Runoff rumble
August 13, 2008
By Emily Keller
Neighbors disagree about causes of flooding
Fran Hogan installed this $500 pump to reduce flooding. Photo by Emily Keller
There is one thing that neighbors on 209th Avenue Northeast can agree on: storm water is not properly draining from their street, leaving a large puddle up to 10 inches high in the way of traffic for parts of the winter. However, when it comes to the cause and solution to the problem, opinions vary.
The avenue, a privately owned street in the Tamarac neighborhood, is in an area that is vulnerable to landslides and erosion hazards because of its hills, city officials said. An increase in real estate development in the past four years has also reduced the number of trees around to soak up water, increasing flooding.
Some developers have violated construction codes, which has complicated the problem. Joan Burlingame, the city’s code enforcement officer, said there are more than a dozen violations in the area of 209th Avenue Northeast, 211th Avenue Northeast and 214th Avenue Northeast for grading work, tree removal, paving and filling in ditches.
One of those violations is a $2,500 stop work order issued in November 2007 against developer Willie Simpson of Renton for work done without a permit, including the removal a large portion of dirt from the hillside, which later had to be brought back in. One of Simpson’s contractors also removed a large number of trees from the site and eliminated a drainage ditch.
“The first guy dug too much. He dug 20 feet down when he should have done eight. I was on vacation.
When I came back the trees were taken down. There was maybe one or two trees left on the property,” said Simpson, a first-time developer who got involved in real estate when the housing market was booming and now expects not to make any profits on his venture.
“Sammamish was always a good place to buy and build a home. That’s what led me to go into construction,” he said. “If the home had been built in nine months, I would have still been in the hot market.” Instead the home is 90 percent finished and vacant.
Neighbors Fran Hogan and Wade Martin blame Simpson’s project for the flooding and say the problem escalated after his work began about four years ago.
Hogan is also worried that the empty home is a security threat. “We’ve got this big vacant nuisance that is going to attract problems sooner or later,” he said. “It’s just stuck and we can’t get any resolution.”
Simpson said the drainage problem predates his project and that he is doing his best to rectify the situation after having problems with several contractors. Burlingame agrees.
“I don’t think there’s been any malfeasance or any purposeful doing things bad. I think it’s just a very difficult situation,” she said. “There will always be a drainage issue on the Tamarac plats.”
The stop work order will be lifted when Simpson establishes a drainage plan for his lot, but after spending more than $50,000 on engineering work and being unable to establish a plan that is acceptable to neighbors and the city, Simpson is at an impasse.
After a downhill homeowner across the street turned down his request for an easement that offered one potential solution, Simpson said he became hesitant to spend any more money on the project.
“I spent myself broke trying to correct the drainage. It’s very costly. I just quit paying. I need to take care of my family,” he said.
Some residents have called on the city to help solve their problem but city officials say residents need to form a homeowners association to come up with their own solution since the street is private.
“If the city is asking us to come up with a solution, we don’t have the resources nor should we. It’s not really of our making,” said Martin.
Simpson also wants the city to step in.
“We get no support from the city – they say you come up with something, we approve, disapprove,” said Simpson. “The city’s not very helpful on solving the problem.”
In the meantime, Hogan has installed a $500 pump to carry water out during the rainy season. Residents have also used hay bales and sandbags to prevent flooding.
Burlingame said the city does not have any power to establish a drainage system on the avenue. “The city does not have the authority or the right to intervene in the drainage of the road,” she said.
However, John Cunningham, the city’s director of public works, said city officials are looking into ways to help facilitate a solution.
Then the city would have to decide how to collect dues for its work so as not to pass the costs on to taxpayers who live in other neighborhoods in the city.
“At this point it’s one neighbor dumping their water onto another neighbor’s private property,” Cunningham said. “I would be a bit surprised if anything gets solved before this coming winter. It’s probably going to take a concerted effort to get those people together.”
Reporter Emily Keller can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or ekeller@isspress.com.
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