LYNNWOOD – Marley the pig trotted out of his little house at a brisk pace. He trundled up to a plate of withering vegetables set out for him and went straight for the wrinkly tomato. He bit into it, juice and seeds squirting out the sides.
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Photo GalleryRoosters crowed. A young man tossed bales of straw onto a flatbed truck. Inside, chicks chirped under infrared lights, rabbits munched on lettuce, and kittens bopped at kids’ fingers through the bars on their cages.
This real scene from today could soon fade into memory, like many similar scenes in south Snohomish County. Arnold’s Hay and Grain, a combination feed store, pet supply store and animal rescue operation north of Lynnwood at 15827 35th Ave. W., could soon cease to exist after 40 years of doing business in the area.
“There isn’t any store like this anywhere around,” said Corinne Balser, who owns Arnold’s with her husband, Dick.
Arnold’s has been operating illegally under county zoning laws for five years as a commercial establishment in an area zoned for apartments and condominiums. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese ruled in October that the Balsers must close the business by Jan. 10 and pay a $5,000 fine. If they do not comply, they will have to pay fines of $250 a day retroactive to August 2000 – amounting to $363,000.
The Balsers, who are both 73, want to move but say they need more time to build on their new site at 17410 Ash Way, an undeveloped area north of Alderwood mall. County officials say the matter has gone on long enough.
The Balsers have been fighting the order to vacate, and losing. But customers have been supporting their cause. Since July, the Balsers have collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition calling for the county to end its action against Arnold’s.
“We love this place,” said customer Paula Kellogg of Lynnwood, who has been bringing her kids to Arnold’s to pet animals for more than 10 years. “We think it’s just awful that they’re being forced to move.”
The Balsers’ plight epitomizes changes in the area, where trees and an occasional home or small business are being replaced by multifamily housing.
“This area used to be very rural, but it’s no longer that rural,” customer Sandy Weberg said. She and her husband, Dale, come to Arnold’s to buy grain to feed the ducks at their home on nearby Swamp Creek.
“This place is incorporated into our culture,” Dale Weberg said.
People come from all around the region to get alfalfa and orchard grass for horses and goats, Corinne Balser said. Bags of dried corn are favorites of those who feed wild birds. Construction companies and local governments buy straw for erosion and mud control. Pet owners choose from supplies crammed into four small rooms of an old wooden house, from organic catnip to ferret shampoo.
When a young couple ran Arnold’s in the early 1990s, they started taking in abandoned pets and caring for them until they could be adopted. When the Balsers took over in 1995, they continued the practice.
Cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds are the most common boarders, but dogs, ferrets, chickens, pigs and exotic pets come through as well, Corinne Balser said.
“We get here and find a box with holes in it on the front porch. They come in in such terrible condition,” she said, adding that customers donate money to help pay the bills for a veterinarian to check them over.
If an animal needs a home “and we can reasonably and properly accommodate it, and it’s suitable for adoption, we accept it. We’ve got a pretty good record” of successful adoptions, she said.
The Kelloggs adopted their first cat, Muffin, at Arnold’s.
“We just love her,” Paula Kellogg said, adding they’re now adopting a kitten.
Other visitors to the store just like to look and pet.
“This is one of my favorite things, to come and see the babies,” Sandy Weberg said, watching five tiny kittens playing and sleeping in a cage.
Animals always have been a fixture at Arnold’s. Original owners Floyd and Beverly Arnold started the business as a hay delivery service out of their farmhouse on 164th Street SW, not far from the current site, said Beverly Arnold, who still lives in the area.
“Then different people asked for horse food and grain, and pretty soon it was bridles and saddles,” Arnold said.
Plans went awry
In 1990, Dick Balser, a residential real-estate developer, bought nine properties that included the original Arnold’s. The plan was to build a retirement facility and day care center on adjoining land so children and retirees would have access to the animals and each other.
A young couple ran the business for the Balsers for five years and planned to buy it, but it didn’t work out financially, Balser said. When they left, the Balsers kept Arnold’s going.
