Executive Gary Haakenson said. They want some assurance that the pole rests on a solid foundation — and that it won’t fall over on nearby power lines or sidewalks.
“The church can have a flagpole there,” Haakenson said. “They can have a 90-foot flagpole there. They just have to come in and get a permit to do it.”
The pole has been in place for years, perhaps as long as a decade. The county started its investigation in September 2009, when a neighbor made a formal complaint.
“We’re kind of in the middle of that because we have to enforce the code,” Haakenson said.
A county code enforcement officer last year fined the church $18,000.
The county dropped that case in October because it listed the wrong property in its paperwork.
The county filed a new notice of violation Nov. 3. The notice instructs the church to obtain the necessary permits or remove the pole by Jan. 3.
“If we were really going to be sticklers, (the church) would be up over $30,000 in fines,” Haakenson said. “We’d be more than happy to reduce it down to 1,500 bucks.”
The permit would cost less than that, he said.
Often, the county doesn’t collect code-enforcement fines if violations are resolved.
Park Ridge Community Church has about 100 members. Its ministry places a heavy emphasis on connecting with people in the surrounding community.
A cell phone company installed the pole several years ago as a temporary cell phone tower, said Brad Sebranke, lead pastor at Park Ridge. When the company no longer needed the tower, the church asked that it be left there.
“We said, ‘Leave the pole and we’ll put a flag up on it,’” Sebranke said.
The church later put a cross on the pole. At Christmastime, they pull up an eight-pointed star bedecked with lights in place of the cross.
“We’re a church trying to be a light to our community,” Sebranke said.
Snohomish County code enforcement actions have raised eyebrows before — because of the high dollar amounts involved and for how they were resolved.
A year ago, a Korean cultural center in Lynnwood, which also is home to a church, found itself facing $22,000 in fines over faulty exit signs. The county agreed to reduce the amount to $1,000 after state Sen. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, intervened on the center’s behalf.
Shin, who is a native Korean speaker, blamed the problem on a language barrier.
In other code enforcement cases, people have been slapped with county fines that escalated to tens of thousands of dollars or more.
One family in the Tulalip area wound up with nearly $150,000 in penalties after being cited for violations, including an illegally built house and junked cars on its property.
The violations were first identified in 1992; the six-figure judgment against the family only went away this fall after an attorney, who read about the family’s plight, volunteered to file court paperwork on their behalf for free.
The county now caps fines in code disputes.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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