T.O. BLAMED FOR STORM DAMAGE; RESIDENTS SAY RUNOFF FROM CITY-OWNED HILL CAUSES SLIDES BELOW.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

On a calm and quiet cul-de-sac at the top of Charlotte Street in Newbury Park, residents say they have watched their driveways slowly sink and the cracks grow longer and wider.

They say the concrete slabs have slipped closer to the street after each major storm, and they blame runoff from a hillside owned by the city of Thousand Oaks behind their homes. Owners of eight homes have filed claims with the city alleging damage of nearly $300,000.

``The water is draining onto our property. The city should really do something to cure this,'' said Fred Ruffner, a Charlotte Street resident who, along with a claim for $2,500, submitted pictures to the city of a concrete driveway separating from the garage and private walkways slipping away from the house.

Resident Dennis Heinemann filed the largest claim. He is seeking $150,000 for damage to his property that he blames on the city.

Heinemann declined comment Monday, but his written claim to the city says damage could include reduction in property value.

A claim for $50,000 was filed by Charlotte Street resident Thomas Hardy. Ben Pankratz filed for $30,000. Two couples, Christopher and Carla Hoglund and Allan and Elaine Sobel, asked for $25,000 per household. Glenn and Carryl Price want $10,000, and James and Cynthia Mihaly asked for $3,000.

Owners of the eight homes hope to the city will pay the estimated cost to compress the ground soil, so it will no longer absorb excess water, and to replace the driveways and sidewalks.

Residents point to a small road that a local resident on another street started to clear on the city hillside before inspectors stopped him last summer. They said the partially cleared road has channeled water onto properties below, which have sunk lower and lower after every major storm since March.

``The city has a duty to act and not stand by while several homes could be seriously damaged because of the movement of city property,'' said one of the residents' claims.

But city officials said the homeowners' problem is not the runoff but the soil beneath their own homes.

``The road may have been channeling that water, but it's such an insignificant amount and it's so far away that the water would disperse anyway,'' said George Ehrhardt, the city civil engineering assistant.

He said the city commissioned a soils report several months ago after city workers reported some cracks and apparent shifting on Charlotte Street. That report, dated Aug. 11, suggests that the cracking is caused by water in an underlying layer of rocky, sandy colluvium.

``That whole area appears to be sitting on a fill, and the water is infiltrating and seeping into the ground and causing a little bit of settlement,'' Ehrhardt said.

He said most of the homes in the neighborhood were built about 20 years ago in accordance with the soil reports commissioned then. The new report, however, suggests that water in the colluvium is causing soil above it to shift.

``When the homes were built, maybe they should have taken out more of the colluvium. That's the material that settles,'' he said.

Deputy City Attorney Tim Giles said he has not had a chance to review the claims, filed last week and Tuesday, but plans to review them.

``However, I'm not sure why the homeowners are looking to the city to be responsible for this,'' Giles said.

``We commissioned the soils report for all of the underlying property in that area so it is also helpful to the homeowners, but we did it because the city street is damaged, too,'' he said.