Close call as floodwaters approach controversial junkyard

WAPATO, Wash. -- If not for some old concrete chunks left over from a bridge, the Douglas Auto Wrecking yard may have been floating down the Yakima River.

In what was the yard's latest and perhaps last brush with flooding, high water nearly inundated the 4-acre island next to the Donald-Wapato bridge.

High water flows peaked about 4 p.m. Friday along the island. Owner QuintinDouglas said he lost 8 feet of bank when the water rose several feet in a few hours.

To save the yard, Douglas reinforced the west bank of the island with concrete to slow the erosion and used rocks to raise a berm on the island's north side.

"If it weren't for the concrete, I would be gone," the 45-year-old Douglas said during a tour of the property with a state Ecology Department representative Tuesday.

The site has been an issue of concern and controversy over the county's plan to pay Douglas to relocate out of the flood plain.

Joel Freudenthal, county fish and wildlife biologist, agreed Douglas's assessment.

"I don't know that a lot of contamination was released. There was a huge threat of contamination," said Freudenthal, who monitored the site during the height of the river flooding Thursday.

"If he hadn't built that little berm, the water was about 3 feet higher than the elevation of the yard. It would have come in and inundated the whole site."

As it was, water flowed over parts of the yard where car hulks that had already been drained of fluids were stored. The water did not reach hulks that still held oil and other potential contaminants.

"It's obvious why he needs to be moved out of there," said Jan Brydsen, a technical assistance officer with the agency's hazardous waste and toxic reduction program, who toured the property with Douglas on Tuesday.

Douglas, who has operated the business since 1994, said he expects to be out of the site this summer. He faces a December deadline to complete the move or he faces loss of the property back to the county, which purchased the land in 2007 for $110,000.

He will move north on Donald-Wapato Road to a location next to Yakima Valley Highway.

He will not be able to take any of the inventory with him when he moves. Douglas said a private firm will be on the property within the next two weeks to begin crushing and hauling off junk cars.

Moving Douglas, first conceived several years ago, has been the subject of administrative and legal challenges that may not be over.

A county Superior Court judge late last year dismissed a lawsuit over moving the wrecking yard and the two towing businesses that operate there.

But opponents are considering an appeal. Yakima attorney Jamie Carmody, representing the group known as Citizens Protecting Resources, said he is advising the group to appeal.

Carmody said the group doesn't dispute the benefits that relocating the yard away from the river flood plain provides.

Their concern is the more than $700,000 in public money that has been invested.

"The concern we have at this point is just the extraordinary gifts of taxpayer money that have occurred," Carmody said.

Douglas said the public isn't aware that he invested some of his own funds to build the house at the new site and pay for other elements of the new site.

Yakima County used a combination of sources, including its flood control taxing district, to pay for the move.

County commissioners have long defended the move, saying it is in the community's best interest to reduce the threat to water quality in the Yakima River.

Call emergency management for help

Private property owners, renters and businesses who suffered flood damage are being urged to contact their county emergency management offices.

Their reports will be included in a statewide request for a federal disaster declaration that would make recovery assistance available.

Yakima County residents can call 509-574-1900 daily between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.

In Kittitas County, Ellensburg residents can call 509-962-7239. County residents can call 509-962-7506 or 509-962-7525. Damage information also can be submitted online at: http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us.

Benton County residents can complete an online assessment form at: http://www.bces.wa.gov.

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