west seattle raingardens

King County is planning a series of Open Houses this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24. The goals is to “to discuss details of the bioretention swales planned for your block.” If you have questions or concerns about the Barton CSO project, please don’t remain silent. Silence implies acceptance. Please attend the Open Houses, ask the hard questions and carefully note how your questions are answered–or not. You may want to ask exactly how deep, wide and steep the swales will be. Ask about a written release to absolve you from any and all liability if and / or when someone is hurt due to the bioswales. Ask for written indemnification–which means King County will cover the costs of any damages that occur during bioswale construction and afterwards. Ask for a written guaranteee that King County will conduct maintenance on the swales–and ask what the maintenance schedule will be. Check out the “Issues” tab for many other questions–and don’t forget to to visit the “Take Action” tab to sign the online petition.

Thank you for visiting the new West Seattle rain gardens website. We started this site due to numerous concerns about the biorentention swales King County is planning to construct in our neighborhoods. Bioswales are not rain gardens. Please read the Issues page to see the difference. We hope you’ll carefully review the content of the site and then take action. Together, we can call upon King County to provide the most safe and effective option to stop Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Please read the About Us, Issues and Take Action pages to learn more.