Citizens press for action to clean up neighborhood

Neighbors frustrated by growing disorder on Dill Avenue pressed Grand Coulee City Council members Tuesday night to crack down on what they described as dangerous and unsanitary conditions on two nearby properties.

Resident Mike Coffee, who lives on Dill Avenue, told the council he has dealt with repeated thefts, suspected illegal power hookups, and human waste being dumped on the ground outside a neighboring trailer.

Coffee said one man living in the trailer was caught on his security cameras cutting wires from the front of his boat.

Coffee said he later suffered another loss when someone entered his unlocked truck and stole items worth about $1,700.

While thefts are “everywhere,” he said, his deeper concern is the growing cluster of campers, a trailer and debris on two lots adjacent to his home. He said the trailer has no running water and that occupants are dumping waste outside.

“Today they came outside. They’re in there all night long. So she comes out with a bucket and walks 10 feet and pours it on the ground,” he said. “There’s no water in that trailer, so I don’t think it was water.”

Coffee said the smell in the summer heat is affecting him and his neighbors.

“It stinks. I mean, I have to smell it. Kevin has to smell it,” he said. “Now there’s the hot weather … that’s where I’m living.”

He also raised concerns about how the residents are getting electricity.

Coffee said he and another neighbor both shut off their power at the breaker in an effort to see whether anyone had tapped into their lines.

“We thought they might have dug in years ago or something and [were] pulling off of some power source of ours. So I shut mine — nothing. He shut his — nothing. So some way they were going out,” Coffee said.

Owner lives out of town

In response to questions from the council, Coffee said the properties are owned by Mary Clary, who does not live on either lot.

“She owns both lot 303 and 212. I’m in 219, so 212, of course, probably right next to me, and then 303 is across [the] street,” he said. “She doesn’t live in either one of them. She lives out of town ways.”

Coffee said he found what he believes is the owner’s Facebook profile and sent her a message about conditions on the lots and the people living there. He told the council he would be willing to help clean up the property or even buy it if the owner was interested in selling.

Coffee said the health department has already been contacted about the outdoor urination and waste disposal.

“The health department said they were going to go out in the next couple days,” he said, adding that officials used his and another neighbor’s name in the complaint.

Coffee asked the council for clear enforcement and standards.

“What are the rules here? For how long can junk stay on the property?” he said. “What can I do, just ignore it? That’s what I get told most of the time.”

‘My family doesn’t feel safe’

Coffee’s next-door neighbor, Kevin Modern echoed the concerns and described the situation as escalating.

“It just seems to be getting worse and worse and growing more and more with homelessness,” Modern said. “You got them moving campers in, a trailer in, and now another camper right there on the road in front of the property, garbage everywhere.”

Modern said he routinely finds trash being thrown onto his property and has had to confront people he believes are responsible.

“I’m tired of picking up the garbage. I’m tired of them seeing them go by my house on camera, throwing garbage out onto my property,” he said.

He also told the council he has found dozens of used needles in his yard while his child plays outside.

“Would you be happy finding drug needles in your yard while your kid’s outside playing?” he asked council members.

“I picked up so far 42 needles off my property. Forty-two. In what, maybe five months? I mean, come on.”

Modern said the situation has left his family feeling unsafe and pushed him to arm himself.

“It’s getting to a point where my family doesn’t feel safe, and now I have to have a shotgun in my house,” he said. “If one of them breaks into my house, I’ll defend my family, no ifs, ands or buts about it”.

City promises to review ordinances

Mayor Ruth Dalton and council members did not take any immediate enforcement action Tuesday night but pledged to look at what tools the city already has — and what might be added.

Councilmember Andrew Dobson said he would review Grand Coulee’s code and other cities’ examples.

“I can take a look at some legislation and some ordinances that may shift around and see what we can copy [and] actively implement here,” Dobson said. “I think we may have an ordinance about vacant home. If we do have an ordinance already, then [I’ll] check.”

He told Coffee and Modern he would “take a deep dive” into possible options and asked both men to leave their contact information so he could follow up.

Dalton said the city would “work on” the issue and indicated the matter could come back before the council in a more formal way after staff and legal review.

For now, Coffee said he is hoping for “some pride built into the community where people don’t ignore it.”

“The town has a huge potential,” he told the council. “In numbers, things happen.”