Re: Ralph's Cement Pumping - Grading Permit Application

Earl — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:42:28 GMT

As of July 2 the county records indicate that the public comment period is still OPEN. I don't know if an extension has been granted due to the late permit request sign being posted (showed up about a week ago). There still may be time to get the comments in!

Re: Ralph's Cement Pumping - Grading Permit Application

Bill Jaques — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:55:30 GMT

A reminder that when you send your comments in to the County Planner, please include a statement that you wish to be a Party of Record. You must also include your complete address. Bill Jaques

Ralph's Cement Pumping - Grading Permit Application

Bill Jaques — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:26:42 GMT

For those who are not on my email list, here is letter I sent out about this URGENT issue.

Hi Neighbors,

There is a new issue in Maltby that everyone should be aware of. A publication in the Everett Herald stated that the comment period for a grading permit (after the fact) for “Ralph's Concrete Pumping” will end June 29, 2009. The file number is 09-103101-000-00-CG and comments should be sent to the Planner for this project, Roxanne Pilkenton. Include the file number and ask to be included as a person of record and be kept informed of any action taken or pending. We only have a few days after a project is approved, to contest County decisions. County actions may be overturned by the County Council or judges.

“Ralph's Concrete Pumping” business was started in 2007 with no grading or use permits. They simply leveled the land, hauled in tons of gravel and put up an ugly fence with razor wire on top. There was no consideration for traffic (30-40 trucks), drainage, ground contamination, noise and air pollution, or aesthetics. They have violated several laws and the County has now decided to require them to apply for a grading permit (after the fact) as a result of complaints from neighbors. The complaints were issued in 2007 and the County has neither shut the business down nor imposed fines for their violations.

Unfortunately, Snohomish County Code enforcement is based on a “Complaint” system where County Codes will not be enforced unless a complaint is filed against that business or person. It is apparent that the complaint system does not effectively work either, since these violations were reported in 2007 with no action until now. There are many issues concerning this project (business) that are not addressed by the “Grading Permit” application and it is in our best interest to COMPLAIN to the Snohomish County Planning and Development Services (PDS) Division before the deadline of June 29. I am including a letter that Grady Helseth (The Summit) sent to the County. The letter is simply for your information so you can get an idea of the issues he has raised. Please do not copy it and send to the County Planner; but put your concerns in your own words. You may also have additional concerns not addressed in Grady’s letter, so please include those. I believe everyone SHOULD comment that there are no permit application notice signs on the business property, and thus the comment period should be extended. Your comments should also include that Ralph’s Cement Pumping business should be shut down for noncompliance and fined from the time that they illegally started the business. It is also appropriate to address such things as pollution, noise, traffic, drainage, water contamination, landscaping and general aesthetics. I would personally address the general lack of County Code enforcement and lack of interest in the Maltby area.

I encourage everyone to use the MaltbyNow.org website for updates, information and news about what is happening in Maltby. I would like to see this web site become our OFFICIAL (and easier for me) site for news. Please sign up and contribute any and all information about what is happening in the Maltby area, including violations, concerns, vandalism, burglaries, etc. Please pass this email on to anyone who may be interested in Maltby issues. It is more important for people to get this email more than once, than not at all. Thanks, Bill Jaques in The Summit at Highland Vista.

Emails should be sent to:

Primary Contact,

Roxanne.Pilkenton@co.snohomish.wa.us

With copies to;

Tom.Rowe@co.snohomish.wa.us

Craig.Ladiser@co.snohomish.wa.us

Dave.Somers@co.snohomish.wa.us

John.Koster@co.snohomish.wa.us

Mike.Cooper@co.snohomish.wa.us

Dave.Gossett@co.snohomish.wa.us

Brian.Sullivan@co.snohomish.wa.us

county.executive@co.snohomish.wa.us

______________________________________________________________________

LETTER FROM Grady Helseth to PDS

Hi Dave, Craig, and Roxanne,
My main issues of concern on the Ralph's Concrete Pumping site, PFN: 09-103101-000-00 (Grading permit) AND Case # 07-114483-CT(Complaint Investigation). 1. Signs not posted at any time should trigger a new comment period following proper posting. 2. Total lack of punishment, business continues for nearly 2 years without any approvals whatsoever. 3. Groundwater contamination. As the Biotech appropriately asks in his mark-ups "How can oil be controlled on a gravel site?" 4. Cleanup of equipment and trucks as well as refueling will cause diesel and hydraulic fluid to be deposited to groundwater. There is no containment area for truck parking, cleaning, and fueling. 5. Traffic is not addressed by a grading permit. In fact the Environmental Checklist on page 12-14f states "This grading permit and gravelling the existing surface would create no new traffic." So the applicant is trying to hide behind the grading permit again. This is a business and requires a traffic study be submitted for it. This is a large (3 acre) industrial use that can be expected to generate much more traffic than the 2 onsite workers and 'maybe 10 truck drivers' the Environmental Checklist (page 9-8i) asserts is correct. There needs to be a trip distribution analysis submitted and a permanent haul route agreement to keep these trucks out of our neighborhoods. 6. Aesthetics. Industrial Parks are required to submit a landscaping plan for County approval. Like traffic, this is not being addressed by just requiring a grading permit. Despite having one of the ugliest streetscapes ever imagined, complete with a gulag inspired barbed wire topped chain-link fence, the Environmental Checklist states on page 10-10c that 'The project does not negatively impact aesthetics.' The entire site is an affront to the rural environment of adjacent properties. At the very least the barbed wire should be removed, the fence moved to the east, and a 20 foot landscaped sight-obscuring buffer should be planted. Rural clusters are required to hide themselves from adjacent properties. How much more invasive is this kind of wart on the Maltby area? The applicant's Environmental Checklist, page 7-4d states that there will be a landscaped buffer along the road. I suggest a design be required which will provide screening in this buffer area. 7. Offsite drainage. The proposed drainage plan will not capture and treat all the pollution discharged from the trucks and equipment on the site allowing much of it to sheetflow on and below the surface to surrounding properties. The water table in this area is very high, and there is a drainage swale to the north of the property. The large amount of pollution generated by this use must be kept out of the aquifers near this area. 8. The stormwater calculations, appropriate soil logs, and correct modeling of this impact are either not done at all or done incorrectly or incompletely. There was second growth forest and pasture here, now there is nearly 100% impervious with industrial park use. All appropriate studies and mitigations must be required of this applicant. 9. Air pollution. Again restricting his comments to the initial grading already completed without a permit, the applicant states that "Minor dust is possible, if grading during dry weather, and construction equipment exhaust". Again, a more complete application for the already operating business should be required. A fleet of diesel trucks does not contribute minor dust. The road fronting the property, 86th Ave. SE is always covered with dirt tracked onto it from this site's trucks.
To conclude, this project has many impacts that are not being addressed by the current grading and drainage requirements. The applicant has not even posted the site giving the public the right to know and comment. Finally, despite the most marked up submission I have ever observed for the grading application, the business continues to operate without sanction or penalty from the County. I do wish to thank the biologist and drainage engineer who are trying to make this reluctant applicant do what is required. I suggest the rest of the County join them.

Thank you,

Grady Helseth

___________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE ACT NOW! JUST A FEW SENTENCES IS ENOUGH

Neighbor to Neighbor

Re: Ralph's Cement Pumping - Grading Permit Application

Re: Ralph's Cement Pumping - Grading Permit Application

Ralph's Cement Pumping - Grading Permit Application