Popular eatery finally being demolished

Published 3:17 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

CARNATION _ The business that took Rick and Debbie Pezzner

five years to build was brought down in minutes on Monday, as

demolition crews turned their charred building into rubble.

After about one month of investigations by the Pezzner’s

insurance company, the couple had finally got the go ahead to demolish what was

left of the River Run Cafe. However, crews from Earth to Earth

were quickly ordered to stop all work at the site on Monday afternoon by the

city’s building inspector Bob Rohrbach.

“They need a demolition permit,” he said. “There’s a permit for

the demolition [that’s been at city hall] for one week, but they didn’t pick it

up yet.”

“We wanted a letter from the insurance company to release [the

site]. We need a written document to make sure,” he added.

If all the paperwork is turned in soon, crews estimate it will take

several days to totally clear out the debris _ an event that Dr.

Margaret Johnston has anticipated for several weeks.

Johnston recently installed a septic system drain field on her

property, which is adjacent to the River Run Cafe. She said that the fence that

now encircles the former restaurant was placed on her lot without her

permission. The property line has been the subject of dispute for some time.

“We don’t want stuff on our drain field,” she said of the fence and rubble.

Johnston said she approached the Pezzners several times asking

when the fence would be removed and if it could be placed back on their

property, but nothing happened. So last Thursday, Johnston decided to

move the fence line herself.

Rick said that he wasn’t in charge of installing the fence and that his

insurance company directed staff to put the barrier up for safety reasons.

“The fence will stay up until everything is safe,” he said. “It’ll

be about 12 working days.”

In the meantime, the Pezzners are researching whether they’ll be

allowed to rebuild the popular restaurant on the current lot along Tolt Avenue.

“This is the beginning of a positive thing,” Rick said as he

watched the crews load a huge truck with debris before work was halted.

In the next several months the business owners will confer with

septic and restaurant designers, the King County Health Department,

building contractors, the City of Carnation and development consultants to go

over their plans for the new restaurant.

“If we can’t do something here, we’ll need to see if it’s feasible to

build elsewhere,” Rick said. “But we

won’t know for another 90 days.”

The River Run Cafe was destroyed in a late-night fire on Thursday,

Oct. 21. Officials haven’t released the cause of the blaze yet.

“It took me 10 days to stop wondering around my house,” Debbie

said of her reactions after the fire. “I

didn’t know what to do.”

“It is a melancholy, somber feeling,” Rick added.

But the Pezzners said they were able to find comfort and strength

from those near them.

“The night it happened, people were all around me and that was

nice,” Debbie said.

The couple will try to re-create the River Run Cafe and offer their

customers the same food, service and atmosphere. The Pezzners realize,

however, that it might be a difficult task to accomplish.

“How can you rebuild charm and ambience?” Debbie said.