PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — The Washington Department of Ecology has fined Stetson Heights LLC $202,500 for damage caused to wetlands that flow to streams with runs of salmon and steelhead trout in Port Orchard.
Stetson Heights LLC was also ordered to take corrective action to restore the wetlands and streams.
Department officials said Stetson Heights LLC cleared more than 80 steeply sloped acres on Glenwood Road SW in 2018 without protecting the bare ground from stormwater erosion.
Stormwater from rains flowed from the cleared land as muddy water and by late fall officials said up to 4 feet of mud covered parts of wetlands and streams on and next to the property.
"This damage was avoidable," Heather Bartlett, Ecology's Water Quality Program Manager, said in a news release.
"Stetson Heights should have cleared the site in phases. Last July we found immense bare slopes on the site, with little to no protection on the ground, just weeks before the autumn rains. The developer was unresponsive to Ecology and city staff when we worked to reduce the risks and prevent this damage."
In issuing the fine, the department listed 15 violations – some of which occurred multiple times.
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In total, the department said Stetson Heights LLC disregarded 11 construction stormwater general permit requirements and violated four parts of a November 2018 order to put the protections into place.
Stetson Heights LLC has also been ordered to halt construction until it can show it can meet stormwater requirements.
"The order also directs the company to restore – the wetlands and streams and monitor how well those habitats recover for 10 years or until Ecology declares the restoration complete," a spokesperson for the department wrote in a news release.
The Department said the affected wetlands feed into Ruby Creek, which contains coho salmon and cutthroat trout, then to Blackjack Creek, which contains steelhead trout.
Officials said the water quality penalty payments go to the state’s Coastal Protection Fund, which the agency uses to issue grants to local and tribal governments, state agencies and public benefit nonprofit organizations for water quality restoration projects.
The fines and orders can be appealed to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board.
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