Hill erodes in Lake Connor Park, forcing residents of 8 lots to vacate

LAKE STEVENS — Erosion on a hillside above the Pilchuck River has forced Lake Connor Park to ask members to vacate eight lots in the privately owned campground east of Lake Stevens.

The 322-acre park has just under 1,500 members, who pay quarterly dues. There are 1,487 campsites in the park.

The park sent out notices to the affected sites within the past several weeks, Park Manager Lynn Andrews said. The move was prompted by a survey of the land around the end of December.

Affected members need to leave by early March, Andrews said. The hillside is on the southeast side of the park.

Staff plan to move the members’ trailers to a temporary location for them unless they choose to move it themselves, she said. As for getting them another lot, it’ll be up to the park’s Board of Directors to figure out what’s next.

Staff also recently closed a section of road in the park “due to safety concerns relating to the ridge area,” according to a park social media post.

The hillside in question usually loses about 18 inches per year to erosion, but lost slightly more this year, said Peter Mongillo, a spokesperson for Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue.

The fire department responded to a call at the park over a week ago, Mongillo said.

Andrews said the call inaccurately reporting a landslide came from a resident not in the erosion zone. The member wanted the park to provide her with a new site, Andrews said.

At membership meetings, the topic of erosion and the possibility people will have to vacate sites have been discussed over the past few months, she said.

At a board meeting Feb. 8, someone took issue with the fact park leaders didn’t have lots ready to put trailers on after having known about the issue for “six months.”

Up to 60,000 people in Snohomish County live in areas at risk of landslides, according to estimates from the county Department of Emergency Management.

“In a wet, hilly place like Snohomish County, this is the time of year when slides are most likely,” department spokesperson Scott North wrote in an email. “In general, if you see cracks forming in the ground, changes in vegetation from ground movement, sudden changes in creek levels or hear the sound of cracking wood, get clear of slide prone areas and report what you’ve observed to authorities.”

Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.