MI building codes weak on landslide prevention | Letters to the Editor

Antiquated codes allow water from roof runoff to be captured and discharged near landslide prone areas and steep slopes; Remaining green areas in Town Center are valuable.

MI building codes weak on landslide prevention

I read with horror the Dec. 22 Reporter article  on “Homes red-tagged for landslide damage.” The reporter states landslides are fairly common on Mercer Island, with between six and 15 slides per year.

It’s not surprising since part of the problem has to do with MI’s building codes.

These antiquated codes allow water from roof runoff to be captured and discharged near landslide prone areas and steep slopes.  With the destruction of large trees to make room for these new mega-homes, roof runoff becomes a major problem.

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This is what’s happening in my neighborhood on S.E. 50th Street with a new 6,700-square-foot Barcelo Home being developed. This new development will cut down more than 35 large trees and dump large amounts of water within 50-75 feet of steep slopes. With the removal of so many large trees and the roof runoff of a 6,700-square-foot home, this new development could put many homes in danger of another slide.

Once water is discharged underground, there’s no requirement to know where this water flows. The water is effectively “out of sight, out of mind” – until it finds a steep slope and possibly becomes  someone else’s landslide nightmare.

One solution would require geologists to show where this water flows once it’s discharged underground. MI Code doesn’t require that.

Eric Radman

Remaining green areas in Town Center are valuable

I oppose the plan to build Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA) in Mercerdale Park. That park is part of our Green Belt, and I hate to see it eaten up – a little bit here, a little bit there. You know the old saying: “Give them an inch, and they take a mile.” It drives me wild that MICA can come in and commandeer our beautiful parkland.

We do not need a facility like MICA in our Green Belt. There are too few open places left like this. MICA would encroach more and more into the park – not just for the building itself, but also adding a roadway so people can be dropped off at MICA. I don’t like the fact that they will have lots of traffic and lots of cars needing a place to park.

We’ve lived on Mercer Island for 56 years. There was no Mercerdale Park when we moved here. It was a cow pasture (I can only remember three or four cows, but that’s still cow pasture!). We enjoyed it very much. It was always a nice place to go down to, and it still is now, as an open park. I don’t like the fact there are very few open places left in the downtown area, accessible to First Hill, where we live. Everything is getting built up downtown. We need to preserve our open parkland for the future generations who will move here and raise their families here.

Betty Johnston