After what they claim has been years of inaction by Kenmore City Hall, the Harbour Village Marina Association has brought suit against the city seeking at least $1 million in damages.
Filed early this month, according to the association’s George Mobbs, the suit alleges, among other things, that the city has responsibility for the waterway known as Tributary 0056, which empties into Lake Washington at two points on or near marina property.
The association claims Kenmore has failed to take steps to control the flow of water through 0056, but perhaps even more importantly, alleges excess amounts of sediment and debris regularly flow out of 0056, clogging the marina’s share of the Lake Washington shoreline.
In addition to sediment, association members talked about 0056 carrying trash, tires and other junk onto marina property and into the lake.
“We never wanted to sue the city,” Mobbs said. But he charged the city had simply failed to respond to repeated complaints from marina owners.
Citing the pending lawsuit, Kenmore City Manager Fred Stouder declined comment on the issue. But in a letter to the association’s attorney dated October 2010, Stouder states the marina and the adjacent, separately owned Harbor Village Condominiums, are responsible for both the removal of sedimentation on their property, as well as any flooding damages supposedly caused by sediment.
According to Mobbs, the Harbor Village Condominium Association has filed its own suit against the city. The condo association did not return a phone call.
Mobbs and other members of the marina association said the marina property and its headquarters have flooded numerous times, with the last large-scale event happening in 2007.
“The water runs right through the building here,” Mobbs said, speaking about the association headquarters. Still, he and others once more stated a key problem is the amount of sediment 0056 dumps into Lake Washington.
Mobbs said the marina had its stretch of shoreline dredged to a depth of 11 feet below the lake’s high water mark in 2004. Now, the bottom of the lake easily can be seen from the marina’s walkways. In spots, the bottom is no more than a few feet from the surface. Mobbs said another dredging will cost in the neighborhood of $850,000, money the association simply doesn’t have. He added there is no point in dredging if the sediment problem is allowed to continue unabated.
In his October letter, Stouder contends that the original developer of the property knew of sediment issues at the site back in the 1970s.
“The developer failed to acknowledge this problem and then exacerbated it by removing… two culverts transporting Tributary 0056 to Lake Washington,” Stouder wrote.
Stouder alleged that actions by the marina and the condo owners actually contributed to 0056 changing course into Log Boom Park and creating problems for the city.
The largest mouth of 0056 sits in the park just outside the western border of marina property. The city recently took steps to reinforce that mouth of the tributary. City Engineer Ron Loewen said at one time the mouth was about two feet across. It is now between 20 and 30 feet wide. Loewen added the city was acting to stop erosion of further park land. He also said the city’s work would not address flooding complaints connected to 0056.
The city’s project included an attempt to improve the salmon habitat of the creek mouth.
“It was good for the fish,” Mobbs said of the city’s effort. “It didn’t do a thing for us.”
Another member of the marina’s board of directors, Roland Strolis said the marina had to add a new entrance especially in case of emergencies because the expanding mouth of 0056 has made the marina’s western entrance unusable. He added a small walking bridge used to allow public access from the adjacent Log Boom Park into the marina. But Strolis and others argued that bridge has long since been lost to the growing creek mouth.
Strolis said when some residents think of the marina, they think of rich yacht owners. He said that simply isn’t the case. Strolis added most of the boats are modest, the owners of modest means. He and others noted the boat owners must pay property taxes on their marina slips, but many of the slips have been impacted by the sediment reaching the lake; the water simply isn’t deep enough for some boats. At least one slip is completely unusable because of the pile-up of silt, but Mobbs and others said the owner must still pay taxes on that slip.
Strolis said because the marina attempts to make its property available to the general public, they were able to obtain a $95,000 state grant to help pay for a $120,000 improvement to the marina’s fire system. The marina plans an open house and demonstration of the new system for sometime in March.