Browne Mountain Melting In The Rain Homeowners Blame Development For Residential Flooding

When Browne Mountain residents bought their pricey homes, flooding was the least of their worries. After all, they lived on a mountain.

But rainstorms the last two Sundays not only wrecked their weekends, but sent walls of water down their streets.

Glennaire Drive was more like Glennaire River, as shown on Joel Lassman’s homemade videotape. The audio portion sounds like a whitewater rafting adventure.

Glendora and Willamette drives were hammered, too. Sheets of water toppled a retaining wall dividing lots owned by Gregg Elizabeth Jones and Ken Oaks. Concrete blocks that weigh 80 pounds each now look like a set of Legos after a play session with an angry 4-year-old.

One resident’s newly remodeled basement is carpeted with mud.

Homeowners - who will meet tonight in a private strategy session at Moran Prairie Elementary School - blame developer Bob Tomlinson and county building officials who they say allowed runaway development.

They seek an injunction halting development until Tomlinson installs proper drainage. They also want compensation for property damages.

The top of Browne Mountain looks like a mangy dog’s back. To add dozens of new homes, the summit was bulldozed and denuded of most vegetation. There’s nothing but a few silt fences and berms to slow storm water runoff.

Lassman’s video shows a 6-inch layer of water picking up speed on Glennaire Drive and taking front yards, including part of his, with it.

“It was literally a river,” the 46-year-old special education teacher said. “It took everything in its path.”

Tomlinson concedes his crews disturbed the natural ground cover, but denies any negligence. He isn’t promising to compensate residents for damages, but said he might take financial responsibility later.

Right now, the developer blames the problem on unseasonably heavy rains and said his insurance company is investigating.

“We’ve been operating in Spokane, Washington, for over 50 years in the real estate profession and believe we have a good reputation,” Tomlinson said. “I don’t believe two major storm events that came on the last two Sundays means we’re not going to stand behind our product.”

County engineers and work crews, aided by city employees, spent Wednesday cleaning up the mess and unplugging a storm drain. Private contractors hydroseeded the hillside with grass, a process that might be too late in the year to take hold.

The county already has hired a consultant to study the watershed on the south side of Browne Mountain.

County officials approved the Southview development in 1985, before there were requirements for sediment control. Houses are going in slow. Two are under construction now; 37 are on the way.

“These storms were out of the ordinary,” said Acting County Engineer Bill Johns.

County Commissioner Steve Hasson, whose district includes Browne Mountain, said he knew there was an erosion and flooding problem as far back as 1991.

At that time, commissioners reduced the neighborhood’s density by going to semi-rural and rural zones, or a maximum of one home per five acres.

But much of the south side of Browne Mountain had been platted as early as 1906 and was untouchable, he said. He promises that the county will work with Tomlinson to correct the problem.

Compounding the issue is the area’s high water table and a number of boggy springs.

“Part of it is neglect on the part of the developer to have in place an appropriate erosion strategy,” Hasson said. “You just don’t go up there and scour the earth on a hillside above other developments in a rainy year.”

Tomlinson’s response: “Just because Steve Hasson says it doesn’t make it so.”

Jones, herself a real estate executive, said her retaining wall was built by the developer. Engineers she recently hired said the wall was not structurally sound and will cost $30,000 to rebuild to quality standards.

Jones is still trying to get her swimming pool cleaned. Muddy run-off overflowed the pool’s concrete sides, nearly drowning her dog.

Frustrated residents note that they shelled out $200,000 to nearly half a million dollars to live atop the mini-mountain.

“You build on a mountain and think you’re immune from flooding,” Lassman said. “I guess not.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: One Color Photo; One Map: Erosion damaged area