Up In Arms In Innis Arden

Storm Creek seems intent on living up to its name. When it storms, the creek, normally small, grows both in size and erosive power. In the past few years residents, notably Judy Allen, have come to the city complaining that the creek is endangering two homes and that it’s up to the city to fix it. Ronald Wastewater District had to deal with some of this back in 2001 when they had to rebuild a sewer line exposed in the creek by erosion.  At the same time there is controversy over Innis Arden’s plan to remove 46 trees from the “Bear Reserve” to restore views.

Innis Arden's newsletter reported in April 2009: "Rick Leary: Judy Allen and I have had a successful meeting with Mark Relph, Shoreline Directory [sic]of Public Works, Jesus Sanchez, Public Works Operations Manager, and Russ Gaston, consultant and geotechnical engineer from OTAK consulting to review the serious erosion issue along Storm Creek in Lower Eagle Reserve between the Akers and Harrington property. We hope to work on resolving the serious erosion issues in this part of the reserve by working with the Department of Public Works since the storm water runoff is a huge contributor to this problem. We have also shown Mark Relph and Jesus Sanchez similar erosion problems in Blue Heron Reserve, particularly the segment from the concrete bridge down to Burlington Northern Railroad. We are in the process of applying for a Mini-Grant for the City of Shoreline to build weirs in Blue Heron Creek and Storm Creek to de-energize the water as it surges through the creeks during the winter rain season.
Preliminary information from the City suggests that we will be successful in receiving this grant."

In June 2009 they added "Judy Allen on behalf of Rick Leary: The JARPA (Joint Aquatic Resource Permit Application) has been revised to include more information about each of the 8 sites that we propose to modify in Storm Creek to slow down the water during the high flow period in the winter time. We submitted the revised application on June 5 to Ginger Holser, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. At the end of
May we submitted the SEPA application (State Environmental Policy Act) to Paul Cohen. We are waiting to answer any questions by Mr. Cohen so that we can complete this part of the JARPA process. We continue to work with Mark Relph, Director of Public Works, and Jesus Sanchez, Operations Manager, for the City of Shoreline to keep the city informed and working with us to help solve the Storm Creek erosion problem. I have also met with the new Surface Water Manager for the City of Shoreline, Brian Landau, I gave him a tour of Eagle Reserve and explained the problems that we are having with Storm Creek. I also showed him the various erosion issues that we are also experiencing in Blue Heron Reserve and Boeing Creek Reserve."

We know the city is paying attention because as of Sept. 28, 2011 Shoreline's Boeing and Storm Creek Basin Plans Project  states, "The City's Surface Water Utility is conducting a study of the Boeing and Storm Creek drainage basins to identify drainage, water quality, and stream habitat issues and potential management strategies to address the identified issues. In addition, the City will be assessing the condition of the subsurface stormwater conveyance system (storm pipe network) in each basin."

Michael L. Jacobs, Innis Arden Club President, generously allowed me to interview him for almost an hour. The Club’s claim all along has been that the creek is all just storm runoff from outside Innis Arden and that
therefore it’s city's problem and the city budget which should deal with it. He backs it up, citing a study which concludes “90 percent of it (Storm Creek water flow) comes from upstream”. Now (November 21, 2011 City Council Meeting) Ms Allen is vehemently declaiming that “if a disaster happens the blood is on your hands!”

She also said Innis Arden residents are 2 percent of the city’s population but pay 8% of the taxes and let it hang ‘significantly’. I can’t verify the claim, but even if true it’s irrelevant. This is a city, not a private club, and belongs equally to all its citizens.

Janet Way, in “Of Paramount Importance”  has written about these
issues extensively, as has Larry Lange at the PI.

Jacobs told me, “We manage the reserves for view and safety.”

Asked if they ‘manage’ the reserves for habitat or ecology he said that while they’ll remove 46 trees (out of a total of about 8500 on 52 acres of reserve) they would be replanting perhaps three times more from a list of shorter native trees, and that recently they removed all the invasives they’d found, including Japanese Knotweed and Tansy Ragwort. It seems to me there’s a difference in definition, since trees have functions well above and beyond mere view blockers and hazardous landscape ornaments. To truly be “good stewards of these reserves”
they would necessarily leave all the trees alone!

This is a problem that's been building since before 1940, when Bill Boeing started platting Innis Arden on a piece of logged-over stump land. Of course, almost the whole region was or had been stump land, and Bill was originally a lumberman anyway, but he was selling steep, bare-nekkid land. Is it any wonder erosion is a problem?! Yes, they established their 'reserves' (private parks) and let some trees grow back, but in a landscape of sand, gravel, clay and 'till' unprotected by vegetation, . So what happens then? It goes downhill, fast.

The place has grown in to a large extent over the years, but never how it could be. Why? Because of the simple and all-too-common conceit
that a private view is worth more than the long-term stability of the land.
Their covenants state they must protect views and Mr. Jacobs pointed specifically to Covenant #11. I saw a great bumper sticker recently: "The trees ARE the view!" Many residents don’t seem to understand a view is of minimal importance, and it seems the Club will get its way. On November 4 they won their appeal, as they had back in the eighties.

So, given all that, does the Innis Arden Club have a real claim? Reluctant as I am to admit it, guardedly yes. They may be mismanaging their parklands, but their situation is exacerbated by outside runoff and is far from unique.
Remember ? Same deal. Their downstream problems are the unintended consequences of ill-considered development, upstream clearing and impervious surfaces which force heavy runoff which then can damage downstream properties. We must , starting around our most vulnerable stream systems, and enhance bioswales and other forms to let water in instead of forcing it to run off.

I don’t claim the founders of Innis Arden were malicious or stupid. They were doing what they thought best at the time, but the state of the art progresses, and for current residents to say they are just fulfilling their covenants is lazy and disingenuous. Those covenants can and should change to fit our expanding knowledge and best practices. They have before. After all, the  14^th or 15^th covenant (depending on version) is listed on the Club website as “Invalidated”, but was originally entitled “Racial Restrictions”, and required no IA property should ever be sold, rented, leased or deeded to a nonwhite person. The covenants are still blatantly classist, requiring an owner to build a home of at least some minimum above-median cost and area, to maintain the landscaping to an expensive degree, and to submit all building designs to the board to see if they’re ‘good enough’, but at least they aren’t legally racist anymore.

My priority is simple: Rebuild our hydrologic system. Daylight all original wetlands and waterways within our city. Replace 'drainage ditch' channels with repaired natural channels. Replace culverts with bridges where
possible or at least replace small culverts with 1000-year-flood culverts. Replace impervious surfaces with pervious. Permit no building within at least 100' of the 1000-year-flood water level and remove what is already there. Densify residential and commercial uses to best serve the citizens while leaving more space for our natural, un’managed’ native plants and animals to thrive.

The Club is correct in pointing out the city’s long-term duty to reduce runoff and therefore save IA properties, but IA has an equal duty to change because unless it reduces its own impervious surfaces and practices erosion will over time take out not only IA properties, but those above them. The least expensive and most moral alternative is to let nature help.

According to Mr. Jacobs the Innis Arden Board is meeting with Julie Underwood, Shoreline City Manager, this Thursday to see if they can convince the city to recognize IA’s covenants as valid. They are Shoreline citizens, aren’t they? Hmm. One person commented to me that ‘those Innis Arden people think their covenants outweigh city and state law!’ I am encouraged that despite all this some Innis Arden residents are ripping out the old concrete and replacing their driveways with pervious paving. It’s a start, and implies the possibility that people both inside and outside Innis Arden can fulfill not only their rights but their responsibilities and do good things, leaving our shared environment better for it.

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