28 neighbors from Atlas Place s.w. and Beach Drive s.w. combined forces to file a formal complaint against the City of Seattle and upslope resident Peter Saladino. The suit is based on years of landslides resulting from drainage problems, sloughing slopes and Saladino building a home in 2008.

Saladino build a retaining wall in a non-compliance area and residents partially blame recent problems on the construction and the City’s inability to force him to comply with correcting it.

The lawsuit is attached as a PDF file in its entirety above.

The 5000-6000 blocks of Beach Drive are the epicenter of concern for residents filing the complaint. The root cause of the instability, according to the complaint, goes back to 1933 when the City widened Beach Drive, undercutting the slope between Atlas and Beach below. Slides have been commonplace during heavy rains since then and residents living on and below the slope have seemingly reached a breaking point in waiting for a solution.

The complaint states “each of the plaintiffs’ residential properties has been adversely affected by the ongoing instability of the slope between” Atlas and Beach, primarily a result of inadequate drainage facilities on Atlas that leaves rainfall no choice but to overflow drains and breach curbs, running down the hill and “further destabilizing the slope” on it’s way to the Sound.

Residents are suing the City on a number of points including failure to “enforce its codes and regulations and require Defendant Saladino to … comply with applicable building codes … thereby allowing hazardous and unstable condition of property to develop, worsen and continue unabated.”

They also place blame on the City for knowing (and not fixing the issue) storm water runoff overwhelms the drainage system on Atlas Place, causing damage to homes on the slope and the street, curbs and sidewalks below.

The formal complaint was filed on May 19 and plaintiffs are asking for damages to be determined in trial and recovery of attorney and expert witness fees amongst other requests.

In January the Seattle City Council and Beach Drive residents discussed the landslides. Councilmember and Transportation Committee Chair Tom Rasmussen addressed the City’s lack of communication with residents at that time.

“When a neighborhood is not kept informed and they see things deteriorating, which they are, they really begin to wonder what the City is doing,” he said.

Mike Winter, a resident living below the landslide-prone hill who is listed as a plaintiff in the suit, spoke up during the January meeting.

“Three plus years is more than enough … we need to fix it now before the whole hillside comes down and no one can afford the cost, either in dollars or human life,” Winter said.

Coverage of the January meeting can be found here.