PORT ANGELES — The owners of the Plunkin Shack Cafe say it’s time for the city and Port of Port Angeles to take responsibility for a flood last November that immersed the Marine Drive business’s basement and caused it to shut down for three weeks.
Patti and Brian Larson, owners of the business at 704 Marine Drive, are suing the public agencies for $63,212 in compensation for damaged equipment and loss of business.
They allege in the lawsuit filed May 5 in Clallam County Superior Court that the city and port failed to maintain the Tumwater Creek culvert under Marine Drive, where the stream backed up during a heavy rainstorm Nov. 16 and flooded their business as well as the Pettit Oil location across Tumwater Street.
‘Responsibility’
“I just want someone to take responsibility,” Patti Larson said Friday.
“The whole incident, as far as we feel, [occurred] because people weren’t doing the maintenance they were supposed to be doing.”
Pettit Oil has filed claims with the city and port for damage caused by the flood. The port claim cites an unspecified amount and details of the city claim were not available Friday.
The Larsons’ lawsuit bases much of its argument on the city’s own inspection reports.
An inspection in October 1998 said half of the culvert’s outlet was choked with gravel and silt. Based on the inspection reports, the blockage does not appear to have been addressed.
A 2005 inspection said the north half of the 270-foot-long culvert was “choked” with gravel.
The last inspection, done in 2007, doesn’t refer to the blockage but reads, “Little changed from last inspection.”
Why the gravel wasn’t removed, at least as of 2007, is unclear.
City staff contacted for this story declined to respond to questions as to whether the blockage still exists, what the city did to remove it — or why it was not removed.
They referred all such questions to City Attorney Bill Bloor on Thursday because of the pending litigation.
Bloor said he was seeking those answers from other staff members.
As of Friday, Bloor did not have a response to any questions.
The gravel buildup is just one part of the story.
Port: Alder trees
The cause of the flood, the port maintains, was alder trees growing into the streambed at the outlet of the culvert on port property.
That’s where all of the sediment that washed downstream during the heavy rainstorm backed up, much like the gravel cited in the city’s inspection reports.
Port Public Works Director Gerald Demetriff said the flooded areas drained after the port removed the trees through an emergency declaration.
“It was all clear,” he said, adding that he knew of no blockages in the culvert after trees were removed.
“It was like taking a cork out of a bottle.”
Demetriff said state Fish and Wildlife, which considered the trees to be fish habitat, prohibited the port from curbing their growth into the streambed, beginning about five years ago.
Requirements
Patti Larson said requirements for property owners to protect fish habitat are nothing new to her.
She said her home was flooded in the mid-1990s by Morse Creek, which she attributed to sediment and debris collecting along trees that were growing into the stream.
But, Patti Larson said, Fish and Wildlife still allowed them to “thin out” the vegetation as long as they only used hand tools.
“I think they [the port] were told at one time they couldn’t clear it out,” she said.
“That’s just how they left it.”
Demetriff, who became the port’s public works director about three years ago, said Fish and Wildlife told the port that it couldn’t do any work to free up the stream.
“They told us to completely get out if it,” he said. “No work whatsoever.”
Demetriff said he was unaware of any attempts done by the port to avoid a flood in response to Fish and Wildlife’s order.
Asked why nothing was done, he said simply: “I don’t know.”
He said the flood was unexpected. Demetriff referred to the storm as an “anomaly.”
Another flood is not expected, he said, since the trees are gone.
Demetriff also said he was never informed of the gravel buildup in the culvert until asked about it by the Peninsula Daily News.
He said it is the city’s responsibility to keep it clear.
Some of the culvert extends onto port property.
City Deputy Engineering Director Steve Sperr said at least the northern half of the culvert was constructed by the port.
He declined to say how much of the culvert the city believes it is responsible for keeping clear.
He referred that question, again, to Bloor because of the lawsuit.
Eric Wheatley, assistant superintendent of the city’s streets and parks division, which keeps the inlets of culverts clear of debris, said he was also unaware of the gravel buildup near the outlet.
He said the inspection report was done by city engineers and not his staff. Asked which public works division is responsible for clearing the inside of the culvert, he referred the question to Bloor.
Sperr also said only Bloor could comment on that because the issue is in litigation.
To reopen after the flood, the Larsons — with the help of friends, employees and even customers — pumped more than 62,000 gallons of water from the basement and tossed out about 4,000 pounds of equipment and food.
The owners replaced the furnace, hot water tank and catering equipment and scrubbed the place after removing 3 feet of water.
The business reopened in December.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
