A wall of blame: City of Auburn, property owner at odds over repairs following landslide

While Harrison Avenue has been shut down for nearly eight months, new details have come to light surrounding why the rock wall surrounding the Auburn Square shopping center fell. Work to repair the wall and reopen the road has stalled as the city of Auburn and Pete Aroz, owner of the shopping center and several of its businesses, insist the other party is responsible for the repair. Aroz blames the city's easement on his property, which formerly housed a historic water wheel, for creating years of damage to the 80-year-old wall. "The wall fell because of the weakness of that whole area there, which starts with the water wheel being unattended," Aroz said in an interview with the Auburn Journal. "The drainage had just destroyed the dirt capacity of that area, and that area collapsed because of the inattention of the water wheel." The city argues the wall is on private property and therefore the responsibility of the property owner. "It's a private wall on private property," said Gary Bell, the city attorney. "It's not the city's wall to fix. The city can't open the road until that nuisance has been corrected." Arguments between the two parties took a twist Thursday. The Auburn Journal obtained a traffic incident report from the Auburn Police Department after researching social media posts on the day the wall gave way. The report indicated there was a traffic incident that preceded the landslide. When inquiring about the details of the incident, the city revealed the owner of the truck involved in the traffic incident was Troy Aroz, Pete's son. As of Thursday afternoon, the city and Aroz were consulting with legal representation. Lawsuits may be looming as each party continues to point the finger at one another. The incident According to the incident report, at 4:40 p.m. Jan. 28, the Auburn Police Department received a traffic complaint call indicating the rock wall had given way and there was debris on Harrison Avenue. Upon arrival, the responding officer asked dispatch for a license plate check on Troy Aroz's truck. The report indicated, "truck backed up into retaining wall of plot and it gave way, spilling earth into the roadway." An electrical pole was down as well. The report indicated additional officers arrived on scene and Public Works arrived to shut down Harrison Avenue and clear the roadway. Pete Aroz, when questioned about the incident, explained his son parks trailers along that portion of the wall. "There was no collision, there was no accident," he said. "We parked the trailer there, which we have done for 40 years, and we have never had a problem with that. We were working in the store when this thing finally collapsed." Aroz said his son was upset his name was being used to explain the wall collapse. Aroz insists the wall was weak and it collapsed due to the extra stress from the city's water wheel easement. The incident report did not name a driver of the truck, which Auburn Police Chief Ryan Kinnan said isn't too uncommon. "Typically for traffic collisions that occur on private property, we rarely take a collision report," he said. "If someone came in and smashed out the wall and committed vandalism, we would take a report, but if the owner smashes their own property – it wouldn't be vandalism." The water wheel The city of Auburn has a 600-square-foot easement on the Auburn Square property. The easement is part of a 1998 agreement between Aroz and the city to house a historic water wheel. "It would act as a destination," Aroz said of why he agreed to the wheel. "It was more of a favor than it was a practicality. It was more of a friendly political offer by us than it was a practical thing." The next year, the city installed the water wheel and hooked it up to the property's water pipes so it would be operational. After discovering how much it cost to operate and realizing he would be paying the bill, Aroz turned off the water wheel after two months and the wheel has not been operational since. The agreement between Aroz and the city stated the city would be responsible for any maintenance on the water wheel. Aroz claims because the city did not maintain the wheel, the wall – which lies beneath the easement - began to weaken and crack. "It decayed so bad the water sumps built up with debris over the years," Aroz said. "Whatever drainage we had went into those sumps and they were inoperable because the drains were tied to the sumps." Drainage issues and weight plagued the exterior wall, Aroz said, and cracks began to appear. He said he told previous city managers about the cracks, but no action was taken. "The wall broke because of the weakness; they tore into that whole area," Aroz said. Asked by the Auburn Journal for a response to Aroz's claim that the city is responsible for the repair work, Auburn City Manager John Donlevy said, "He is just wrong." Following the landslide, the city took down the water wheel in a move Donlevy said was to ensure repair work could happen. Aroz said that action was a sign of taking responsibility. "They (the city) immediately took down the wheel and cleaned up the mess there," Aroz said. "That's showing responsibility." The delay When the Auburn Journal asked the city and Aroz why the repairs have taken months to correct, their stories continued to differ. On May 24, the city issued an Order to Abate the nuisance; on June 4, Aroz submitted an appeal to the violation. According to a city report, the appeal was withdrawn and a new timeline to submit a stabilization plan was extended 30 days in mid-July. On July 30, the city installed K-rails around the landslide to protect the roadway from further spillage. Aroz said he got his first quote on repairing the wall in mid-February. He estimated the cost of the work was $250,000. "From February to until just recently, no one would talk to me," Aroz said. "Now the city is putting pressure on me to get it done. They have demands on me if I don't get it done." Donlevy said to the city's detriment, the city probably worked too long on the issue. "The reality in Auburn is we try to work with people on things," Donlevy said. "Mind you this is now almost eight months that this has been out there, and as gentle as we have tried to be with him, we've had to up our approach and formality. The road needs to be opened. There are other properties that are affected by his inaction." Donlevy admitted one hold-up on the city's end was making sure the city was requesting all the proper permits for work that would occur on a public right of way. Moving forward As of Thursday, the city was still waiting on proof of insurance before it would issue a permit to begin work on repairing the wall. "Now the city is making me do all the pre-permit work," Aroz said. Aroz said he's spent more than $20,000 on the barriers put up outside of the landslide and for city staff hours working on the Harrison Avenue issue. "He needs to fix his wall, and he has to address his property," Donlevy said. "He has to pay us back for all the costs we incurred on this thing." In July, Aroz filed a claim to the city asking it to take responsibility to repair the wall and quoted a $196,000 estimate for the work. The city denied his claim. After the traffic incident came to light this week, both parties said they are actively working with lawyers on their next steps. "I'm at a point now where there is obviously a lawsuit pending," Aroz said. "My insurance won't cover it and say it is not my responsibility." Donlevy said the city would issue a release regarding the incident Friday.