EVERETT — A regional topsoil supply company has again been ordered to remove potentially thousands of truckloads of dirt it illegally dumped on Smith Island without permits.
But whether Everett-based Pacific Topsoils Inc. needs to remove all of the estimated 15,000 truckloads hauled onto the island depends on how many acres of wetlands and protective buffers were damaged by the dirt.
In a ruling this week, Snohomish County Hearing Examiner Pro Tem Gordon Crandall reaffirmed county orders to clean up the 12-acre site and dismissed an appeal by the topsoil company.
The company does not plan further appeals, Pacific Topsoils attorney Jane Koler said.
“Naturally, Pacific Topsoils is disappointed that it did not prevail on the appeal, but because Pacific Topsoils and its 370 employees are socially responsible and good stewards of the environment, it will promptly comply with the hearing examiner’s decision,” Koler read from a statement Thursday.
The estimated amount of dirt dumped on the property without a permit is 75,000 to 150,000 cubic yards measuring 15 to 17 feet deep.
It could cost $4 million to $5 million to cart off all of the dirt from the property, and take 15,000 trips by dump trucks driving a 2&189; hour round trip, company officials said.
“This testimony establishes that (Pacific Topsoils) illegally dumped 15,000 loads of fill dirt at the site without obtaining the necessary permits,” Crandall said in his ruling.
Crandall told the company to obey the county order to restore the property’s wetlands and protective buffers, which are near Snohomish River estuaries.
The company must submit a study of the environmentally sensitive land and seek county permits for the cleanup, Crandall said. In the meantime, the company is accruing $250-a-day fines until county officials agree the site is restored.
Company officials still are hopeful that the county will issue “after-the-fact permits” and won’t require all of the dirt to be removed from the site, Koler said.
The county has routinely granted such permits and was not justified in requiring all of the dirt be removed, Koler told the examiner. Instead, the county could have opted for fines, she said.
Crandall held that the county was within its authority to order all of the dirt removed. He said the county also could decide whether to grant permits for dirt placed in appropriate areas.
County attorneys argued that the violation was egregious and clear. An agreement by the company to seek permits and restoration earlier in the year went nowhere.
The hearing examiner’s ruling moves the county closer to getting the property restored, said Brian Parry, office administrator for County Executive Aaron Reardon.
“Our No. 1 priority is restoration of any wetlands and buffers that were disturbed by Pacific Topsoils,” he said.
More studies and talks are needed before officials figure out how many truckloads of dirt will be allowed to remain on the site, Parry said.
“We would only consider issuing a grading permit after any wetland and buffers disturbed are restored,” Parry said.
Koler said she has high hopes.
“It would be nice to avoid a lot of economic waste if the county would allow them to get an after-the-fact permit,” Koler said. Company officials “will get their applications together as soon as they possibly can. Obviously, we’ll be talking to county officials in the next couple of days.”
The company also was fined $88,000 earlier this year by the state Department of Ecology for the same violation on Smith Island. The company appealed and a hearing before the state Pollution Control Hearings Board is scheduled Nov. 15.
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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