Tree clearing, mud slide angers Everett neighbor

Published 12:01 am Monday, November 9, 2009

EVERETT — Chris Chase was driving down Mukilteo Boulevard in June when he saw something that stopped him cold.

Someone had cut down dozens of trees on land his family has owned for three-quarters of a century. No one gave them permission.

The sight, Chase said, broke his heart.

Just above the scalped hillside: a million dollar house that now had an unobstructed view of Port Gardner.

A few weeks later, the same neighbor’s irrigation pipe ruptured and spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of water on the hillside. A gargantuan chunk of earth came loose and rumbled down the gully above nearby Merrill & Ring Creek.

It’s not clear if a leak in that pipe, the removal of the trees or a combination of both events caused the landslide.

What is clear is Chase is angry, and not just with his neighbors.

Chase is the owner of Cottage Werks, of Everett, which specializes in building homes the company says are “environmentally friendly, low-impact.”

The Chase property is two parcels that equal 8 acres. It’s one of the few large tracts of undeveloped land along this stretch of Mukilteo Boulevard.

Chase’s grandfather, a family doctor, bought the land when few lived this far away from downtown. As a child, Chase and his brother spent countless hours playing among the maples. Now, a jute mat holds a barren patch of hillside like a gigantic Band-Aid. A jumbled mess of rusty brown tree limbs, mud and debris sits below.

The neighbors, Fredric and Holly Anderson, declined to comment.

In a prepared statement, their attorney, John Dippold, of Seattle, said the couple feels horrible about what happened.

The Andersons cut Chase’s trees accidentally while removing trees on their own property, Dippold said. The water leak was an unfortunate accident that could have happened to anyone, he said.

The city determined that the Andersons actually cut 38 trees on Chase’s property. The Andersons have never said who did the actual cutting.

“The Andersons have worked to try to remedy this problem and have committed more than $100,000 to try and find a solution,” Dippold wrote.

In a July 24 letter to the city, another attorney representing the Andersons said the trees were cut partly after pressure from Andersons’ neighbors.

“The Andersons live in a community with restrictive view covenants that require maintaining trees and landscaping in such a way that the views of their neighbors are unobstructed,” attorney Brice Howard wrote. “When the Andersons purchased their property, they were told by the previous owner and neighbors that the previous owner had cut trees on their property a number of times in the past.”

David Hall, an attorney for Everett, said the city is doing everything it can legally, and that includes considering filing criminal charges against the Andersons.

Everett police continue an investigation, and that case has been referred to the prosecutor’s office.

City staff have spent dozens of hours dealing with the situation, including fast-tracking a process that would shore up the hillside before the rainy season causes more damage, and encouraging Chase and the Andersons to sort out a solution.

“What we’ve done is far beyond what we normally do,” Hall said.

The city asked the Andersons to hire specialists to prepare a restoration plan and a geotechnical assessment. The city also fined the couple $38,000, then deferred it, keeping it on the books as a “place holder,” Hall said. Even without the fine, the couple will have to spend “a fair amount of money” to restore the Chase property, he said.

The Andersons have so far complied with those requirements, but Chase still isn’t satisfied.

He doesn’t believe the restoration plan goes far enough. The trees they want to plant on the hillside, for instance, include varieties that aren’t native to the gully and won’t grow as tall as the 60-foot Western red cedars and maples that were lost.

The city still needs to figure out what to do about a drain pipe that is running across his property, also without permission, he said.

And the retaining wall that’s part of the restoration plan doesn’t do much more than keep the Andersons’ pool from sliding down the hill, he said.

Chase is sore, too, because Everett brought in an outside attorney to start building a case to protect against any lawsuits he might lodge against the city.

“We understand why they are upset,” said Hall, the city attorney. “The property has value to them. That is very emotional. We have done everything we can and people still aren’t going to be satisfied.”

Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.