The owner of Tullwood Apartments is pushing for action on the encampment behind Walmart, after joining the City of Bellingham’s lawsuit as an intervenor earlier this summer.
Complex owner 52nd & Brooklyn LLC is seeking a summary judgment and an order that the “nuisance” — referring to the homeless encampment on a 20-acre undeveloped lot southeast of the Bellingham Walmart — be cleaned up. Attorney Adam C. Doupé argued that there are no “triable” issues of fact in the case and that the court should order the encampment be addressed on issues of law.
The city filed the lawsuit on Feb. 23 against Li-Ching Fang, owner of the property where the homeless camp was established, seeking a judge’s authority to remove illegal campers on the property. Fang argued in court documents that she had taken efforts to address the encampment, but that Bellingham Police Department had provided “very little assistance” despite being authorized to issue trespass warnings and arrest, when necessary.
Fang hired Abatement & Decontamination Specialists on March 1 to conduct a site assessment and lead the cleanup. That site assessment occurred in May, according to court documents, but Doupé said the “health and safety crisis” has continued unabated since.
Deputy Administrator/Communications Director Janice Keller said in a statement that the city continues to pursue legal action against the encampment, following “extensive efforts” to work with the property owner to address it.
“The City is in receipt of the motion for summary judgment, and we will respond when it is appropriate to do so,” Keller said.
Located at 4370/4380 Tull Road, the Tullwood Apartments are directly adjacent to the encampment.
An estimated 50 to 150 homeless people camp on the property and some have been there at least eight years, according to camp residents. But Tullwood tenants reported more disruption over the last year since the homeless camp near Winco was cleared out. Residents reported hearing gunshots, seeing the distribution and use of illegal drugs and more on the property. At least six tenants have left Tullwood apartments due to the encampment, according to the property manager.
In an Aug. 2 court filing, Doupé argued that the encampment was a “public nuisance” and Tullwood’s residents have “suffered injuries in the form of indecent odors, smoke from fires, and fear of residing next to a property where dangerous persons reside with weapons and drugs.” Doupé argued for a warrant for the sheriff to “abate the nuisance.”
“There is no legitimate excuse for the utter failure to abate the Encampment,” Doupé wrote. “Open and notorious drug use and manufacturing, illegal fires, environmental waste, and other issues experienced at the Encampment all presumably violate one or more of the City’s ordinances, or, in the alternative, state and federal law.”
Doupé also invoked the recent Supreme Court decision, Grants Pass v. Johnson, arguing that the federal government “is not standing in the way of the City’s efforts” to address the encampment. As a result, Doupe argued the city cannot “abrogate” its responsibility and must abate the public nuisance.
A hearing for the motion for summary judgment is scheduled for Sept. 7 at 8:30 a.m., according to court documents.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
