It started with families in the Valley View neighborhood of Everett who heard creaking in the middle of the night. Four years later, one home is devastated, others are crumbling—and a lawsuit is underway.
Private contractors and the homeowner whose property is completely destroyed believe that “the city is funneling more storm water into the ravine than it can handle, causing the deep-seated shift in the hillside.” The affected homeowner now has a 10-foot cliff in his backyard. See the video, pictures and read more here.
King County representatives promoting the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Barton bioswales project have minimized and dismissed most concerns raised by West Seattle residents. One of those concerns is that the “deep wells” King County keeps mentioning are in fact just large pipes that will dump huge volumes of water underground. This means the soil may eventually become saturated, destabilize and lead to sinkholes later.
These concerns are very real. Take notice of what’s happening in Everett. If the stormwater issue did indeed cause the problem, notice that the damage began years ago—and now the bill has come due. Those responsible for the stormwater funneling in Everett may have moved on years ago—but left homeowners holding the bag. Don’t let this happen in West Seattle. Don’t let King County dismiss your concerns, do what they will and create a problem that could cause us to suffer a few years later. Sign the petition now and demand another way to solve the Barton CSO problem.
west seattle raingardens 
As homeowners in the Westwood neighborhood we are concerned that this King County construction project, which will be directly adjacent to residential properties, will cause future damage and thus devalue our property.
When we first spoke, almost 2 years ago, to King County managers and SvR design about this proposed bioswale project in our neighborhood, we voiced our concerns about the thousands of gallons of street water being funneled down into the soils around our neighborhood and homes and were told by them, “it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
After hearing what is happening in Everett, we have all the more reason to be concerned that the soils around this proposed Barton CSO project (our neighborhood) will become overly saturated, cause sinkholes throughout the area thus leading to possible future structural damage to homes. This unproven technology should not be constructed in a residential area. There are other options to control combined sewer overflows without putting people’s homes at risk. Come up with another plan King County!
If this proposed project does go thru and King County is so confident nothing negative will happen years down the road then shouldn’t they provide homeowners throughout Westwood and Sunrise Heights neighborhoods a legal document stating they will be legally responsible for any future damages related to soil changes? King County needs to be accountable for their actions, even years down the road.