Opinion ID: 1444406
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: County's Acceptance of Ownership and Maintenance

Text: King County represents that in accordance with long standing policy, and pursuant to King County Code 9.04.050, King County routinely accepts ownership of residential drainage systems, along with the roads, in all residential subdivisions. This is done to ensure that roads and residential drainage systems are properly maintained. Amici, Cities of Tacoma, Everett, and Anacortes, and Washington Association of Municipal Attorneys and Association of Washington Cities, explain that many municipalities in Washington accept private storm water facilities for maintenance or ownership after they are constructed in connection with a new development. This occurs because homeowner associations or other private owners do not have the funds or motivation to do necessary maintenance to keep the drainage facilities operating at their maximum efficiency. If storm water facilities become clogged or overgrown, their efficiency is affected and flooding would occur in smaller storms. During flood emergencies, municipal funds were often spent to clean ponds on private property and ameliorate the flooding because streets and public safety were involved. Amici explain that many municipalities took a proactive position and elected to take over the maintenance of the privately constructed facilities rather than pay for the emergency response when the facilities failed. Amici argue that a finding of liability against King County is especially disconcerting because of its far-reaching, proactive role in storm water control. They assert that the current King County Surface Water Design Manual is the industry leader in innovative design and environmentally protective storm water engineering and that it was available to this developer. Amici argue that the developer apparently chose to comply only with the 1979 manual to which it was vested. The County and amici cities argue they should not be liable for a design defect in a developer's system simply because they accept the system after construction in order to provide proper maintenance in the future. We agree. To have a taking, some governmental activity must have been the direct or proximate cause of the landowner's loss. Lambier, 56 Wash.App. at 283 n. 4, 783 P.2d 596; Peterson v. King County, 41 Wash.2d 907, 252 P.2d 797 (1953); see also Gaines v. Pierce County, 66 Wash.App. 715, 726, 834 P.2d 631 (1992) (governmental conduct that is not a cause of damage to plaintiff cannot constitute a taking for purposes of inverse condemnation). It may be that in some factual situations there could be liability on the part of a county for failure to maintain a public drainage system. Sigurdson v. City of Seattle, 48 Wash.2d 155, 162, 292 P.2d 214 (1956); see also Peterson, 41 Wash.2d at 915, 252 P.2d 797. However, there is no allegation in this case that lack of proper maintenance caused the damages. The only allegation is that design, not maintenance, caused the problems. The record shows that the County had not yet even accepted the system for maintenance at the time the trial court granted summary judgment to the County. It is factually impossible for lack of maintenance by the County to have been the cause of the damages alleged by the Phillips. We conclude the Court of Appeals finding of municipal liability based on the County's acceptance of the Autumn Wind drainage system is incorrect. No failure of the County's maintenance responsibilities is even alleged and hence is not the cause of the damage to the Phillips' property.