Toll Agency, Others Sued Over Flood Damage : Courts: Laguna Canyon business owners seek more than $5 million, alleging roadwork exacerbated problems during last winter’s rainstorms.

About 25 business owners along rustic Laguna Canyon Road are seeking more than $5 million in damages, alleging that negligent construction practices on the San Joaquin Hills toll road project caused major property damage from flooding.

The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court by Laguna Canyon Property Owners Assn., asserts the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency failed to put in adequate retention basins and ignored its own environmental impact reports that required preventive measures.

Belinda Blacketer of Laguna Beach, the association’s attorney, said Wednesday the agency reneged on a promise to install the basins and take other steps before grading for the canyon link of the 17-mile toll road started last December.

Rainstorms soon after the grading began washed tons of debris through the canyon, damaging many properties along the way, she said.

“The first condition of approval of the state and federal EIRs [environmental impact reports] was that before they did any grading or grubbing on the site they would put water retention basins in,” Blacketer said.

“That was a condition my clients fought very hard for during the public hearings,” she said. “They [the defendants] later ignored that condition.”

Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman for the agency, said Wednesday that officials hadn’t seen the lawsuit, so she wouldn’t comment. In the past, Telles has maintained the agency was not responsible for the canyon flooding because of the distance between the road work and the affected areas.

Also listed as defendants in the suit, filed Friday, are the county and Orange County Flood Control District.

The action alleges defendants were negligent, created a nuisance and permitted a dangerous condition.

Plaintiffs say travel was blocked on Laguna Canyon Road, El Toro Road, South Coast Highway and North Coast Highway, and parts of the city’s downtown were closed during and after heavy flooding.

Muddy flood waters coursed through the business district, shutting down Coast Highway and ripping away a chunk of the city boardwalk and Main Beach Park.

Afterward, the city rejected more than $5 million in claims submitted by residents and business owners, but blamed grading for the tollway in Laguna Canyon for creating the dirt that turned into a mud flow when the rain hit.

In October, the city filed its own lawsuit against the agency, demanding $675,000 in damages.

Plaintiffs included the owners of Anneliese’s Preschool, a canyon-based school where more than 90 children had to be evacuated on three occasions because of a flood threat. Other plaintiffs included Joel and Sandy Bush, owners of Laguna Canyon Kennels, John A. Hamil, owner of Laguna Canyon Animal Hospital, Coast Hardware and Patrick’s Landscaping.