MALTBY — The state Department of Ecology has slapped a company with $62,000 in fines over water quality issues at a business park construction project.
A partner with the company, Wellington Hills Park LLC, said the state’s action is unjustified.
“We strongly dispute this,” John Blanchard said. “We feel it’s unfair. Frankly, we feel it’s a publicity stunt.”
The 14-acre project at 6524 240th St. SE, near Highway 522, is known as the Wellington Hills Business Campus.
The 13 state violations include charges of letting silty water drain from the site, posing a risk of suffocating fish in nearby Little Bear Creek. The state also accused the company of improperly storing fuels and of allowing vehicles to track dirt onto nearby roads.
Despite site visits, informal talks and warning letters, the company failed to fix problems, agency spokesman Larry Altose said.
“For a construction site, that’s a fairly significant fine,” Altose said. “Fines are (few and) far between. They’re quite a significant action.”
The company has tried to deal with the issues as they came up, and even spent $3 million on cleanup efforts, according to a release from Wellington’s managing partner, Randy Previs.
Snohomish County inspectors also have noted water quality issues at the site for years, but have not imposed any fines, permitting manager Tom Rowe said.
“We’ve gone to the point of posting stop-work orders,” Rowe said.
There haven’t been any issues there during the past three months, he said.
Wellington Hills Park has 30 days to appeal the state fine with the Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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