CAMAS — Camas residents involved {that a} proposed gasoline station complicated close to Union Excessive Faculty might pose important environmental, site visitors and security dangers have sued the town, saying it used outdated maps when approving the event.
Eight neighbors of the location, 20101 N.E. thirteenth St., filed go well with Jan. 17 in Clark County Superior Courtroom.
The lawsuit in opposition to the town, gasoline station developer Taz Khan and one in every of Khan’s engineering consultants additionally names 40 Camas residents who oppose the challenge as events.
The go well with asks the courtroom to halt development on the gasoline station and reverse a Dec. 30 ruling by Camas Hearings Examiner Joe Turner that denied opponents’ environmental and substantive appeals and paved the best way for development. The event would come with a 4,100-square-foot comfort retailer, eight gasoline pumps, a automobile wash and 20 parking areas.
Camas Communications Director Bryan Rachal mentioned Friday that the town doesn’t touch upon pending litigation.
The lawsuit alleges the event “threatens to contaminate groundwater used for drinking water and will likely result in increased traffic, noise, light and glare, and other impacts that will adversely impact” residents.
The Camas residents additionally say the proposed growth is in a crucial aquifer recharge space and, regardless of metropolis maps displaying in any other case, is in a sole supply aquifer space that might prohibit underground gas tanks on the property.
“The city of Camas used an outdated map from 2012,” the lawsuit says. “The Washington Department of Health notified the city that their map is outdated, and it provided the current map, which shows the sole source aquifer within which the parcel is located.”
Gasoline station opponents say within the lawsuit that the town’s hearings examiner “erroneously relied on the outdated map.”
Turner heard greater than 5 hours of testimony concerning the proposed gasoline station growth throughout a Dec. 12 listening to.
He famous in his last report dated Dec. 30 that “the site and the majority of the city of Camas, as well as much of Clark County, is located over an EPA-mapped sole source aquifer” and dominated “there is no evidence in the record that a gas station in this location poses a significant risk to the environment.”
The lawsuit additionally says the town didn’t require a State Environmental Safety Act overview for the automobile wash.
“The SEPA for the project failed to address the car wash component, and a separate SEPA for the car wash should have been submitted,” the lawsuit says, noting that automobile washes typically use hydrofluoric acid, a corrosive acid identified to trigger opposed well being results.
Camas residents additionally fear that stormwater runoff from the location might stream into Lacamas Creek, which feeds into Lacamas Lake, noting within the go well with that the favored Camas lake already “suffer(s) from undiscovered sources of pollutants.”
“The hearings examiner agreed that runoff will enter Lacamas Creek and Lacamas Lake,” in line with the go well with. “He opined that ‘treated’ runoff will not impact these waters. He failed to explore the connections that could further pollute these waters.”
In his last order, Turner known as the residents’ environmental security issues speculative, famous that “these risks exist at all gas stations” and denied the residents’ attraction of the town’s State Environmental Safety Act overview.
Residents have been additionally involved about site visitors will increase within the space.
Site visitors research point out that a mean of two automobiles per minute will enter and exit the gasoline station throughout peak commuting hours. Within the lawsuit, residents mentioned they concern the extra site visitors will pose security dangers and gridlock.
Turner dominated that “increased traffic generated by this development will not create a significant hazard.”