SHARE

By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun

PORT ORCHARD — The developers of the Horstman Heights housing development were fined $53,000 for polluting a stream and Sinclair Inlet with muddy runoff.

Horstman Heights is on an 11-acre site at Horstman Road and Orlando Street. As many as 54 single-family homes had been planned there.

The state Department of Ecology inspectors determined that Gig Harbor-based Mike Paul Construction had violated six state stormwater management rules and an Ecology order from late last year to halt stormwater discharge.

"This is a steep sloping site, making it all the more important to follow the general permit requirements (to) prevent the problems we've seen at this site," said Heather Bartlett, Ecology's water-quality program manager.

Flooding from Horstman Heights caused mud to cover a nearby stream's rocky bed and pushed muddy water through adjoining Sullivan Creek and then into the inlet. Muddy stormwater can harm fish and other aquatic life.

It's not the first time the site has caused runoff problems.

Under a previous owner who had not properly secured the site for runoff, Horstman Heights let loose a torrent of mud that caused a large brown plume in the inlet. The owner, David Alan Development, was fined $76,000 in 2009.

Bartlett said the new owner had been ordered on repeated visits to curb the site's runoff.

Inspectors determined that Mike Paul Construction had failed to meet the basic requirement of developing a stormwater pollution plan. The company also failed to sample stormwater at discharge points, install and maintain stormwater control features, protect steep slopes and storm drains, and prevent construction vehicles from tracking mud on nearby roadways — all of which violated Ecology rules.

Port Orchard had issued a temporary stop work order on the site in October and assisted Ecology with its investigation.

Mike Paul Construction has subsequently addressed some of the violations. It now samples its discharge, but it continues to violate Ecology's order to halt the discharge.

The company did not immediately return calls for comment.