Chelan County Seeking Ways To Routinely Abate Nuisance Properties

Chelan County is preparing to pursue abatement proceedings and/or the cleanup of nearly 10 properties which have been identified as a nuisance to their respective communities.

Officials with the Chelan County Sheriff's Office briefed County Commissioners about the properties and provided updates about the issues being caused by them at a meeting last week.

Commissioner Brad Hawkins says the properties are located in several areas of the county, including Dryden, Malaga, Peshastin, and Wenatchee.

"It's a challenging issue because you're dealing with citizens' private properties. But these properties that have been identified as a nuisance definitely impact their neighbors. There's the strong smells, health hazards, junk vehicles, and trash. A lot of these properties have also been recurring violators."

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County spokesperson Jill FitzSimmons says one of the nuisance properties in question has already been cited many times in the past and has been levied with liens amounting to $400,000 by the County.

Such penalties, along with other fines, are used by the County as a way of encouraging nuisance property owners to rectify any identified issues, but Hawkins says liens can only be collected when a property is sold, which means any efforts to clean up a nuisance site can take years to happen.

"We're going to try and figure out a way to dedicate a revenue stream to these cleanups. We are actively involved in these efforts regarding property abatements and nuisance properties. If we can clean them up, we'd like to, but sometimes it involves obtaining court warrants and other similar things. If we can't educate the property owners and get to a point when we're getting voluntary compliance, we take these next steps."

FitzSimmons says the County is looking to find a way to fully address at least two nuisance properties per year moving forward, and that the issue is a planned part of its budget meetings for 2026, which are already beginning.

The County has three code enforcement officers who routinely patrol for potential nuisance properties and make contact with the owners of any which are officially identified as such.