When John Doubek purchased a mostly-vacant parcel at the end of the cul-de-sac where he and his family live, he did so to block an easement a developer needs to obtain approval for an apartment-house type development near their home. But that dead-end property, and its use, has come under fire not from the developer, but from other homeowners living in the quiet residential area known as 5^th Drive. When two offended homeowner were ignored by the City's enforcement official, they went "public" by going to the city council, re-energizing and fueling a debate on the need for a "grievance" review committee to deal with such issues.

John Doubeck said his purchase of the lot was an unselfish act for all the neighbors living on his street, the purpose of which was to prevent Ray and Kay George's possession of a 10-foot easement to develop a 30-unit multi-family condominium east of their quiet community. When and if the George's project is completed, the neighbors fear it will bring over-crowding, car noise and noxious fumes generated from a large black asphalt parking area only a few feet from homeowners' backyards. John also thought the property would be a good deal. He would not only receive rental income from the mobile home that sits on the property, he'd also benefit from a long-term financial investment.

But the lot also offered a couple of other enticements to Mr. Doubeck, among them, "extra" land that he could use for storage. And as happens with most things in life, there's very few "bargains" that don't also carry along extra baggage, and Mr. Doubek's "storage," and the definition of what he's doing with that storage space, has been the reason for a falling out among neighbors. It also prompted John Dick to bring his complaints to the City Council, when pleas for help went unanswered by Sultan's Building Official, Craig Bruner.

The property is located at the end of (and faces), 5^th Drive, snuggled between the George's vacant property on the east, another neighbor to the west, and the high school on the north. Both the western and northern borders are "secured" with common 5-foot chain link fencing, but otherwise, access to both the land and buildings is wide open.

One of the major complaints lodged against Mr. Doubek is that he's operating (or supporting) a business from that property without a license in violation of Sultan codes, and also putting the community in harm's way because of the chemicals he's been storing in a non-secure manner and the commercial truck traffic he generates. Additionally, Mr. Dick complained of hazardous waste on the property that resulted from a septic overflow. When Mr. Dick's attempts to go through legal city channels to rectify the situation failed, he brought the problem to the city council's attention. (See our Transcriptions page for excerpts of Mr. Dick's comments to council.)

When Mr. Doubek saw photos of the septic overflow and the transcription of Mr. Dick's council comments on our website, he contacted me. I spent many hours speaking with Mr. Doubek and other parties involved in this situation, and made a visit to the property, at Mr. Doubek's request, and he told me his side of the story.

John said he initially purchased the business from Ernie Carlson, who said his renters were not paying their rent and asked if John wanted to buy it. He said he purchased it to block the George's attempt to gain the easement, and subsequently became a party to their Quiet Title lawsuit. He said he is not operating a business in Sultan, has never contracted for work here, and that his business address is his partner's house in Bothell on 188^th Street. He said he had a Sultan business license for the first two years in business, but when the third renewal license arrived, he called and spoke to "some woman at city hall" (he did not get the name of the individual) and they confirmed he didn't need one since he wasn't doing business here.

John said, "It all started, I guess, in the fall of 20002, about six months ago. I had a visit from Stacy Criswell [a Sultan Building Department official] who said they had received a complaint that I had 'hazardous materials' on the property. Stacy would not give me the complainant's name." Doubek invited Stacy to check out the chemicals he was storing, and upon review, Stacy said, "I don't see any problems," and he never heard anything from the city again until Mr. Dick's complaint to Council.

John Dick says that before he called the city, he and a neighbor had spoken with Doubek several times about the situation, without any changes being made, neither did he hear anything back from the once his site inspection had been made.

During our first conversation, Doubek told me, "The chemicals are out of sight. You wouldn't accidentally end up there except from the street front or from Kay George's property, and she has 'No Trespassing' signs erected." Mr. Doubek said he considered the materials "secure," despite the fact they were being stored in unlocked sheds (one without any door) and the property is open on both the southern and eastern borders.

