The city of Mill Creek on Thursday, May 24, ordered Pacific Topsoils to cease all illegal and nonconforming activities on the company’s site on 35th Avenue Southeast.
The Notice of Violation, Regulatory Order and Administrative Determination orders the company to stop all activities until they comply with city and state law, said city manager Steve Nolen.
“We have had discussions with them about these issues over the last number of months,” he said. “So far they’ve declined our request to comply with the permitting requirements of the city.”
Pacific Topsoils supplies topsoils and landscape construction materials throughout the Puget Sound area. Operations on the Mill Creek site include peat mining, retail sale of garden products, and processing yard waste and construction waste, according to the Notice of Violation.
The company’s site at 13517 and 13801 35th Ave. SE is in an area zoned low density residential and was annexed into the city in December 2005. Many of the company’s operations aren’t compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods, which has resulted in complaints from nearby homeowners, the notice states.
The city’s notice also states that Pacific Topsoils’ activities are occurring “within wetlands, ponds, wetland buffers and other critical or sensitive areas.”
The city’s investigation found that the company’s operations are either illegal under state law or legal but being performed without a permit, Nolen said.
“Their entire operation out there is operating out of code,” he said.
Some of the activities, such as parts of the company’s retail sales, are legal nonconforming uses because they began as far back as the 1950s, the violation notice states.
If the company does apply for permits, they should be able to resume the legal nonconforming uses of the property, Nolen said.
A call to Pacific Topsoils was not returned by the Enterprise’s deadline.
Pacific Topsoils is subject to a $1,000 fine per day per violation if they don’t stop operations on the site.
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