Save a Forest in Southworth, WA

Southworth Forest Update:

Southworth Clear-Cutters Stall on Second Code Violation Case

Posted August 27, 2023 by Southworth Forest

Neither the garage portion of this structure nor the living space above is permitted. This photo from Kitsap County compliance files shows evidence of a heating system in the structure, which violates the terms of documentation recorded against the Edwards property. That same record also indicates that the structure cannot be occupied.

Kitsap County records reveal that they opened a second code compliance case in January 2023 against 11090 SE Southworth Dr. near the ferry terminal in Port Orchard, WA. The County's first open compliance case against the property stems from an impactful 2019 violation for its improper deforestation. In 2023, the County investigated a separate compliance case against the same property for an unpermitted garage and accessory dwelling unit (ADU), confirming the additional violations.

Kitsap County's Department of Community Development is failing to hold the property's owners, Meghan and Clint Edwards, accountable in a timely manner on either compliance case. It took over a year for Edwards to submit an error-prone Site Development Activity Permit (SDAP) for the reckless deforestation, and that permit still remains in a fourth review after four years. Neighbors have experienced multitudes of environmental impacts during that time, including dead trees that timely restorative actions may have prevented.

Meanwhile, the County discovered the unpermitted garage and ADU in January 2023 and has not enforced the law in this compliance case. Unpermitted structures like ADUs typically require a corrective permit be submitted by the property owner within 30 days, but none has been submitted by Edwards in the eight months since the violation was cited. County records indicate that compliance officers are allowing the ADU violation to slide while the deforestation violation is handled. No violation should be left uncorrected for years.

Not only is the ADU disallowed explicitly by documentation recorded against the property, but the underlying garage structure beneath the ADU was itself disapproved on its inspection by the County in 2006. The garage never passed a final inspection, and its permit was closed in 2012. The structure therefore cannot be occupied as a garage, let alone an ADU, especially as records indicate that the space could not be heated. Instead, it was finished out with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.

Edwards has repeatedly shown carelessness and ignorance about following the law. For Clint Edwards, a mortgage lender and son of realtor Rhonda Edwards, the negligent land use is surprising. According to Kitsap's records, he expressed interest in renting the ADU in 2021 but was pointed to records disallowing such use. Despite discovering they had a noncompliant structure, Edwards did not submit for a corrective permit. Even eight months after Kitsap's notification to Edwards that correction is necessary, still no permit was forthcoming, posing potential hazards to occupants and impacts upon neighbors.

Kitsap County is allowing Edwards to stall on necessary compliance, and Edwards continues to blame others for the series of violations on their property. The County's inspector of the ADU noted that Edwards blamed absentee neighbors for reporting the violations, a familiar line of defense from them which suggests that since these particular neighbors live out of the county, any protests from them should be discounted. (The neighbors have not yet finished building their house next to Edwards, largely because of legal action by Edwards preventing it.)

Ironically, records show that the unpermitted ADU violation was reported twice, neither time indicating these neighbors as the source. Edwards is a prime example of community members who do not take responsibility for their actions, whether it is an unpermitted structure, timber trespass against neighbors, or significant environmental impacts that affect the broader area and contribute to climate change. By attempting to diminish concerned neighbors, they reveal more reasons why Kitsap County must hold them accountable for their multiple code violations.

Contact Kitsap County today and remind them that if the violations at 11090 SE Southworth Dr. are allowed to slide by, then when will the law ever be enforced?

Kitsap County's code compliance case sheet for the noncompliant structure includes details of the violation, Edwards' prior knowledge of it, the County's immediate directive for a corrective permit, a summary of a second complaint about the ADU's color, and Edwards' attempt to blame out-of-county neighbors for their woes.

The interior photos of the ADU included in Kitsap County's compliance files clearly show evidence of a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. The year prior to the County's code violation case, Edwards learned that this space was not permitted to be occupied, but they did not obtain a permit to correct the situation at that time.

The structure in the foreground is an unpermitted garage with an unpermitted accessory dwelling unit above. In 2022, Edwards compounded the existing violation by painting the house a different color from the garage/ADU. By Kitsap code, an accessory structure "shall be designed to maintain the appearance of the primary residence," including paint colors.