By JET CITY MAVEN STAFF

Two citizens groups, the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund and the Waste Action Project, have teamed up to bring a federal lawsuit against Northgate Mall's owners, Simon Property Group, over what the groups say are the impacts of the shopping center's stormwater on threatened Chinook salmon in nearby Thornton Creek.

On Oct. 4, the two groups filed a 90-day notice of intent to sue under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, accusing the mall of allowing stormwater from its 68-acre paved property to present an "imminent and substantial endangerment" to Thornton Creek and its salmon populations.

According to a press release issued by the TCLDF, Thornton Creek is Seattle's only creek with Chinook salmon, which have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Northgate Mall's "stormwater surge carries pollutants and sediments that harm salmon reproduction and food sources, and the force of the flow flushes juvenile salmon from the stream," says TCLDF member Bob Vreeland, a Meadowbrook neighborhood resident who is a retired fisheries biologist from the National Marine Fisheries Service. "This is by far the greatest problem facing this salmon population. If we cannot control it, our efforts to recover these salmon will be lost."

TCLDF and another Northgate-area citizens group, Citizens for a Liveable Northgate, are currently involved in an ongoing legal battle with Simon Property Group and the City, in an effort to daylight a portion of Thornton Creek that currently runs through an underground culvert beneath the paved parking lot just south of the mall. The South Lot parking lot is owned by Simon Property Group, which is currently seeking a buyer for the 12.5-acre site. Simon has proposed the development of a mixed-use commercial project on the South Lot site that would include a multi-screen movie theater, shops, multifamily housing, offices and a hotel. The status of the proposed project, which has yet to receive final approval from the City, remains uncertain.

The Waste Action Project is a statewide environmental group that has brought dozens of citizens suits against polluters to enforce federal environmental laws, according to the press release issued by TCLDF.

For more information about TCLDF and its efforts to daylight Thornton Creek at Northgate's South Lot, contact Bob Vreeland at 206-522-5919.