By CLAYTON PARK

Nathan Hale High School's cafeteria served as the site for a Seattle Public Utilities-sponsored workshop on "Creekside Living."

On hand to meet with the public and answer questions were representatives from several City departments, including SPU, the City's Adopt-a-Park program, and the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU), several community groups, including the Thornton Creek Alliance, Thornton Creek Project and Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, the Dispute Resolution Center and Native Plant Society, as well as several private businesses with an interest in preserving the environment.

Dotty DeCoster of SPU was the organizer of this year's workshop, which she explained is held once a year "to provide as many resources in one room to answer problems people who live near creeks might have."

Jonna and Eric Butz came to the workshop to seek advice on what to do about their property, which has been experiencing erosion problems caused by a tributary of Thornton Creek that runs through the backyard of the Maple Leaf home they purchased a couple of years ago.

"There's a steep drop-off that's threatening to fall into the creek," said Eric Butz, who said "it's not a threat to the house, but it's something we'd like to take care of."

The couple's first stop at the workshop was to meet with Paul Fendt of Parametrix Inc., an environmental engineering firm based in Kirkland. As he listened to their problem, he sketched a diagram on a large sheet of butcher paper to illustrate how erosion works and to suggest some possible solutions.

After concluding his meeting with the Butzes, Fendt said that the couple's problem was typical of homeowners whose properties abut urban creeks. "It's the natural function of creeks to flood and erode," he explained. "Rivers do what they do ... The only time that it's a problem is when erosion occurs on someone's property."

In the case of the Butzes, Fendt said the problem is unfortunately quite severe, and could be quite costly to fix because the solution would require making changes to the creek beyond the couple's property.

One possible alternative solution is to regrade the stream bank along their property "to where the slope would normally go (in other words, by flattening it) ... and to plant native plants on it. Plants are pretty good at stabilizing the soil," Fendt said.

Fendt also advised the Butzes that they need to check with DCLU before making any changes to their property to see if they need a permit.

Eric Butz proceeded to wait for his turn to speak with a representative of DCLU. He commented that "It was really good to talk to an engineer," referring to Fendt. Butz added: "It is really nice that they have an event like this where people from DCLU and SPU are immediately accessible."

When Butz met with the DCLU official, he was told that yes, they would need to apply for a grading permit before making any changes to the creek bank along their property. The bad news was that the filing fee would be $1,200.

Butz said afterwards: "We're not happy with what they said, but we're happy that we were able to talk to them."

He said he and his wife haven't decided yet if they will proceed with applying for the permit.

"One of our questions (to the City) was if the bank falls into the creek, who would be responsible for it? SPU says we'd be responsible for fixing it. SPU owns the water. But would we be required to fix it? That's something we still don't know."

While the workshop was taking place at Nathan Hale, Pam Miller of SPU spent the day leading guided tours of nearby Meadowbrook Pond, a nine-acre SPU project that was completed in 1998 to address the Meadowbrook area's chronic problems with flooding.

For more information about Meadowbrook Pond, contact Pam Miller at 684-5179. (