Contract awarded to clean up property south of Mattawa

MATTAWA — A piece of derelict property south of Desert Aire is scheduled for cleanup with the work to be completed by Aug. 23. Grant County Commissioners awarded a contract for $81,150 to Groat Brothers, Woodinville, to remove, among other things, tires and abandoned cars from the land, known as the Engle property.

Josh Sainsbury, chief deputy of emergency operations for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, said county officials have been working to get the property cleaned up for about two and a half years. The abatement process required the assistance of the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, a court case that took about two years.

“We’ve been working on it for a long time,” Grant County Commissioner Cindy Carter said. 

But, Sainsbury said, abatement is a lengthy process.

“That’s actually quick,” Sainsbury said. “That’s faster than we’ve experienced in the past.” 

The goal is to remove anything that is in violation of county building regulations, he said,

“Anything that is not meeting code,” he said.

With that criteria, what’s on the property will be demolished or loaded up and hauled away, he said. 

“There’s nothing there that meets code,” Sainsbury said.

There was a house on the property at one time, he said, but it was destroyed. The house was replaced by two or three travel trailers, which do not meet county regulations.

The owner of the property doesn’t live there and the property is being used by transients, Sainsubry said. Along with the house, the property has a number of abandoned vehicles on it and a wall of tires, among other things. 

Any people on the property would be asked to leave, Sainsbury said.

“They would be trespassed from that property,” he said. 

Carter said Grant County, like all other counties in the state, has a fund dedicated to abatement expenses, which will pay for the work. Once that’s finished a lien is put on the property for the cost of the cleanup. 

When the property is sold the lien must be paid, along with any back taxes; any remaining money would go to the seller, Sainsbury said. 

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinhreald.com.

    Grant County officials have been working on abatement of a piece of property near Mattawa for about two and a half years. The property in question is the oddly shaped piece labeled 150769000 on the southwest side of State Route 243 S.