When John Dick made his complaint to the council March 19^th, he indicated that a label on one of the containers on Doubek's property included chemicals that are listed in the making of Meth-amphetamines. Dick indicated his frustration with Building Official Craig Bruner, from whom he could get little cooperation, despite a claim by Mr. Bruner that a letter had been sent to Doubek, giving him until March 14^th to clean up the property. Mr. Dick learned during the council meeting that the letter had never been sent to Doubek.

One of the problems in determining the presence or absence of a septic failure or overflow reads like a textbook case of why careful documentation and records need to be kept.

The previous owner, Ernie Carlson, did not turn over any paperwork in this regard when he sold the property to John. During our first conversation Doubek said he couldn't hook up to the sewer on 5^th Drive because "it stops two houses shy" [about 25 feet] of his property, but indicated a strong desire to do so. John said, "If there was a sewer there, I'd hook up in a heartbeat. That means I could short plat and develop it."

I asked Mr. Doubek if the cement slab for the shed had been poured on top of the drainfield, as Mr. Dick had said, and he responded, "I don't believe so. I know Ernie [the previous owner] was concerned about where the drainfield was, and I'm not certain. But if that becomes an issue, I will move the septic system There's over half an acre here and the whole property perks really well."

Dick took photographs to council showing a nasty-looking outflow pipe from the mobile home. It's clear there had been an "event" of some type, spilling fecal and other waste matter onto the ground. Mr. Doubek said the result was because the renter had obstructed the outflow with an [unmentionable female] object. But in a March 31^st conversation with that renter, he disputed that claim and gave a reasonable explanation of why he felt Mr. Doubek's claim was untrue. The renter supported Dick's and another neighbor's accusation that the slab was poured "over the drainfield" and urged that I call the previous owner, Ernie Carlson, to confirm its location.

A call placed to Steve Rice of the Snohomish County Health Department Wastewater Division, who had been onsite with Doubek and Bruner, revealed little. They had no records of either the location of the drainfield or the septic system. During our April 4^th phone conversation, Rice told me that he, Craig Bruner and Doubek met on the property and "looked the area over," and during that visit, assumed the "green area" Doubek showed them behind the mobile home was the drainfield. Rice also said he assumed the "dug-up area" (where the septic company drained the septic tank after the overflow event) was the location of the tank. Mr. Rice said, "Once the health hazard is gone, we're out of it, and presently, there does not appear to be any current violation." During my onsite visit with John, he showed me the outflow pipe from the mobile home that appeared in the pictures Mr. Dick presented to council. The pipe and are surrounding it area had been cleaned up, and a new bed of beauty bark laid.

Health Official Rice washed his hands of the problem by stating that Mr. Doubek promised he would fully research and identify the location of both the drainfield and the septic tank, and would then submit a sketch to Snohomish County Health at his first opportunity. (To our knowledge, this has not yet been done.)

During my visit with Doubek, I witnessed countless (50-60?) 5-gallon white plastic containers, many of which John said were empty, explaining, "I collect them and then give them to people who find them helpful." John said that most of the materials are stored because he needs them for his "many hobbies," one of which involves crafting cement items that he gives to friends.

During my visit I noticed, in addition to the mobile home, a large, 30-foot'ish recreational vehicle parked there (which we have heard Doubek is temporarily renting to someone), two sheds, a couple of pick-ups and a large white van. During my "drive-bys" past the northern portion of his property (the high school side), I've noticed several large commercial vehicles parked, one of which was a large white commercial panel van (the size of a UPS truck) and a heavy duty dump truck, in addition to the RV and one or more pick-ups.

One of Mr. Dick's and other neighbors' complaints involves heavy mud being tracked from Doubek's property onto the road from heavy vehicles, and the photos I have seen of this mud on the street is consistent with the presence of large commercial vehicles on the property.

