ARLINGTON — If your property backs up to a creek, you likely own it, at least to the center of the creek bed. The homeowner behind you owns the other half.
And the city owns none of it. That becomes important when the steady or sudden erosion of a creek bank begins threatening a fence, or a shed, or a home.
According to a city policy on the books at least since 1993, the city, while acknowledging its responsibility for protecting against flooding, does not repair erosion problems on private property, even those caused by flooding.
"If it's your own your property, you have to be a responsible property owner and take care of what you've purchased," said Councilman Charlie Parker, who recently spent $37,000 to shore up an advancing creek bank with a 12-foot-tall stone-and-mortar wall on his property.
But some of his colleagues, especially after the torrential rains and flooding in May and early June, and a deluge of complaints about clogged creeks and battered banks, said they wanted to explore options. They asked a council subcommittee and the city's stormwater management staff, which has several watershed studies underway, to look into erosion problems citywide and run cost estimates.
"That kind of brought it to a head," said Mayor Jeff Williams. "Some of these erosion problems are so big they're too much for one property owner to take care of."
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