McLain West No. 6 Housing Development

In 2013, after years being maintained (i.e. mowed) by an unknown entity, a complaint of noxious weeds was recorded by the county. The county sent a letter out to all 99 property owners and litigation began over who was responsible to abate the weeds and care for the space.

Legal arguments started with (21) MW6 property owners involved and ended in 2024 with less than a dozen of the 99 plat property owners participating. A settlement agreed to by both McLain West No. 6 owners and the county was reached and can be found in the Resources section below.

Since 2013, the greenbelt has become overgrown, inaccessible & even hazardous in areas with some neighbors actively pushing back blackberries from their property lines, cleaning up trash from the area and creek, dealing with large rodents, or clearing branches and trees after wind or weather. Others have kept the area behind their property mowed and tidy.

In recent years, a few neighbors have been working together to diligently clean it up by clearing blackberries, weeds, garbage, branches, downed trees and dangerous vegetation that has become a problem. Three of these neighbors on 209th Ct have had crews out to help clean up the space and even rented a 30y yard debris dumpster in 2025 and filled it to the brim, paying for it themselves.

Those neighbors have also had multiple quotes from tree services to take down the rotting and dangerous trees present in the tract, which the least of was $10,000 to remove just the gigantic decaying willows near the southeast open area. But without an HOA in place, no funds exist to hire a company to remove them.

Today, even with the hazardous trees still present, the area does feel like a breath of fresh air to those who have labored to see it revitalized and those who saw it before now. Neighbors can now enjoy the creek (when it is running) or venture along the newly cleared grassy paths (at their own risk) where present. We have seen many neighbors walk through, sometimes with dogs, sometimes with cameras, many stopping to enjoy the birds and nature, kids adventuring or playing, and more.

But the work is far from finished and a few neighbors whose properties back to the greenbelt are still chipping away at cleaning the area. With old Pacific Coast Willow trees lining the creek, snapping down and falling over, and the other two giant Willow trees continuing to rot from the inside out, not to mention thick brush still growing on the south side of the creek, the liabilities, hazards and overgrowth are still being addressed by these dedicated neighbors. And one of these neighbors is a retiree working daily and by the goodness of his own heart, without pay, to see the area so many are now enjoying given new life.