Two residents sued Atascadero for flood damage, increasing the list of storm-related lawsuits in SLO County 

San Luis Obispo County and its cities continue to field lawsuits from aggrieved residents about inadequate infrastructure and services more than a year after record-breaking atmospheric rivers unleashed one of the wettest winters in the region.

On Jan. 26, 2024, Atascadero resident Twila Martin sued the city for nuisance, dangerous condition of public property, and inverse condemnation—a remedy for property owners when a government damages their property for public use without obtaining eminent domain status.

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• File Photo Courtesy Of Brian Broome
• FURTHER SETBACK A January 2023 storm eroded Atascadero Creek (pictured) and left the city with more than $260,000 in emergency repairs. Atascadero now faces a lawsuit about its alleged improper maintenance of Graves Creek that runs parallel to the stream.

"Between January and April 2023, plaintiff [Martin] repeatedly asked the city for its assistance in addressing the flooding issues to her property caused by the San Diego Road project," Martin's complaint read. "Despite plaintiff's best efforts, the city refused, and continues to refuse, to address the flooding problems created by the project."

Martin's property is on San Diego Road, and it consists of her house, an outbuilding, many sheds, fencing, and landscaping. A section of that property lies in a special flood hazard area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A drainpipe on her property also runs beneath San Diego Road and serves as an outlet for water to a culvert on the opposite side of the road.

Typically, when the culvert reached capacity, the drainpipe on Martin's property stopped carrying water off it. Instead, the volume of water rose until it crested San Diego Road and flowed over the stretch into an adjacent culvert.

In 2021, the city planned a pavement repair project on San Diego Road, which prompted Martin to contact Director of Public Works Ryan Hayes, to explain her property's potential for flooding and inquire about the project's flooding impacts on her lot. The city completed the project in the same year.

"Plaintiff was very pleased to learn that the culvert would be replaced, which she believed would mitigate the flooding that she had historically experienced at her property," the complaint said.

But intermittent rainstorms in 2023 from Jan. 4 to 14 surrounded Martin's home with floodwater and even immersed parts of the property that had never been flooded before, according to the complaint. The rain also damaged the outbuilding, and made Martin spend a whole day diverting water away from the foundation of her home between the front door and the driveway.

Over those 10 days, Martin reportedly called city officials and staff four times to inform them of the flooding and provided photos documenting the damage. While the Fire Department responded to one of the requests with a 2 a.m. visit to assess the property, the Atascadero engineering team informed Martin in February 2023 that the city designed the pavement repair project to raise San Diego Road's elevation by 10 inches. Further flooding in March 2023 and prolonged requests from Martin to address the issues caused by the project resulted in a pre-litigation claim filed in May 2023. It compelled the city to hire civil engineering firm Schaaf and Wheeler, which completed a hydraulic analysis on the road last August. The analysis confirmed Martin's suspicions.

"Depth of flooding around the property was exacerbated by the roadway project up to a maximum of 0.5 feet, though water never encroaches upon the house itself," the hydraulic analysis report said. "Increasing the road crest elevation effectively created a weir that blocked water from exiting the property other than via culverts."

By the end of 2023, the city's claims management company offered Martin $5,000 in compensation for her damages, which she declined because officials hadn't corrected the flooding issues caused by elevating San Diego Road. The city informed Martin that while it acknowledged the hydraulic analysis report, it "did not have any additional information to provide." By Dec. 8, 2023, the city had rejected her pre-litigation claim.

Martin isn't alone in her grievance with Atascadero. Her lawsuit followed that of San Ramon Road resident Aaron Spiller. He filed a complaint against Atascadero last September.

During the second set of rainstorms in March 2023, a fallen oak tree in Graves Creek dislodged and flowed downstream near Spiller's property. It inadvertently created a dam of accumulated storm debris, which subsequently eroded the property. A flurry of emails between Spiller and the city ended with his property getting red-tagged or deemed unfit for human occupancy. The city removed the tree and debris on March 19 but not before a "catastrophic degree of damage" already occurred, according to Spiller's complaint.

He alleged in his lawsuit that the city's poor maintenance of the creek along with its delayed response to the debris and erosion issues threatened the stability of his house's foundation. The complaint added that the city and its insurance carrier ignored the July 23 pre-litigation claim that Spiller filed. Spiller and his family allegedly remained displaced from their home at the time of the lawsuit's filing.

Atascadero spokesperson Terrie Banish told New Times on April 22 that the city doesn't have any comments on the two cases. SLO law firm Glick Haupt Marino LLP represents Martin and Spiller. Attorney Michael Haupt didn't respond to New Times' requests for comment by press time.

Martin's litigation increased the number of lawsuits stemming from how local governments prepared for and reacted to storm damage.

A day after Spiller filed his lawsuit on Sept. 13 last year, Oceano residents Pat and Victoria Cardoza issued a complaint against SLO County for general negligence and property damage pertaining to the southside breach of the Arroyo Grande Creek levee. Their action demands an unspecified amount that exceeds $25,000.

Weeks later, the parents of San Miguel's missing 5-year-old, Kyle Doan, sued the county, Paso Robles, and the California Department of Transportation for a slew of damages related to negligence, dangerous condition of public property, failure to warn, and wrongful death, among others.

Floodwaters from San Marcos Creek swept Doan away from his mother on Jan. 9, 2023, as passersby helped them try to exit their stuck truck. Previous New Times reporting found that the lawsuit claimed Doan is presumed deceased. The county shot back with a demurrer to the Doans' complaint, alleging that the parents failed to state causes of action to justify their accusations. The Doans retorted with an opposition to the demurrer. Judge Michael Kelley will preside over the motion for summary judgement on July 30.

"At no time did [the defendants] ... put up any signs warning drivers of the flooding of the creek crossing at San Marcos Road and Wellsona Road," the Doans' opposition read. "These failures created a dangerous condition of a public roadway, and a concealed trap to persons using the road, which could not have been anticipated by a person using due care ... at the time of this incident, driving in this flooded area." Δ

Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at [email protected].