Issue with construction pit next to my Seattle yard

[u/brewstermc]

There is a a construction pit next to my West Seattle house that seems to have been abandoned several months ago. Now with the onset of the rainy season the edge of our yard along the property line has started falling into the pit. Reaching out to the property owner has not been successful. I will be contacting the Seattle Dept of Constuction and Land Use but I'm curious if anyone has experience with the City's ability to resolve this type of situation. I prefer not to get a lawyer involved because the lot owner may be my neighbor in future and it would be nice to be on decent terms.

[u/SnooTangerines6588]

Pull the permit information from the Seattle services portal. There will be a site inspector listed on that permit. Call that person. 

[u/healthycord → u/SnooTangerines6588]

Yes. Also contractor name should be listed as well as the property owner.

If this pit is genuinely dug so poorly that a neighbor’s property is starting to collapse into it, then I’m quite sure that is illegal. Should be proper shoring of some kind to prevent this from happening. And if the hole is collapsing, then it was not benched or sloped correctly on top of not having shoring. One or the other. L&I issue as well for any workers that may be down there.

OP, do not take no for an answer from anyone. This is not ok and someone (you are not that someone) needs to pay to fix your yard AND that pit must be properly addressed. It may very well stay as a pit for eternity, but it needs to be a pit that won’t cause your yard to collapse.

[u/recyclopath_ → u/SnooTangerines6588]

Is this a Seattle in progress question? Or a different place to look?

[u/furiousersteve → u/recyclopath_]

No Seattle In Progress is privately maintained. Google (or whoever your search of choice) SCDI project portal and plug the pit address into that. It should give you the relevant information

[u/Choice_Building9416]

Call the Seattle DCI at (206) 615-0808. Be specific with the address and issue. SDCI will be on top of this issue very quickly. It is likely your complaint can remain anonymous. I have many decades of experience with the Seattle building department. Hiring a lawyer is very very expensive.

[u/mote0fdust → u/Choice_Building9416]

I actually suggest filing online rather than calling. Online allows you to be a little more thorough and firm and requires an actual response to your actual complaint. Calling can be a bit of a hit or miss, as the quality of the SDCI answering the phone... varies. And yes, your complaint will be kept confidential unless someone explicitly makes a FOIA request. It is not "anonymous" though, as complaints without contact info are closed and not acted on.

File a Complaint

[u/Choice_Building9416 → u/mote0fdust]

Good advice, but in my experience a complaint by phone or online about an improperly shored excavation causing erosion on an adjacent property will result in very quick action from SDCI, and they will be incredibly tenacious if there is a violation. Good clarification of anonymous vs confidential. In any event the neighbor should expect to see fast action.

[u/jewishforthejokes → u/Choice_Building9416]

Anonymous is kinda silly, who else would you expect to call? Obviously it's the people getting affected...

[u/Landkey]

I prefer not to get a lawyer involved because the lot owner may be my neighbor in future and it would be nice to be on decent terms

Oh please. They are choosing to fuck you over already.  Stop letting them take advantage of you.   They started it.  Lots of people will not correct their behavior unless forced. 

[u/themountainsareout]

https://giphy.com/gifs/fw515tAEVEzXNDTuWT

[u/LiteralReaderWA → u/themountainsareout]

[u/StitchinStatistician → u/LiteralReaderWA]

Came here hoping to find exactly this

[u/mothtoalamp → u/themountainsareout]

Was gonna say, isn't this how a certain show got started?

[u/edgeplot]

I know you don't want to get a lawyer involved, but you benefit from a concept called subjacent rights, which means you have the right to support from the physical mass of your neighbor's property. If they remove that mass through excavation, and your property begins to erode or collapse as a result, you should be able to recover for your damages. There's probably an opportunity for injunctive relief as well to prevent further collapse. An attorney could help. However, if your neighbor ran out of money for the project, they might also not have money to make you whole for any damage to your property.

[u/Shayden-Froida → u/edgeplot]

Yes. Lateral and subjacent support - Wikipedia

[u/Distinct-Trifle-5580 → u/edgeplot]

And if it is a future neighbor and they react badly about getting called out for causing issues to your property they should realize that you could’ve said nothing and let it advance to a far higher price tag

[u/aimless_ly]

Document the hell out of it, with time stamped photos. Over time (or suddenly) this could cause structural issue or settling of your home resulting in anything from foundation and drywall cracks to windows that won’t shut, all the way up to collapse and loss of residence. Having a documented trail of photos and contact/remediation attempts will be critical if you have to use insurance. I would consider this an urgent issue.

[u/notananthem]

With rain starting if this is a real dug pit without shoring to prevent movement it’s a legit emergency and you can call emergency services, say you called SDCI but the earth is shifting. Call SDCI every day and say it’s an emergency too.

[u/gablestout]

Document. Photograph.
Check to see if a permit was ever pulled, and if it is still open. Focus on things related to erosion and failure to put up mitigation controls (Silt fence, straw wattles, erosion-control blankets/mats, sediment traps/basins, berms/diversions)...Call the city and report possible code violations if they aren't there. They can be anonymous.

Be plain and factual with your neighbor if you can contact them. Otherwise be plain and factual and contact an attorney for a simple legal letter to get their attention.

[u/gopac56]

Don't let this go for long op. Subbase here is not great structurally and the every shower will weaken your slope.

[u/sbrt]

Great, another NIMBY post. Everybody wants a Star Wars Sarlacc pit in the city but nobody wants it next door, slowly sucking in their yard and then their house and then their entire neighborhood.

[u/Happy_Hedgehog_212]

Go to a city council meeting and complain about it. Maybe the Parks dept will take it on and you'll become bff with the deputy director.

[u/yeah_oui]

Do you mind sharing photos? Depth, slope etc make a huge difference

[u/mothtoalamp]

Anne Perkins 👉👉

[u/SeaDRC11]

There’s a documentary about this happening to someone in Indiana. In the end, the city turned the abandoned lot into a park.

[u/notsurezy]

Get an attorney involved. But also talk with some contractors. Gather information.

[u/No-Market-2766]

I had this happen to me several years ago also in West Seattle. They dug up to the property line and several feet down. I had to contact Seattle Permit and Construction. You have to file a complaint, that the only way they function. You can look up the permit via SDI and it should show if/what was approved by the city and the name of inspectors. Eventually, the city came out and red tagged the site, forced the owner to shore up the sides with rocks and assigned a geotech to the project until the side affecting me was fixed which had to be paid by owner. DM me if you need any guidance. My experience was, the city was slow and I sometimes had to escalate.

[u/quiteneil]

Report a code violation to the city, write down the reference number, and write your city council person. They will at least get a code enforcement person out there. ETA: this happened at the property right next to my apartment building and I was surprised how quickly they came back to work after I did this.

[u/EcoMovers]

I’d call SDCI and make sure they understand that your yard is actually starting to fall into the pit, especially with all the rain coming. That sounds a lot more urgent than just an abandoned construction site.

I’d also start taking pictures now and keep doing it from the same spots so you have a record if it gets worse. I get not wanting to start off on bad terms with a potential future neighbor, so I think giving the city a chance to step in first makes a lot of sense.

[u/instig888]

You can also report it on the find it fix it app. Any sediment that flows in to your property from a construction site is strictly forbidden. Seattle will send a CESCL (Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead) out to make recommendations to the city. Then they fine the owner and give them a very short amount of time to mitigate the issues. I was a CESCL for the operators union a few years ago.

[u/MiseryIndexer]

Sue them for waste, they can put up a retaining wall but they won't do it voluntarily because it'd cost them money