Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 6, Issue 11, November 2002

Copyright 2002 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Still covering the creeks

By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Controversy over a newly-covered section of ditch on NE 110th Street, just east of Lake City Way, has the City taking a harder look at the water that flows through it, trying to decide if it's a creek or just stormwater.

Homeowners Eugene and Marcia Kelly installed the a concrete pipe culvert, in September. Having obtained a permit from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), and renewed it prior to starting construction, they thought they'd done everything right.

But when neighbors saw the Kellys installing the pipe (now covered with gravel) some neighbors and local environmentalists raised concerns. The Kelly's weren't just lidding a ditch, they said, they were culverting Kramer Creek.

Bob Vreeland, a retired fisheries scientist who lives in Meadowbrook, and treasurer of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, said the water that flows along NE 110th is a tributary of the south fork of Thornton Creek, and has the potential to bear fish.

Although many spots along the roadway have been culverted for years, Vreeland said keeping the remaining waterway open is important because vegetation in the bed slows and cleanses the water.

"If every neighbor around here were to do this it could add to the stormwater flooding problem downstream," Vreeland said.

The Kellys had run into the ditch when backing out of their driveway, and they wanted some more parking.

According to SDOT, the waterway is only a stormwater drainage ditch not a stream. That, along with the Kellys' safety concerns, is why the agency gave the go-ahead to the culvert.

Although a steady flow of water can be seen running down the ditch, even on sunny days, Richard Richmire, a spokesman for SDOT, said that the City's General Information System Map shows that waterway as a drainage ditch filled with stormwater runoff. He added that the flow can sometimes be increased by broken water or sewer lines or underground springs.

Terry Kakida, drainage and waste water planning supervisor for Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), acknowledged that some neighborhood planning documents and historical references list the waterway as a creek, however, he added, the channel seems to have been moved over the years.

Whether or not it's officially a creek today, Kakida said, is still under discussion and he doesn't know when a decision will be made.

Vreeland notes that several SPU maps refer to the waterway along NE 110th Street, east of Lake City Way, as a stream or creek. One is an aerial photograph, taken in July 1999. Also, several maps in the Thornton Creek Watershed Characterization Report of November 2000, paid for by SPU (with a loan from the Washington State Department of Ecology) and contributed to by a number of local residents including Vreeland, show the waterway as a stream.

However Kakida said because different maps in the report characterize the stream differently, they only add to the confusion.

In fact, a forward to the report, written by SPU project managers, states that the report is not meant as a "finished view," of the watershed, but rather a "stimulus for continuing research and analysis."

Kakida didn't know whether or not the Kellys' culvert would have be removed if the waterway is determined to be a creek and said safety issues would still be considered.

If the waterway is a creek, the most important player in future decision making will likely be the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, which must give approval before a creek can be culverted.

Depending on the size and nature of a project, other state and federal agencies may also weigh-in.

Eric Pentico, an area habitat biologist for the state, said if the ditch is carrying water during periods of light rain there's a good bet it's carrying ground water run-off or has a wetland source upstream making it a creek in the state's eyes.

Kakida said the State's Department of Fish and Wildlife is the best agency for property owners to go to if they want to be sure of a waterway's designation.

Starting next year, the City's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use will take charge of permitting culverts, in order to improve customer service, Richmire said.

Meanwhile, Eugene Kelly believes people have over-reacted to his culvert and points out that a new multi-family housing development going in just upstream from him will likely be more damaging to the environment (from polluted stormwater run-off) than the pipe in front of his house is.

However Vreeland said a larger issue is at stake, namely stopping and then reversing the damage already done to Seattle creeks.

"We're not treating (urban streams) as well as we should," Vreeland said. "This is an example of the problem."

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For information on state regulations regarding Seattle creeks and streams, call the Department of Fish and Wildlife at 425-775-1311.