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Watercomplaintresponse.2.8.16.pdfZulauf, JoAnne From: Zulauf, JoAnne Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 10:28 AM To: 'James Forrer'; JAMES; Peggy Ford Cc: Engineering Inspector Group Subject: RE: Drainage Issue Edgewood Condominium 1070 and 1071 5th Ave S Attachments: E72 -C Compost Amended Soils--06.06.11-FINAL.pdf Hi James, I and another Engineering Inspector were able to visit the site on Friday during a full rain. The problem is a very basic one. The runoff that is ending up in your elevator area is coming down the bare slope from the eastern direction. It is rain water finding the path of least resistance. Since the slope is bare, there is nowhere the water can be absorbed or slowed down. Compost amending the soils, adding vegetation should significantly decrease the amount of runoff that makes it all the way down that slope. If terracing was also incorporated, it is possible that the runoff would be almost completely absorbed and would not make it down the slope at all. Again, I want to emphasize compost amendment of the soils. I have attached a city handout derived from the Department of Ecology showing how to effectively compost amend soils. Skip the first page and look at Table 1: Option 1 for Planting Bed Areas. The last page gives some further information about mulch mixes etc. We spoke to Varney Blake while on the site. She is the resident of Unit #104 in the Edgewood Condominium and could probably be contacted directly or by mail if necessary. Her condo is at the corner where the new fence is located. She has a very positive attitude regarding working on the area between the two condominiums. I would encourage you to contact her and a landscape company to discuss options. There is a separate issue of water coming from the neighboring new fence area but it is flowing directly west so does not appear to be contributing to your problem. Varney is following up on that issue with their facilities manager. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Thank you! JoAnne Zulauf Senior Engineering Technician Engineering Division I City of Edmonds 1215th Ave N Edmonds, Wa 98020 425.771.0220 x 1324 1 FAX 425.672.5750 Joanne.Zulauf@edmonmdswagov -----Original Message ----- From: James Forrer [manta vkapurrClR mi@g Tt iI c r ] Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 9:39 AM To: Zulauf, JoAnne; JAMES; Peggy Ford Subject: Drainage Issue Edgewood Condominium Hello, this is James Forrer, President of the Maplevine Condominium Association. I was in your office last week to discuss a drainage issue at the Edgewood Condominium just south of us. We were wondering if you ever had a chance to get out and check out the area? Our concern is that we do not want to do any repairs to our building until this is resolved since we do not want to spend the money and have the same thing happen again. Both the Maplevine and Allstate Insurance who represent both properties, had incorrect contacts for the Edgewood.The latest information that I have is that the President of their Condo is named Karen Rautenberg, her phone number is 206- 799-2721 and her email is'karen.raut@gmail.com'. The Edgewood Association email is'edgewoodhoa@gmail.com'. I have only been able to speak with her once but will try again today. Evidently, she doesn't live at the Edgewood and is a librarian. This is very frustrating in that our elevator is not working, we had one of our 90 year old residents who lives on our 3rd floor have heart issues Saturday. The paramedics had to carry her out of the building because our elevator doesn't work. ThyssenKrupp will not start work until this is resolved because they want their workers to be safe and because they don't want us to have to go through this again. This is all complicated by the fact that the grassy area beneath the fence and rocks where the water comes from may need to be part of the solution. This area is owned by the Calais Condominium and not by ourselves or Edgewood. Do you have any idea where we can turn to get some help on this issue? I am James Forrer, President Maplevine Condominium Association hm (425) 921-6989 cell 559-904-6517 email'mewpurr007@gmaii.com'. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter! Zulauf, JoAnne OMMUNNO From: Zulauf, JoAnne <JoAnne.Zulauf@edmondswa.gov> Sent: Monday, February 08, 2016 5:42 PM To: 'James Forrer'; Peggy Ford; JAMES; Jack Austin Cc: Lambert, Jennifer Subject: RE: Maplevine Water Incursion Issue, Edmonds, Wa, Hi James, Thank you for providing the pictures and the video of the water from the adjoining property. I was out in a heavy downpour when I inspected the area and saw a similar flow. I'm not sure if you noticed in my earlier email but I did say that we are dealing with the issue from the back of the Edgewood as a separate matter. The City has in no way stated that the amount of discharge from the Edgewood is acceptable, I also mentioned to you that Varney Blake, the resident in the corner of the Edgewood where the discharge is located, is more than willing to discuss how to deal with the drainage issues between the buildings. There aren't any ill feelings at this point so you would probably be most successful approaching this as a mutual problem to be worked on together. Also, as I told you when you first visited our office, this is a matter between two private properties and the City probably cannot be of much help. I agreed to come out to look just in case there was something related to the fence construction permit that I could identify as the problem. As I noted in my earlier email, though the water leaving the corner of the site was considerable, I could not see any surface flow from that area directed to your property. The only authority I have is when the runoff is affecting public property. In the case of the water running from the corner of the Edgewood, the City has authority since it is flowing over the adjacent parking lot and on to the public road and into the public storm system and is working with the Edgewood to address the problem. The City does not have any authority over runoff between properties. I gave you what limited information I could from my observations but I would strongly suggest that you hire a professional to determine exactly where the runoff to your elevator is originating as it is not obvious at all. Then you can focus your energy on solving the root of the problem. A geotechnical engineer is the professional that would be appropriate. Some landscaping companies are experienced with this as well but since it is a safety matter, I would imagine you would probably want an engineer. The City will continue to work with the Edgewood to resolve the runoff issue from the fence area. Again, all other runoff issues are between the private properties of the Edgewood, the Calais and the Maplevine. They are civil issues and cannot be addressed by the City. I hope that you are able to determine the source of the problem soon and get this resolved as I know it must be stressful for you and the other residences. I am sorry that I cannot be any more helpful. Thankyou JoAnne -----Original Message ----- From: James Forrer [m flit mew'pq 0077@grgail�co ] Sent: Monday, February 08, 2016 2:39 PM To: Zulauf, JoAnne; Peggy Ford; JAMES; Jack Austin Subject: Maplevine Water Incursion Issue, Edmonds, Wa. Hello Joanne! This is James Forrer, President of the Maplevine Condominium Association in Edmonds, WA. We hope you had a great weekend and that you are enjoying this spectacular day. I was down at your office today and dropped off a USB disk of a video for your review that was taken 1/21/16 of the water situation beneath the fence of the Edgewood Condominium. The video required too much memory to be sent via email which is why I brought it to your office. Attached, you will find two photographs that I took last week looking through the fence at the Northwest corner of the fenced area of the Edgewood condominium. I took these pictures with permission from property owned by the Calais Condominium who also owns the grassy area beneath the fence. I did not go on Edgewood's property! The area photographed is immediately above the rocky area that the water comes out of when it is raining. We at the Maplevine are at a loss to see how this situation is permissible or for what functional reason it exists in the first place! As of 2pm today, the hole or pit still exists. Having seen the water situation in person on 1/21/16, our elevator contractor will not work on our elevator until this is addressed. Additionally, we do not want to spend the money to fix our elevator if the same problem will occur again. Even if it is still your contention that the Maplevine's water problem was not caused by the Edgewood, where do they get the right to outlet their runoff onto property owned by Calais? Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. James Forrer, President Maplevine Condominium Association, Edmonds, WA.