El Dorado County Grand Jury 2013-2014 County Actions Create Flooding, County No Help with Repair

Recommendations 6

• R1
  The County should analyze, or cause to have analyzed, the existing drainage of Granada Court, Granada Heights and surrounding properties and any drainage methods and devices within public right-of-way and private and public easements to determine their adequacy to properly convey storm runoff sufficiently to avert flooding and erosion of private property. Upon completion of such analysis, the county should install corrective measures in the public right of way and private and public easements to correct any deficiencies.
• R2
  The Director of Development Services should require County employees to apply the requirements of the Grading Ordinance.
• R3
  Prior to issuance of any permit, the County should thoroughly analyze the impacts on drainage by requiring the applicant to adhere to the specific requirements of the Grading Ordinance.
• R4
  If it is determined that application of the Grading Ordinance in some cases is particularly onerous to some property owners, the Director of Development Services should study such cases and, with input from stakeholders, recommend appropriate exemptions.
• R5
  The County should more aggressively implement the provisions of the Grading Ordinance cited above to restore properties to the condition existing before illegal grading and construction occurred and bill the landowner, lessee or licensee for costs. RESPONSES Responses to both findings and recommendations in this Report are required by law in accordance with California Penal Code §933 and §933.05. Address responses to: The Honorable Suzanne N. Kingsbury, presiding judge of the El Dorado County Superior Court, 1354 Johnson Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. This Report has been provided to the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, Development Services Department and Department of Transportation. The Presiding Judge of the El Dorado County Superior Court additionally requests that the responses be sent electronically as a “Word” file or “PDF” file to facilitate the economical and timely distribution of such responses. Please email responses to the El Dorado County Grand Jury at: [email protected]
• R6
  The County should enforce the provisions of the Grading, Erosion, and Sediment Control Ordinance, Chapter 15.14 of the County Code. RESPONSES Responses to both findings and recommendations in this Report are required by law in accordance with California Penal Code §933 and §933.05. Address responses to: The Honorable Suzanne N. Kingsbury, presiding judge of the El Dorado County Superior Court, 1354 Johnson Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. This Report has been provided to the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, Development Services Department and Department of Transportation. The Presiding Judge of the El Dorado County Superior Court additionally requests that the responses be sent electronically as a “Word” file or “PDF” file to facilitate the economical and timely distribution of such responses. Please email responses to the El Dorado County Grand Jury at: [email protected] ATTACHMENTS [ Adobe Reader is required to view attachments ] DFG Lindeman Violation Notice DFG Notice of Violation to District Attorney -17 REASON FOR REPORT Two property owners adjacent to the Granada Heights subdivision in Cameron Park complained that each time there is substantial rain, their properties are heavily flooded and eroded. They assert the flooding is a result of: (1) installation of an apparent speed bump by the Granada Heights Homeowners Association (HOA) which actually diverts storm water runoff to a drainage swale that was not originally designed to handle it; and (2) enlargement of a side yard and alteration of the same drainage swale by a property owner uphill of the complainants that was approved by the HOA and the County. The alteration changed the swale, a rock lined ditch, into a concrete sidewalk that greatly reduced the storm water capacity while increasing its velocity. SUMMARY The investigation revealed many incidents that ultimately contributed to the complaint. The complainants had every expectation that the County would assist in solving the significant drainage problems the County created when failing to thoroughly review either the original drainage design for Granada Heights or its alteration by the HOA and a property owner. To the complainants’ surprise, and significant cost, the County denied any responsibility for the problem, putting the burden of correcting it on the property owners, despite the County’s failure to correctly administer the County Code. In reality, the County failed to protect neighboring property owners from the increased storm water flows by allowing them to happen and continued to deny relief assistance of any kind due to their flawed record keeping.