Ryan Neptune’s Gateway Parks LLC, a Boise-based ski and snowboard park developer, will pay a $10,000 penalty over demolishing asbestos-laden buildings at the former Lazy J Tavern complex in Eagle, the EPA announced today. “In a misguided effort to save money, Gateway Parks cut corners and unfortunately turned a $14,000 demolition into a $75,000 mess,” said Ed Kowalski, director of EPA’s Pacific Northwest Office of Compliance and Enforcement. “In the end, we know it’s far less expensive, and much safer, to do this work the right way the first time.”

The EPA reports that Gateway Parks purchased the property on North Horseshoe Bend Road in January of 2013 to expand its operations next to an existing bike and snow park. In May of 2014, the company hired a consultant to inspect for asbestos, who reported finding it in six of eight buildings on the site and submitted a bid for asbestos abatement. The company rejected the bid and later demolished some of the buildings without first removing the asbestos; that left contaminated debris piles that drew a public complaint to the EPA. In April 2015, the agency ordered Gateway to clean up the mess, which it did; an asbestos abatement contractor hauled away and disposed of 27 truckloads of contaminated debris, at a cost to Gateway Parks of more than $65,000.