“My wife said she had never run a cash register, but she said she’d try to be at the store two or three days a week to handle all the people coming in,” Balser said.
She’s been working there ever since.
In 1995, while Balser had several development projects going, federal loan laws changed and he could no longer make his payments, he said. An involuntary bankruptcy action was filed against the Balsers by creditors, and he was granted Chapter 11 reorganization. Through a court-directed land sale, the Balsers were forced to sell the land along 164th to developers for multifamily housing.
“We lost our house, our 40-foot boat, our 45-foot covered slip and the Sound-view lot where we were going to build our retirement home,” Corinne Balser said, adding that they now live in a mobile home park in south Everett.
After the forced sale of land, all the Balsers had left was a skinny, one-acre strip of land extending back from 35th Avenue W. On that land was an old house, which the Balsers converted into the new Arnold’s. They knew the business violated city zoning codes, but they planned to keep it there only until they could move to the Ash Way site.
The Balsers reached an agreement with the county in 2000 under which they were allowed to run Arnold’s as long as they were making progress toward moving to the new site. The agreement expired and was extended several times.
Meanwhile, Dick Balser was working on building plans, struggling to conform his plans for the new site, which contains wetlands, to county zoning codes. The regulations were complex, he said.
“Part of the problem is my fault because I wanted to save the trees,” he said.
Balser finally received approval Aug. 2. But in July, the county department of planning and development services had asked the prosecutor’s office to order Arnold’s to vacate.
“This has been a very uncomfortable thing to do, but there have been a lot of years gone by,” department director Craig Ladiser said.
Krese ordered Arnold’s out within 90 days. Dick Balser said that didn’t leave him with much time to build enough of a structure on the Ash Way site to move in by mid-January.
“It’s not impossible,” he said.
In October, the Balsers appealed to the County Council.
“There wasn’t anything the County Council could do. It was already in litigation,” said Councilman Gary Nelson, who represents the district in which Arnold’s is located.
Nelson said he spoke with prosecutors to see if they could hold off on the judicial action. He was told they had already delayed action three times.
“The court was very kind to the Balsers with respect to waiving the fines they would have otherwise had to pay,” Nelson said. “I feel really bad. I’ve known them for so many years. I’d like to see them succeed.”
Time is running short
Balser has filed an appeal and a request for more time to vacate. County officials say neither will be successful because a court order has already been issued.
The Balsers don’t want to discontinue the business and start it up again. “That’s just not going to happen,” Corinne Balser said. “If we close, we’re gone.”
Arnold’s has two-full time employees and up to five young people who work part time.
“There’s no place for us to go,” said Cindy Phelps, one of the full-timers. “That means me and Carol (Gallagher, the other employee) aren’t going to have jobs.”
Through the years, Arnold’s has continued to draw a faithful following. Yuni Davis of Edmonds comes to Arnold’s to buy crickets to feed her lizard. The crickets are always alive, unlike those at some large pet stores, she said.
“They’re friendly, honest people,” she said of the Balsers and their employees.
The Balsers have run Arnold’s as a break-even proposition while living on Social Security, they say. The current site is too cramped to run an efficient, profitable venture, Corinne Balser said. If they can get the new operation built, it will be much larger, with a full-size barn, pet center and store, and a caretaker’s house.
Balser estimated the entire venture, with building plans, taxes and interest, has cost him about $200,000 so far.
“Our goal is moving it, then we can do a more lucrative business” and sell it to a younger couple, she said. “It’s a good part of the community, and we hope to keep it part of the community.”
While the Balsers admit they violated zoning rules, they believe the county is not considering the social value of their business.
“How does the county benefit from the closing of Arnold’s Hay and Grain?” Corinne Balser asked. “How does society benefit from the closing?”
The Balsers are moved by the support from their customers.
“It really has impressed and inspired both of us,” Dick Balser said. “With all that, we can’t give up.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com
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