John Doubek thinks John Dick's complaint might be the result of ill feelings somewhere along the line. Mr. Doubek indicated that during a mid-January, 2003 visit by John Dick and another neighbor, he offered to "Come down [to the property] with me and we'll walk through and I'll explain to you the chemical concentrations and what's in them." They declined. Mr. Dick told me that Mr. Doubek had agreed to erect a fence so the property was secure, and promised to keep the streets clean of the mud and dirt. When I asked Mr. Doubek about this, he said he had told Dick that he'd put the fence up after the quiet title case was settled with the George's.

Mr. Doubek said he didn't feel Mr. Dick had any right complaining about his lack of permits, when "John [Dick} built an addition without obtaining any from the City." Mr. Dick responded to Doubek's accusation during his comments to council on April 16^th, as follows:

John Doubek and his wife were upset that the transcription and photographs appeared on our website, but most especially the comment by a council member that made reference to the aforementioned chemicals' use in "meth labs," and requested that I remove it. I explained to him that it was part of a transcription made by a public official in a public meeting, as were the photographs, and thus, was public information. I regretfully had to decline to honor his request. However, I strongly and repeatedly urged Mr. Doubek to come to a council meeting at his first opportunity to give his "side" of the story so that he could offset John Dick's public complaint. He also, just as strongly, repeatedly rejected my recommendation.

In the first several days after Mr. Dick's complaint to council, Mr. Doubek took instant and wise action: He cleaned up the area around the septic spill; he called Craig Bruner and asked for a face-to-face visit to discuss the situation (Mr. Bruner is the party who called the Snohomish County Health Department and arranged for the multi-party onsite meeting); he contacted Public Works Director Connie Dunn regarding his septic; and invited Chief Fred Walser to his property for an inspection, with which he complied. Mr. Doubek also began cleaning up his property immediately.

Unfortunately, his quick action did not result in the information he promised to give me, and despite numerous follow up requests by me, they all remained unanswered. John had promised to send me his "legal" business address, as well as all documentation related to his visits with city officials and the Health Department.

After speaking with John Doubek at length, and reading the transcriptions of John Dick's comments and speaking with him briefly on this issue, here are my opinions:

• Mr. Doubek's explanation of using the property for "his hobbies" simply doesn't wash. The ongoing presence of commercial vehicles onsite, along with regular "work crew" sitings, to me "quacks" of a business undertaking. If this is so, city codes are not being enforced. But even giving Mr. Doubek generous benefit of the doubt, at the very least, he's disrupting a quiet residential neighborhood with commercial trucks which bring mud and dirt into the community. They are also a valid safety concern to the neighborhood, as are the storage of chemicals, however "benign" they may be, and are better left under lock and key. Prudence, at least, would indicate he do so, for his own legal protection.
• With regard to the septic system, I believe there was a tank overflow, based on three eye-witnesses' reports, the photographs, and the fact that Mr. Doubek called in a septic pumper to drain the tank. I have no notes on the specifics of when the tank was drained, but my recall was that it was immediately following the incident.
• Although it's a personal choice, I feel that someone "accused" of breaking the city's codes would wish to come to the council to present their own facts, thereby documenting it in the public record for future reference.
• Numerous discrepancies between Mr. Doubek's and Mr. Dick's assertions regarding timelines, promises made and conversations held, unfortunately make this a He said-He said issue, for the most part. Of the two parties, I'm afraid the documentation by Mr. Dick tips the scales in his favor. It's clear he made a complaint to the city, to Doubek and followed up to try and resolve this issue, and equally clear that the city ignored him. At the least, the city failed to follow good procedure in handling the complaint. The city had a responsibility to report back to Mr. Dick, if not legally, then certainly as a courtesy.

Mr. Doubek is clearly a hard-working business owner who does things with cement that most artists would be proud to do with paint and a canvas. He also seems to be a caring, solicitous husband and father, and likes and gets along with his neighbors. But it also seems clear to me based on his actions in this matter that he is either totally naïve in the ways of today's litigious society, is myopic to his point of view, or is a die-hard property rights type. Quite simply, in the Year 2003, one cannot simply do whatever they want with their property. Even in Sultan.