Washington Restaurant Trapped Between Dueling Grease Trap Rules

The Immediate Shutdown and What Triggered It

The restaurant’s owner had taken over a building previously used for fast food, made no major remodels, and expected to operate under standard food-code requirements.

But shortly after opening, the County health department pressed pause and cited an issue with their grease trap setup and pointed to the requirements administered by a neighboring city.

The restaurant owner was told that their existing grease interceptor might need to be upgraded to a large, in-ground tank—a solution that can cost tens of thousands of dollars—before delivery service could be allowed and full operations restored.

Why Two Cities Got Involved in One Restaurant’s Grease Trap

One city in Washington owns its local sewer pipes but it relies on the neighboring city’s water treatment plant.

Decades ago, the two jurisdictions signed an interlocal agreement that essentially adopted the neighboring city’s pretreatment code and designated that city as the control authority for industrial wastewater permits.

In practice, that meant the neighboring city wrote the rules for fats, oils and grease, while the city in Washington often handled local permits and installations.

So over time, the routine of who inspects, who enforces, and who grants exceptions became cloudy—especially for restaurants.

A Similar Case Highlights Uneven Enforcement

Around this same time period, a long-standing burger stand in the same Washington city faced similar questions about its grease trap.

The County health department issued a compliance order that gave time to add a utility sink and upgrade the grease interceptor.

But then momentum stalled. No further action landed until a local newspaper started asking questions, which raised broader concerns among restaurant owners about consistent enforcement.

The contrasting pace—one business shut down almost immediately, another left largely untouched for months—deepened industry frustration over fairness and predictability.

The Real World Cost for a Small Business

For the new local restaurant, the shutdown meant losing weeks of revenue.

The owner spent thousands to add a second, smaller grease interceptor tied to a utility sink and committed to frequent pump-outs at an additional monthly cost.

Delivery services—expected to represent a significant share of sales—were initially prohibited under the neighboring city’s interpretation of its FOG policy.

That restriction alone limited the business model that the owner had banked on and made a precarious business launch even harder.

Health, Sewer, and Environmental Agencies—Different Roles With Blurred Lines

The County health department focused on whether the business had approved water and sewer connections.

If a City says a connection is not approved, the health permit is suspended until the City signs off.

The neighboring City’s environmental services staff emphasized their role in protecting the treatment plant and complying with state and federal requirements, while also signaling that inspection priorities historically leaned toward industrial users.

Meanwhile, the city in Washington believed it was beholden to the neighboring city’s rules under their interlocal agreement and often deferred to that city’s FOG program manager for approvals.

How Two Cities Interpreted the Same Agreement Differently

The neighboring city pointed to language that made it the lead agency for pretreatment and the control authority for permits, which it argued keeps the treatment plant safe from damaging discharges.

The city in Washington read the same agreement to mean it should apply the neighboring city’s rules and seek that city’s sign-off before issuing local permits.

Historical records showed periods when the neighboring city did inspect grease traps in the city in Washington, then later periods when restaurants there appeared to be bypassed in inspection rounds that focused on other users.

With staff turnover and no clear written directive about when priorities changed, the staff working there today struggled to reconstruct why and when the approach shifted.

A Temporary Compromise to Reopen—But With Limits

After multiple emails, site visits, and a joint meeting between a building official and the neighboring city’s FOG program manager, the local restaurant received permission to reopen with the smaller, additional grease interceptor—but still without delivery.

The owner later sought an exception to allow delivery with the existing configuration, learning that the path would likely require maintenance logs, monitoring for interceptor capacity, and approval through the city in Washington in coordination with the neighboring city’s technical expectations.

Moving Towards Clarity: Who Inspects and Who Decides Now

Following a series of meetings, the two cities moved toward a practical division of labor.

The city in Washington began taking direct responsibility for restaurant grease traps within its borders, reviewing cleaning records and communicating with owners, while the neighboring city remained available to provide technical assistance.

Under this approach, the local restaurant completed a monitoring period that showed its devices stayed within capacity between cleanings.

Delivery would be allowed with more frequent pump-outs, and another local bakery shop entered a similar trial.

The County’s earlier compliance order for the older burger stand still existed on paper, but the city in Washington indicated that routine ownership changes alone would not automatically trigger major structural upgrades absent significant changes in operations.

What Restaurant Owners Can Learn from This Case

When sewer treatment and local collections are split between jurisdictions, restaurants can get caught in the middle.

Food-code compliance depends not just on health inspections, but also on who controls sewer approvals and how interlocal agreements are interpreted.

In this case, one city in Washington and a neighboring city had adopted the same ultimate goal—protecting the water treatment plant and the environment—but they lacked a shared, consistently executed playbook for restaurants.

That gap directly affected small businesses, sometimes in costly and unexpected ways.

Practical Takeaways for Navigating FOG Compliance

The most important step is to clarify roles before you sign a lease or open your doors.

Ask your City’s building and Public Works teams who approves grease traps, who inspects them, and what triggers delivery restrictions or equipment upgrades.

Request written guidance on grease interceptor sizing, cleaning intervals, and any conditions that could limit third-party delivery.

Keep meticulous cleaning and maintenance records.

In this case, documented performance under real-world usage helped the local restaurant secure more operating flexibility.

If your City relies on a neighboring jurisdiction’s treatment plant, confirm whether exceptions are decided locally, regionally, or jointly—and what evidence is required to support them.

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Grease control is essential to keeping sewers clear and our water treatment plants operating safely, but these policies only work when roles are clearly defined and enforcement is even-handed.

This case from the city in Washington shows how ambiguous responsibilities can snowball into burdensome costs for small businesses.

The recent shift—local oversight in the city in Washington with technical support from the neighboring city—offers a workable foundation.

Clearer agreements, consistent communication, and data-driven monitoring can turn a bureaucratic maze into a predictable process that protects infrastructure without sidelining entrepreneurs.

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