Moran Gardens Residents Battling Stormwater

Cheryl Gwinn and Gisela McMullin are neighbors in the Moran Gardens development near 57th and Freya.

They are also partners in an ongoing battle to deal with excessive stormwater that’s inundating their neighborhood.

Gwinn and McMullin have spent many hours researching county records, meeting with utility officials and working with their neighbors to find solutions.

The problem is too much water and nowhere for it to go.

Several times each year, heavy rain or melting snow has sent streams of water alongside and into the newer homes in their neighborhood. Some residents experience repeated flooding of their basements, driveways and yards.

The past several months have been particularly bad because of record amounts of rain and snow in October, November and December.

“There’s no good way of getting rid of the water,” said McMullin.

One homeowner reported nearly four feet of water in his basement near 57th and Ferrall.

Many of the newer homes are worth $150,000 to $200,000, and residents fear the stormwater control problem is causing their home values to fall.

Forty residents attended one of McMullin and Gwinn’s meetings last month to discuss ways to solve the problem.

“The whole area out here has got terrible stormwater problems,” Gwinn said. “Water backs up and lifts the manhole cover at Sycamore and 57th.”

Four shallow settling ponds were dug along 57th Avenue at the front of the subdivision when it was developed, and water is channeled through back yards and along streets into those ponds.

The ponds have not been well maintained and are too small to handle the volume of stormwater flowing through the subdivision and along 57th, Gwinn and McMullin said.

County officials said there are no quick or easy solutions. But they are starting to take action.

Spokane County commissioners last October authorized the filing of a lawsuit against one of the developers for not installing sufficient stormwater facilities as required under the 1991 plat for the development. The lawsuit has not been filed yet.

The developer was unavailable for comment but has told county officials that the excess stormwater is coming from other locations that he is not responsible to handle.

Stormwater flows into low-lying fields as well as housing developments at the base of Browne Mountain. Many of the fields, ditches, parking lots and lawns have pools of standing water.

Bruce Rawls, county director of utilities, said the stormwater problem goes beyond the area of 57th and Freya. It involves much of the fast-growing area of southeast Spokane.

Soils are shallow and do not absorb water very easily. Some fields that have become new housing tracts were intermittent wetlands prior to development, he said.

The county is forming a watershed committee to seek solutions.

“I am confident that the plan will include provisions for solving the stormwater problem,” Rawls said.

McMullin has applied for a citizen appointment to the watershed committee.

Rawls said a long-term solution may involve installation of storm sewers into the area, but that would be costly to homeowners.

He said few state and federal grants are available for stormwater systems, so much of the financial burden would fall on residents.

McMullin said the stormwater must be eliminated to make the neighborhood livable.

, DataTimes