Closed Tiger Marts scar Yakima's landscape

Howard Hinton doesn't know who owns the old Tiger Marts around town.

Most people in Yakima don't. Nor does Hinton understand why the properties have been abandoned for so long.

What he does know is that they look bad. Even after city officials recently forced the owner to clean up the properties, to Hinton, the old gas stations are eyesores, plain and simple.

"It's terrible we have to tolerate something like that," said Hinton, a retired Boise Cascade and JeldWen manager who lives near the Tiger Mart at the corner of 56th Avenue and Summitview.

"It just seems like something could be done about it," he adds. "They should at least tear down the buildings and clear the land. Then it wouldn't be so obvious."

The Tiger Marts, for those wondering what all the fuss is about, were a chain of gas stations around town that closed in 2001 after owner Chuck Conley got into a tussle with the state Department of Ecology over groundwater contamination and declared bankruptcy.

There were four of them: one on North First Street, two on Nob Hill Boulevard and the one on Summitview. They remain closed, and nobody has any clue when that might change.

The properties have a total assessed value of $640,550, ranging from $154,200 on East Nob Hill to $162,250 on North First.

City officials say there is little they can do about it other than to bird-dog Conley. The old stations, particularly the one on Summitview, have been the source of numerous complaints about weeds and graffiti.

Street vendors even got into the act, illegally using the parking lots to hawk goods.

Bill Cook, the city's economic and development director, says some of the problems early on were caused by communication problems and that Conley, who lives in Boise, Idaho, has done a better job in recent years of maintaining the properties.

As for the long-term prospects, Cook says city officials would like to see the properties redeveloped and back in play but have little recourse under the law to make that happen.

"It's not a code violation to have a vacant, boarded building," he says, adding, "We're not in a position to hold him in violation for not reselling his property. That's his decision."

Conley could not be reached for comment on this story. A number in Boise for Tiger Oil, parent company of Tiger Mart, has been disconnected. His attorney in previous litigation did not return a call seeking comment.

That attorney, John McCreedy of Boise, has represented Conley in his past struggles with the Department of Ecology over groundwater contamination at all four Tiger Mart sites. He has also represented Conley in disputes with the federal Environmental Protection Agency over Tiger Mart gas stations in Idaho, according to online records.

Don Abbott, toxics cleanup section manager for Ecology in Yakima, says Conley has repeatedly failed to live up to the terms of a negotiated agreement to clean up the Tiger Mart at 24th Avenue and Nob Hill.

Abbott says fuel leaked for years from pipes at the Tiger Marts and got into groundwater. The problem was so acute that it caused an explosion in 1981 that injured two city workers probing a drain pipe near the 24th Avenue Tiger Mart for the source of a fuel leak.

Conley bought the properties knowing he would be liable for cleanup, says Abbott. The underground tanks have been removed, but the soil has yet to be decontaminated.

"I've been fighting with him and his attorney for a long time," he says. "We know he has the money to do it from a big insurance settlement, but he just refuses to do it."

Dealing with contaminated soil is not an uncommon requirement for commercial properties around Yakima, said Abbott, who adds that Conley has received offers on the properties but won't sell.

"Mr. Conley could sell it for a discount, but he wants full price and he won't let it go," Abbott said.

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com..

Where are the old Tiger Marts?

5511 Summitview Ave

2312 W. Nob Hill Blvd

1606 E. Nob Hill Blvd

1808 N. First St.

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