A beloved Washington mechanic is being forced to retire and shutter his business so the state can demolish it to increase salmon migration.

The state’s Department of Transportation is planning to restore sections of Lyon Creek, which run beside Ron Ricker’s business Ballinger Automotive in Lake Forest Park. 

Officials are planning to replace an existing concrete culvert, a small tunnel or pipe which allows the flow of water to continue under a road on the site. 

New pumps are to be installed above the three-sided culvert which the creek will flow through along a stream bed to welcome migrating fish.

Due to the plans, the state are claiming a portion of the 87-year-old’s property through eminent domain, causing the demolition and closure of his business. 

According to the outlet, Ricker was offered just $124,000 for a triangle-shaped parcel out of his land, plus the use of another area for construction equipment. 

Ricker told the Seattle Times that the amount was not enough compensation, and aims to make his case in court with a trial date set in January. 

He has not said how much cash he is seeking.  

The works, which according to The Seattle Times are part of a $13 million investment, are part of the state’s largest salmon recovery program ever.  

Under a court order, the state is tearing out and replacing hundreds of culverts across the Western portion of the state because they block salmon migration. 

The court order and a 2030 deadline to fix the blockages was the result of a lawsuit filed by 21 tribal nations. 

They argued that the culverts had to be replaced to protect their their treaty fishing rights as salmon and trout levels declined due to barriers. 

Ricker had installed his own culvert in the river in the 1960s on top of which he had a gas station, the culvert has now collapsed and blocks the river.  

For Ricker, this means his employees and longtime customers are having to go elsewhere after the move forced him into retirement, leaving the shop last week.

The department moved to take the property, which is allowed under state law, deeming it necessary in court filings. A judge ruled in their favor in June. 

Ricker told the outlet he was given three options for leasing other auto shops, one of which had no parking and the other being too big. 

The other storefronts also came with costs between $6,000 and $12,000 per month in recent.

Ricker says he’d have to triple his current business to be able to pay the rent and turn a profit. 

Ricker says the auto shop has a rough base of around 800 core customers and until recently was booked out for three weeks in advance. 

He said he had tried to bring state, city and tribal leaders together to work out how to fix the stretch of creek that would allow his shop to continue. 

Ricker added: ‘We tried, off and on, for 25 years to get an audience. Nobody ever wanted to sit down and do a collaborative approach.’

Up and down the creek, Ricker pointed out there are other obstacles to migrating fish, some of which have been replaced.

He pointed to a city culvert a quarter-mile upstream from his workshop which will continue to block all fish after the state project. 

He added; ‘You can put a fancy, gold-plated stream crossing here, but what’s the point?’

Meanwhile his neighbors have come to his defense posting on social media calling on each other to write to the state Attorney General’s Office to voice their concerns. 

Dr Nina Svino, whose dental practice is near the auto shop, told the Times: ‘A neighborhood business. 

‘Not a huge chain that has the resources to go anywhere. A good neighbor. Gone for good. A loss that can’t be replaced.’

Dan Junkers, the auto shop’s general manager, has been working at the shop for 30 years. He told the outlet: ‘It was rough. People were genuinely upset.’

While customer Margaret Salmi told the outlet: ‘We trust them. The work was always reasonable and right on.’

This isn’t the first time that the creek and the culvert halted his business, with a rainstorm causing the creek to swell and the culvert to crack in 1996. 

The pavement caved in creating a sinkhole, for which Ricker blamed the city’s undersized culvert downstream on, and he then closed down the gas station. 

Before non-native people settled in the area, it drained what is known today as Lake Washington. 

Streams and tributaries supported coho, sockeye and other fish varieties which have dwindled with urban redevelopment. 

Tom Murdoch, the executive director of the nonprofit Adopt A Stream Foundation, told the Times: ‘It’s a classic stream in an urban environment with all the problems associated with urbanization.’

Murdoch added that the auto shop and its pavement have had a negative impact, causing surrounding plants to be stripped away, increasing the water temperature. 

A spokesperson for the department said: ‘The process is not taken lightly and that is why there is state law, procedures and even a court process if necessary to ensure state policies are followed.’