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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Between a rock and a loud place


Neighbors behind the Rock Barn landscaping business, including Audra Hess and her husband, Russ, have complained of noise, dust and vibrations. One neighbor has filed suit. 
 (J. BART RAYNIAK / The Spokesman-Review)

In a Spokane Valley neighborhood near Trent Avenue, properties divided between housing and business interests seem to clash like the sound of boulders dropped onto steel.

Rock Placing Company has run its landscaping rock shop with the blessings of Spokane Valley – and Spokane County before the city incorporated – for about six years. Since an expansion in 2003, though, people living right behind the business have grown increasingly frustrated with the noise, dust and vibration that are the natural results of moving tons of rock.

“It was like the circus coming to town with these bigger boulders,” said Lonnie Eilmes, who lives in a Trentwood neighborhood house once owned by his father on Rockwell Avenue.

“I just don’t think that it’s right. I was there long before they came,” he said.

On the other side of his fence, a diesel-powered claw sorts through rocks as big as sedans and loads them onto trucks or into piles that loom above the humble houses on Rockwell.

When business is brisk the machines fire up six days a week at 7 a.m. – allowed by noise laws. Work continues into the early evening when Eilmes and some of his neighbors say they can’t even barbecue because of dust and noise.

“Everything in the house rattles,” said neighbor Russ Hess, who also wonders if the vibration may have caused septic tanks to break at his and a neighboring house.

Homeowners filed complaints with the city’s code enforcement officer, and in 2003 some 25 residents signed a petition asking the City Council to do something about the business’ impact on their neighborhood. A lawsuit filed by Eilmes alleges that the business is a nuisance.

After an inspection and a review by the planning department, the city determined that according to zoning regulations Rock Placing Company and owner Terry Frost are well within their rights.

Frost said he received the necessary permits from county and city officials. “We’ve done everything in compliance.”

The city later granted a temporary-use permit to expand rock storage onto land behind the United Steelworkers union hall provided he build a 6-foot wall and move the rocks 20 feet back from the property line, which he did.

Frost says he oils the area to keep the dust down and at one point even oiled unpaved Rockwell Avenue just to be a good neighbor.

“I just don’t know what else we can do,” he said.

The Rock Barn, RPC’s retail name, employs about 15 people. Frost argues the dispute is not a case of big business strong-arming its way into a community that didn’t want it.

Part of what makes the conflict so complicated is the zoning, enacted by the county so long ago that neither planning officials nor legal counsel can pinpoint when it was established.

“All those parcels along Trent there are split zoned, which is kind of unique,” said Spokane Valley long-range planning manager Greg McCormick.

That means the front of the original Rock Barn property is zoned B3 and the back portion is zoned B2.

The things a property owner can do in the two zones are similar but not identical. Examples of businesses allowed in B3 zones not allowed in B2 zones include recycling centers, lumber yards and large RV dealerships, McCormick said.

Uses that aren’t listed in the zoning code – like selling boulders – are left to the discretion of planners.

Lawyers for Eilmes argue that the Rock Barn’s primary business doesn’t constitute retail sales, as designated by county planners, and that zoning rules prohibit long-term storage in B2 property. That includes the land behind the union hall that backs up to Eilmes’ yard

They have also appealed a zoning decision to the Spokane Valley hearing examiner.

But in a neighborhood 700 feet from the railroad tracks and even closer to a state highway, the anger over the noise isn’t shared by everyone.

“There’s no comparison. The trains are a lot louder, and they’re every 15 to 20 minutes,” said John Walker.

He and Tena Walker live behind the Rock Barn on the other end of the block from Eilmes.

“We’ve never had any problems with them, and they’re good people,” Tena Walker said of Frost and the Rock Barn.

About a half dozen other neighbors are prepared to testify in the suit that noise and dust have affected their property. One states that it lowered the selling price of his house.

The legal action in Superior Court is ongoing. The date with the hearing examiner has not yet been set, and a legal resolution still seems a long way off.

“More than anything I would like for them to move the rocks from right behind my house,” Eilmes said.