HANSVILLE — For about 60 years, Hansville property owner Robert Eyer and his family have maintained they are running a recycling business called Eyer Trucking. Kitsap County officials, on the other hand, view the property as an illegal wrecking yard lacking the necessary permits and violating land use laws.

Hansville residents driving past the Little Boston Road site are stuck in between with concerns about hazardous waste leaking from the estimated 800 vehicles on property.

“People who have lived here for 20, 30 years know what’s going on here, and they’re fine with it,” Eyer said. “It’s the new people in the area, the ecology buffs that don’t come talk to me. It’s the people that don’t know nothing about what’s going on here that are upset.”

But that is likely all coming to an end.

Despite ongoing lawsuits against the county, Eyer recently volunteered to clean up his property, and is now overseeing the removal of the vehicles, said county interim land use environmental review manager Steve Mount.

Eyer maintains he’s running a legitimate business with all the required permits — something the county flatly denies.

“He has no permits on file that we’ve been able to find,” Mount countered. “No records have been produced to support his claim. The only document he’s produced for us is an old license from 1950 allowing him to run a trucking business. That’s not, in the county’s eyes, equivalent to an recycling center or a wrecking yard.”

Eyer, on the other hand, said the 1950 document was grandfathered when the first licenses for junkyards were permitted in 1961, and maintains his business is perfectly legal.

“This has been going on for a couple of generations,” Mount said. “It’s been going on for quite some time. We were aware of it in 2001, 2002, when Mr. Eyer failed to produce documentation for a wrecking yard.”

The county then proceeded with a public nuisance abatement, he said.

Another concern, raised by the Hansville community, has been the potential for hazardous waste seeping into the soil while the vehicles are being compacted and hauled away. The issue was addressed Tuesday night at the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Committee meeting, allowing residents to express their concern for the environment.

“They are in the process of crushing and removal of the cars on the property,” said interim GHAAC chairwoman Judy Foritano. “What is happening to all the toxic waste in those cars? We’re concerned it could be seeping into the ground.”

Eyer said he takes proper precautions when he disposes of vehicles, and Mount said the Washington State Department of Ecology is also ensuring such waste doesn’t contaminate the site during the removal process. The property will be tested after the vehicles have been removed, added Kitsap County Commissioner Chris Endresen.

DOE spokesman Larry Altose said officials have inspected the site and have concerns about contamination throughout it. The Washington State Patrol usually keep tabs on junkyards so they use proper methods to discard of waste, and he said that wasn’t apparent in this case.

“We met with Mr. Eyer, and the county is leading the inspection,” said DOE storm water inspector Megan Wisdom. “We told him we are concerned about possible contamination throughout his property, and he didn’t seem happy to hear it. I think he felt that by complying with the county to clean up the cars that he was taking care of the problem.”

Although the removal of the vehicles is causing concerns in the community, the felling of roadside trees and clearing of brush has raised a whole new set. The business became visible after the county removed the green buffer for a road project four years ago and did not replace it, Eyer said. He also asserts that the subcontractor the county hired at the time buried an 18-foot boat and several cars during the construction, thus creating a toxic waste concern.

“Everybody is misinformed about what is going on here,” Eyer said. “It’s against the law to bury cars, and I’d like to know how they get away with it. If I had buried them, I’d be in jail.”

Mount said he couldn’t comment on the buried vehicles, as it is part of an ongoing lawsuit. Kitsap County attorney Philip Bacus said the lawsuit is between Eyer and Seton Construction, the subcontractor, and the county isn’t a party in the proceedings.

“I’m very glad this is finally getting taken care of,” Endresen said. “A lot of residents in the community have been concerned over the years about this property. It has a really long, long history. The county’s been in court with him for many years. I think we’re talking about property rights, and neighbors are concerned about it.”

“I understand completely why people are complaining,” Eyer said of residents being able to see the site. “It’s an eyesore, but I didn’t do this, the county did.”