by Dan Ross, Sequim Gazette Staff Writer
from http://www.sequimgazette.com/News/CountyNews/Landownerfightingcou010912.html

Sept. 5, 2001 -  Jerry Levesque owns property along Rivers End Road, houses an older Airstream trailer there, with a graveled driveway and an above-ground sewage holding tank that is regularly pumped out.
       

The trailer serves as a temporary home, according to Levesque, to a Vietnam veteran and his wife, homeless without use of the trailer when the man is not in the Veteran's Administration hospital in Seattle for complications from heart attacks and strokes.
       

Levesque looked at this as helping out a friend.  The county, however, notified Levesque the septic holding tank and the gravel driveway are violations of the critical areas code.
     

  "It is basically an illegally installed sewage system," said Bob Martin, director of the county department of community development, of the septic holding tank.
       

The county told Levesque not only did the couple have to leave, but the trailer and driveway gravel had to be removed because the property was in the floodway and wildlife habitat conservation area of the Dungeness River.
       

Levesque failed in two appeals of the county order to quit using the trailer to house anyone and to move the above-ground septic holding tank. The county last week placed a $1,000 lien on his property because Levesque did not pay a fine for failing to remove the gravel.
       "It is river bottom rock and gravel I put in there," said Levesque, adding he moved it from River Road property he owns onto the Rivers End Road land for the driveway.
       
       

Errors in the appeals process
       

Levesque appealed a notice of violation from the Department of Community Development in October 2000 for placing dirt, rocks and gravel to improve his driveway. The county hearing examiner denied the appeal in December, and a motion to reconsider was denied in February. Because the appeals were denied, Levesque remained under county order to remove the fill dirt and gravel and add native plant species to the area where he placed the dirt.
       

Martin said he has learned the hearings examiner made an error by informing Levesque there was no further appeal available.
       

An appeal to the county commissioners should be allowed, according to Martin, and Levesque plans to take advantage of that next step in the appeal process.
       

"The fine is null and void at this time as far as I know," said Levesque, "because they did not give me my due process."
       

Levesque received a letter from the county's land-use attorney stating he has until the second week of September to ask for another appeal in front of the county commissioners. Levesque questions how his appeal is going to be received by the commissioners.
      

 "How am I going to get a fair shake when the commissioners are up to their necks in all this critical areas stuff?"
      

 Levesque's brother-in-law, Bob Forde, has described Levesque's troubles while campaigning for Initiative 6, a repeal of the county's critical areas code. Forde has a court hearing this week to determine if Initiative 6 is going to be on the November general election ballot in Clallam County. Commissioners voted 2-1 to ask a county Superior Court judge for a decision on whether the initiative belongs on the ballot.
       

The site in question
       

Rivers End Road is a small narrow pathway running along the west side of the Dungeness River, accessible off East Anderson Road. The road winds down toward the mouth of the river where it enters Dungeness Bay. Older mobile homes, a few duck shacks, some rusted-out car shells and an occasional home are among the 15-20 structures along the road.
       

Aerial photographs show the Dungeness River has flowed through some of the properties, including Levesque's, on numerous occasions during high water times.
       

Across the river from Levesque lives Matt Heins, of Dungeness Farms, his wife and daughter.  Heins explained to county commissioners recently the aboveground septic-holding tank needs to be removed because it could tip over and spill in a river flood. He said he does not want to raise his family in an area where a septic spill could occur.
       

Levesque believes the large amount of rushing water coming through in a flood would be so great the sewage spill from his unit would be almost unnoticeable.
       

"With 40,000 cubic feet a second (of water) coming through, what is 500 cubic yards (of septic) going to do?"
       

Although Heins and the county both have concerns over the aboveground septic tank, the county's first action was to put a lien on Levesque's property for failing to remove the excess gravel from the driveway.
       

Martin said the county moved first on the driveway issue, and is soon going to pursue action through the board of health to have the septic-holding tank removed.
       

Levesque, owner of Sequim Auto Sales on West Washington Street, pumps out about 200 gallons every three weeks from the holding tank and disposes of the sewage.
       

He moved the "silver bullet" trailer onto the lot in February 2000, ran power and water to it and improved the driveway. His appeal of the county's order states the trailer is not a permanent structure.
       

"The property is residential with one recreational trailer, which is occupied only on an occasional short-term basis," Levesque's attorney wrote to the county in the initial appeal request.
       

The ailing Vietnam veteran and his wife moved there in October, Levesque said, on a temporary basis.
       

"They come and go," said Levesque. "It is a place for them to hang their hats rather than live in their van."
       

The Rivers End Road area, according to the county, was intended to be used for summer camping but not for permanent structures. Most of the building, Martin said, took places dozens of years ago, before there was stricter building-code enforcement at the county level.
       

"There are a lot of dilapidated mobile homes out there, falling apart. When people apply for building permits to replace them, the permits are going to be denied," said Martin, because septic systems cannot work properly in areas that continually flood.
       

Martin said there are no county building permits for most of the structures along Rivers End Road. Building in a floodway, he noted, is not allowed under state law
       

"We cannot issue permits there for new construction," said Martin.
      

 One home on Rivers End Road was "red-tagged" earlier this year by the county's environmental health department as uninhabitable because of a failed septic system. No new construction, Martin said, is going to be allowed at that site, the property right next to Levesque's.
      

 "We are putting special emphasis in areas we know problems exist," said Martin. "In the Rivers End area and the Dungeness in general, we know we have contamination and need to determine where the contamination is coming from."

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