Town in transition:
Residents happy to call Marietta home
(cont'd) He says their property and house are only valued at $9,500 because they’re on the flood plain. The only place White says they could afford any land is Eastern Washington.
Contrary to what the article stated, the county never intended to buy out Marietta, said Paula Cooper, manager of the River and Flood Division in Public Works. It works with residents, however, who voluntarily want to sell their houses. The county has bought four properties in Marietta over the past three years — one from a homeowner and three from tax foreclosures. Cooper said the county will continue to buy lots that go up for sale in the area.
“[We buy properties] to try to keep more development from going into an area that, at this point, we don’t have a solution for from a flood perspective,” Cooper said.
Marietta residents have worked with the county Public Works Department for
almost 20 years to clean up the town and safeguard homes from the two
to three floods the area faces every fall, as well as floods that can
occur in the springtime.
Paul and his wife Karen Ridley have led the major efforts in the community
to collaborate with both the county and Lummi and Nooksack Indian tribes.
The Ridleys have lived in Marietta since 1989, but Paul Ridley grew up
in the area before traveling and serving in the military.
Resident Paul Ridley, 66, said a close-knit atmosphere has developed throughout the years of cleaning up the town.
“If somebody yells here, the whole town shows up,” Ridley said. “This is a good place. We share everything — food, clothes. If someone has a down tree, they’ll call one of our guys who cuts wood to come help them.”
Helping to restore small-town life in Marietta
White says the small-town feeling of Marietta that has replaced its troubled reputation is what keeps him and his family here.
“There aren’t many people who are outside the sphere of Marietta that really want to come here because its had such a bad reputation,” White says. “It’s just that everybody helps each other and we do everything we can for neighbors. Besides that, where else would a lower class working family be able to afford a house?”
When the Whites read an article in The Bellingham Herald that stated that the county was going to buy out the area in 2005, Ken White contemplated his family’s uncertain future.
“The only two options I’ve come up with is buying a trailer and living in a mobile court somewhere,” Ken White says, “or moving out of Whatcom County because the land here is just too expensive.” —>
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