Residents wait uneasily, as city nears decision between flood-prevention alternatives
The problem of flooding in the 706-acre basin that is Madison Valley has been 100-plus years in the making, starting at the turn of the last century, when a natural drainage outlet was blocked by landfill under East Madison Street and Washington Park. The neighborhood itself was built up over a stream bed.
Flash forward to last year, when the Valley experienced its second "100-year storm" in as many years, causing millions of dollars in damage and killing resident Kate Fleming when the basement of her home at 538 30th Ave. E. flooded.
Looking at the reams of data collected in the wake of the Dec. 14, 2006, flash flood - the city inked a $216,000 contract with the private engineering firm CH2M HILL to study the causes of the flooding - Seattle Public Utility (SPU) spokesperson Andy Ryan said it looked as though someone had "painted a big, red bull's eye over Madison Valley."
In lieu of recent events, Madison Valley residents understandably are nervous about the possibility of getting hit by another "perfect storm" and suspicious about a city government that, in some minds, dragged its feet in preparing for last year's deluge.
TWO OPTIONS
Charles McDade, long-standing vice-president of the Greater Madison Valley Community Council and a Madison Valley resident who has lived in his current home since 1964, said that he is upset by what's going on in his neighborhood. According to McDade, an interim or temporary pond constructed in 2004 to hold floodwater has become a permanent fixture.
"This is why I'm upset: The temporary pond is permanent," McDade explained. "The other part now is knocking our houses down. I don't like the dishonesty."
As of press time Monday, Nov. 5, SPU project manager Fitsum Aberra had not responded to repeated requests for an interview; neither did community-council president Wallis Bolz respond to repeated phone calls.
City officials on Friday, Nov. 2, visited McDade at his home, discussing the possibility of purchasing the property to condemn the flood-damaged house and, as McDade said, knock it down: "I do not understand the reasoning."
At an Oct. 4 meeting held by SPU, Madison Valley residents were presented with two, longer-term options for preventing flooding in the area. The first, called the 200 Block Above Ground Storage Option, proposes to buy and demolish some 17 homes in the 200 block between 30th and 31st avenues east to create an open area where storm water could be stored before flowing eventually to the West Point Treatment Plant in Magnolia.
The second choice, the NW Diversion Option, proposes to lay pipes at 27th Avenue East and East Madison Street to divert flood waters to Washington Park. The former would cost anywhere between $16.4 million to $18.9 million; the latter, $18 million to $28 million.
The above-ground option proved controversial enough that SPU extended the comment period through Friday, Nov. 9, though the city has already purchased a pair of homes and continues to talk with residents whose properties would be up for sale to the city.
According to Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin, it is not only the issue of cost that makes the diversion option a tough sell. "The Lake Washington pipe is not just a cost problem, but an environmental problem," he said. "It is difficult and possibly impossible to get environmental permits for a new discharge like this."
DISCRIMINATION-BASED NEGLIGENCE?
Conlin said he feels the city has done a credible job addressing the issue of flooding and flood preparedness in Madison Valley, though he adds that it hasn't been easy.
"It has been a difficult situation to address," he noted. "In general, I think the city has worked in good faith to find a way out of this dilemma, spending a lot of time talking to the community and proposing a wide range of alternative solutions. I think we will have a long-range solution agreed to before the end of the year."
Nonetheless, residents like McDade feel uneasy about the current state of affairs. Not being an engineer, he said he feels incapable of properly judging between the two options.
"If that's going to fix it, that's fine with me," he said about the idea of putting in a pipe to Lake Washington.
"My point is that since 1973 they have dumped on us," McDade continued. "They took this neighborhood, its poor people and minorities, and they have been negligent.... I'm looking at that same attitude right now when they talk about knocking our houses down."
Besides the issue of scale, McDade added, the situation in the Valley isn't that different from the flooding that occurred in New Orleans, with many charging the national government with negligence fueled by class and racial discrimination.
Conlin acknowledged that dealing with the kind of collective trauma that has arisen in the wake of last December's flooding has proven a challenge.
"Well, I would say this has been the most difficult aspect of the problem," the councilmember said. "I have tried to give attention and assistance where I can, but it is not an easy situation to address."
For now, McDade said he's in a holding pattern, waiting to see what the fate will be of his home. "I can wait it out, and I'm not afraid," McDade said.
"I'm getting a chance to drink my own medicine," he added, noting that during the years he's been "told by people not to be too attached to things."
So when can residents expect to have their neighborhood protected, as well as it can be, against the next huge storm? Conlin doesn't shy from a prediction: "Within two years, I would think."
