PORT ANGELES — A notice of Clallam County code violations for excessive solid waste and a partially dismantled recreational vehicle is expected to be provided this week to Cody Coughenour, owner of three small parcels totaling about 1 acre along Lake Dawn Road.
The notice of violation, which was sent Monday, includes a Clallam County Hearing Examiner date for Dec. 17, with the potential for Coughenour to be fined up to $100 per day for each of the two alleged code violations.
Coughenour has been embroiled in recent efforts to remove the metal and wood scrap, concrete refuse and abandoned vehicles from in front of and behind properties owned by his father, former Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour, at 101, 105 and 115 E. Fifth St. in Port Angeles. Those efforts apparently have involved moving items from the Fifth Street properties to the Lake Dawn properties formerly owned by Brian Coughenour and recently transferred to Cody Coughenour.
An Oct. 26 complaint by Coughenour’s neighbor, Tracey Gudgel, to Clallam County Code Enforcement cited a recent accumulation of solid waste, RVs and junk vehicles on the property.
A site visit that day by county Code Enforcement officers Jesse Major and Steve Burkhardt confirmed the amount of solid waste on the property exceeded the county’s maximum allowable amount of 12 cubic feet, as well as the presence of the partially dismantled RV.
Code Enforcement spoke with Coughenour’s tenant Eric Wright.
“[Wright] informed us that you have begun moving vehicles and debris from your Fifth Street properties to your Lake Dawn Road properties and that people have been working ‘throughout the night.’ ”
“There is no bathroom available to these people and Mr. Wright stated he has found human feces on the ground. We have raised these concerns to Clallam County Environmental Health Services.”
Coughenour was hand-delivered and mailed a warning notice by Code Enforcement, with alleged code violations spelled out and a requirement for all violations to be abated by Nov. 17.
Code Enforcement made another site visit after the Nov. 17 deadline on Wednesday and discovered more than the maximum allowable 12 cubic feet of solid waste and the partially dismantled RV.
Major said no human feces was noticed during any of his visits to the property.
Coughenour could still avoid potential penalties before the Dec. 17 meeting with the Hearing Examiner.
“If the property owner achieves compliance by removing the solid waste prior to the hearing, we will cancel the hearing,” Major said in an email.
If the hearing is held, the hearing examiner can issue an order which states the corrective action to be taken and provides a deadline for it.
Monetary penalties also can be applied of up to $100 per day per violation, according to Title 20 of the Clallam County Code.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
