Mud Makes `Legal Quagmire' For Displaced Homeowners -- They're Suing City Over Landslides On Slippery Slopes

The three-story stucco house on Lakeview Boulevard East was more than just a place to live for Penny and Frank Fukui. It was a sanctuary of light, an elegant dream house perched on an impossible hill.

It was featured in Sunset magazine in 1991 for its sophisticated, simple design. The year before, the American Institute of Architects named it "Home of the Month" for its Italian villa motif, French doors and Romeo-and-Juliet-style balcony.

Part of the home's charm, the institute said, was the way it and two identical houses alongside made use of a "hostile setting" - rough terrain alongside noisy Interstate 5. The Fukuis never imagined just how hostile that setting might be.

More than a year ago, as slopes around Seattle became saturated by constant, heavy rains, the home began sliding and tilting toward the freeway. Elsewhere - in Queen Anne, Magnolia and West Seattle - more than 100 other houses were ordered evacuated after they were flooded or struck by landslides.

Now, as a special Seattle City Council committee prepares recommendations to be made next month on how to handle future slides that damage property, some 50 families - including the Fukuis - still can't move back home.

"It's very frustrating," said Penny Fukui. "It's been over a year in this condition."

The homeowners are in a double bind. They can't live in their homes and - as Seattle's real-estate market soars around them - they can't sell them either.

"That is one of the worst feelings of all, to know that you had all of this home equity and all of a sudden you don't have any to even refinance the mortgage," said neighbor Bruce Curnutt, whose home also was considered too damaged to live in. "We all have major investments in that property. It's very difficult to think in terms of walking away from it."

What to do? Sue

Many of those whose homes were damaged, like Curnutt and the Fukuis, are not walking away, but are suing the city.

"This is a legal quagmire," said Perkins Lane West resident Don Parker who can't move back into his Magnolia Bluff house because city officials fear a hillside behind it could come crashing down.

The Fukuis blame the city for damage to their home. They are among three-dozen homeowners who have filed lawsuits against the city, claiming its poor drainage system triggered the slides.

Part of the hangup concerns who's going to pay for the damage. The city has told homeowners that the only way to get their homes taken off what's called the red-tag list - a list of homes deemed unsafe to live in - is to hire their own experts and consultants to determine whether the homes can be made safe enough to live in again.

If engineers can give assurances to the city that the homes are structurally livable, then the homes will be taken off the red- or yellow-tag lists, said John Peterson, senior site-review engineer for the city.

Homeowners who choose to do nothing may see their homes listed as unoccupied or abandoned. They then could be demolished through an abatement process.

The day the earth gave way

At the three leaning Lakeview Boulevard homes, the kitchen windows that once let in so much light are boarded up. The front doors are padlocked, and there's a red tag nailed to garages and walls prohibiting the homeowners from entering.

That hasn't stopped vandals, who have managed to get inside the homes since the three families evacuated in January 1997. The vandals have left litter and broken bottles.

The memory of the slide is still fresh for Penny Fukui, who has told her story so many times, to so many strangers, that she's got it down by rote: On Jan. 3, 1997, the dirt gave way under her home, causing it to sink and tilt more than four feet. The Fukuis woke up to Curnutt, banging on the door.

"He was saying, `Evacuate, the homes are slipping,' " Fukui said.

That day, city officials red-tagged the homes.

A week later, the homeowners were given two hours to collect what possessions they could. They've only been inside their homes a couple of times since then to clean up after the vandals.

The Fukuis now pay $805 a month to rent an apartment in Edmonds. Their neighbors also are paying rent in other neighborhoods.

And the Fukuis plan to spend $75,000 to hire a natural-resources engineer to determine if the house can be repaired.

Their lawsuit against the city also names as defendants the homes' developer, architects and engineers.

`Gun pointed at my house'

On Perkins Lane West, Parker pointed to a jumble of broken walls, doors and windows, littered with fallen trees. Six homes at the south end of the lane are slowly being eaten away by the tides. Brick chimneys, standing alone, jut like smokestacks into the sky. Kitchens have spilled onto the beach. City officials say the homes are beyond repair.

Other homes on Perkins Lane West were yellow-tagged, which means they are stable enough to enter, but homeowners are not allowed to spend the night. Parker's house falls into that category.

His neighbor's home was ripped off its foundation by a mudslide, but Parker's house has not been damaged. City officials, however, worry that a knot of dirt on the steep slope could come slamming down onto it.

Parker still pays a $1,300 mortgage. He lives out of a suitcase, spending nights with relatives and friends.

To live in his home again, Parker must pay for a geotechnical expert to tell him if the slope is stable. He's already hired two experts and said he expects to spend at least $10,000 on soil tests. Parker said it should be the city's responsibility to make sure the dirt won't slide into his home, because it's on city property.

"If it's a loaded gun pointed at my house, why not do something now?" Parker said. "Why wait until it takes out my house?"

But city officials say homeowners who live at the base of steep hills must bear the brunt of dirt or other material that might fall naturally onto their property.

`Let the buyer beware'

In some cases, homeowners accuse the city of neglecting to safeguard them and inform them of potential slide risks.

Rand Koler, an attorney representing the Fukuis and their neighbors, said the city knew the area was a slide-prone zone but nevertheless granted the developers building permits.

A city ordinance at the time also required developers building in steep slope areas to provide 10 years of landslide insurance to buyers, but that's something that was never offered to his clients, Koler said.

Koler said the developers met with city officials before the homes were constructed and persuaded the city to waive the slide insurance.

Sean Sheehan, director of the city's legal department's tort claim section, said he doesn't know anything about the waiver.

His office is handling "scores" of claims. The city claims no responsibility for damage as a result of the slides, he said. Officials say homeowners should recognize the risks in buying or building on steep slopes.

Homebuyers also have access to city maps that chart precise locations of slide-prone areas throughout the city, Sheehan said.

"Why should we pay for (homeowners) deciding to take a risk?" Sheehan asked. "If it's steep, there's a potential for something to slide. Let the buyer beware."

However, officials recognize the city has some responsibility, but they're still trying to decide what kind and how much.

Shortly after the slides, a committee of about a dozen city officials formed to help determine what role the city should play when nature crashes down onto people's properties. Last February and March, the committee held public forums in four neighborhoods most affected by the slides - Magnolia, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and West Seattle.

The leaning homes of Lakeview

Meanwhile, the Fukuis continue to check their home. Penny Fukui says it may have slid slightly since the original slippage, although she won't know for sure until land experts complete their study.

Meantime, Lakeview Boulevard East's tilting homes have turned into a tourist attraction.

On several occasions when Penny Fukui checked on her home, she saw vans from retirement centers and school buses stopped along the street as people filed out to get a closer look at the homes.

To passers-by, the Fukui home is a sight to see. To the Fukuis, it's their life slipping away, inch by inch.

"It had high energy and serenity at the same time," Penny Fukui said. "It was just a home that we loved."

Putsata Reang's phone message number is 206-515-5629. Her e-mail address is: prea-new@seatimes.com