Renter Facing Court Date Over Junk-Filled Yard In/Around: Hillyard

The county code enforcement department’s file on Ron McGovern is as packed as McGovern’s yard.

Like the two broken wheelbarrows, five rusting bicycles, seven tires and 18 junked cars on the Hillyard property, the repeated citations for county zoning code violations have been largely ignored.

But the eight-year battle with McGovern and the previous renters of the property could be nearing a resolution.

With a Jan. 9, 1996, arraignment date for two unlawful storage citations looming, McGovern says he is slowly cleaning up the property.

“I’m doing it as fast as my hand lets me,” said McGovern, holding up an injured right hand.

The county investigation was prompted by complaints from neighbors about disabled cars and other junk on the property.

As allowed by county zoning ordinances, McGovern has moved at least 12 cars behind a 7-foot fence. Six more cars remain parked in the front yard near a broken glass dining room table, three rusted barrels, two lawn spreaders, four water-logged teddy bears and a pair of 4-by-6-foot Walt Disney advertising signs, one of which reads “Learning with Mickey Mouse and Friends.”

McGovern said he works on some of the cars for a wrecking yard, but he wouldn’t give the name of the company or person he was working for.

All vehicles on his property are licensed, McGovern said. At least one vehicle didn’t have a license plate.

A Washington State Patrol investigation looked into allegations that McGovern was running an illegal wrecking yard. The investigation found parts of a stolen vehicle on the property, but McGovern was not charged because the investigation did not find proof that McGovern was involved in the theft.

The county code enforcement file on the property McGovern rents for $400 a month is an inch thick and cluttered with complaints, citations, letters from the office and pictures of the chaos before McGovern started cleaning.

“This is one of the worst,” said code enforcement officer Allan deLaubenfels. “In the amount of time involved, it’s in the top 1 percent.”

Many of the complaints, including the original one submitted by a neighbor, were filed before McGovern moved there in 1993. A previous tenant was “in compliance” before McGovern moved in, said deLaubenfels.

Neither the property owner, Mary Deno, nor her relatives could be reached for comment.

McGovern said deLaubenfels has pinned the sins of the previous tenants on him.

DeLaubenfels said he has repeatedly told McGovern that all vehicles or objects that are not being used should be stored behind a fence.

“Allan doesn’t tell me why he is after me for stuff that I didn’t do,” said McGovern, 33.

The original 1987 complaint cited 20 junked cars and various debris on the property. An update filed Feb. 8 this year by a code-enforcement officer cited 30 junked cars and various debris on the property.

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