Don’t call me if construction uphill is making your backyard soggy. The same thing happens at my house, and there isn’t any recourse.
Just try to divert excess water off your property and do a sun dance.
Water runs downhill. If there is less landscaping, forest or field to soak up the liquid because of development uphill, it will trickle its way down, down, down.
In the case of Barbara and Walt Tomashoff of Bothell, the situation reportedly is man-made.
A builder placed a retention pond right behind their back fence. How did we used to live without the mosquito bogs called retention ponds? When my husband and I recently searched for a new home, we laughed because every new development had one "supersaver" home that was smack dab next to a drainage pool.
Could it smell? Could someone drown in it? Could it leak?
In the case of the Tomashoffs, the retention pond did leak, allegedly right into their home. A place they had lived in for 11 years suddenly got soggy. Three years ago, a new home development sprang up behind their house and the retention pond was installed inches from their back fence.
"Water has been seeping through our property," Barbara Tomashoff says. "There is water in our crawlspace, our backyard is settling and our driveway is cracked."
I saw the damage. I noted Barbara Tomashoff’s tension as her beautiful home suffers the ravages of wanton water. For almost two years, the couple has struggled to get the pond fixed, their home repaired or to at least get some consideration from attorneys, Snohomish County, the developer or insurance companies.
So far, no one has fixed the boggy backyard, stabilized their rock retaining wall or repaired the marshlike crawlspace under their home. Their driveway is sliding downhill. The kitchen floor is buckling.
In one way, I could understand their frustration about reaching officials who might offer solutions. It took me two months to reach the right person at Snohomish County with answers to my questions.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Michael Held told me what he could about the Tomashoffs’ claim. Held said the county has presented the couple with a settlement proposal.
Barbara Tomashoff, 69, a retired schoolteacher, said the settlement amount was too low. Her husband said the developer built the pond without the correct liner. But he said the county doesn’t know if that is what’s causing the leakage.
"The county approved this pond," Barbara Tomashoff said. "The county has some liability."
Through their long process of trying to get answers and help, they hired an engineer and were told the retention pond should have been 3 feet deeper and built with a better liner.
"Everything was fine at our home until that darn pond," Barbara Tomashoff said. "We’ve spent $7,000 on this so far."
She has dated lists with contacts over the past two years, plus correspondence that could fill an empty bread sack. The Tomashoffs estimated they have more than $50,000 in damage, and meanwhile, the county has raised their property tax valuation.
Her husband is worried about his wife’s health. "This has caused such stress," Walt Tomashoff said. "She has trouble sleeping."
The couple thought they had found their dream retirement home when they moved to the outskirts of Mill Creek.
"It was rural," Barbara Tomashoff said. "It was beautiful. I understand progress, but at what cost? Let’s be thoughtful of other people and their property."
If you have a similar problem, good luck, and wear your boots.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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