As the photo above shows, there is no mount left to Mount Latham at 1107 and 1109 Latham Road.
East Wind Development LLC had purchased the two lots and piled dirt on them to raise the lots above the flood plain and turn them into buildable lots.
After the city received numerous complaints from neighbors about Mount Latham, which was considerably higher than the adjacent lots, the city investigated and found that everything had been done by the book. East Wind had met all the applicable city, state and federal regulations and had a valid building permit.
Since the city couldn’t stop the construction, by denying building permits or issuing a stop work order, the city had to come up with another plan.
In July, the City Council, with no discussion or explanation, passed a resolution to allow the Water Resources Department to purchase the two lots for $212,000.
The resolution stated, “The [Water Resources] Department is proposing the purchase of this property as a strategy to reduce potential future impacts due to flooding in the Latham neighborhood area.”
Considering the extensive flooding that the Latham neighborhood had this past summer, preventing more building in that area even building on a manmade hill seems like a wise decision.
After the city purchased the lots, it had the pile of dirt removed to turn Mount Latham into Flat Latham.
At this time the city has announced no plans on the future of flat Latham, but a community garden might be a good idea. It gets plenty of water.
