Johns told The Columbian that in February he walked the vacant property next to him and found a man-made ditch flowing into his property. The property east of his is designated as a wetland and is owned by SJO LO 90 B LLC. Johns said he worried and hoped the rain would stop. But it didn’t stop, so he called county code enforcement this month. Johns said he’s never been able to reach the property owner. Attempts by The Columbian to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.
Jamie Howsley, a land-use lawyer with Jordan Ramis PC, wrote in an email that he is seeing more conflicts similar to this one.
“In fact, in the past year or so, we have seen this issue of stormwater being directed onto property with emergent wetlands or other property damage become a huge issue,” he wrote. “We have handled several cases, including a couple of active ones, where this has happened and not just in Clark County. And this year has been especially remarkable in terms of the rain and property damage.”
Johns said that he used to cook with well water but switched to using bottled water after becoming concerned about contamination. Johns reached out to the Clark County code enforcement early this month, but he said that he’s been stuck playing phone tag so far.
Scott Melville, the code enforcement officer assigned to his case, wrote in an email to The Columbian that he hasn’t seen the specifics of Johns’ situation. When asked if he gets many complaints like this one, he responded, “All the time.”
Ali Safayi, Clark County Public Works development engineering, said that developments aren’t allowed to concentrate water downstream. He confirmed that the county has an enforcement case open.
“It’s really hard to exactly say what the issue is,” he said.
Johns said he worries that as lots south of his property develop, the situation will worse.
“There is no place for the water to go,” he said.