Dana Point : Project Aims at Opening Road Blocked by Slide

Crews operating heavy earth-moving equipment are pecking away at more than 30,000 tons of rubble, the remains of a 1980 landslide that threatened a bluff-top restaurant overlooking Dana Point Harbor and also closed one of the access roads to the harbor.

Cove Road, which winds down the face of a 150-foot cliff from Street of the Green Lantern to the west end of the harbor, has been barricaded for more than five years. Orange County officials now say it may be open in two months.

Project engineer Roger Hohnbaum, of the county’s Environmental Management Agency, said the job of stabilizing the bluffs, cleaning up the debris and resurfacing the roadway will cost at least $1.9 million and take place in two phases.

The first phase involved stabilizing the cliff directly below the Quiet Cannon restaurant, a project that cost $1 million after some delay. The second phase, costing an estimated $900,000, will be aimed at stabilizing the lower portion of the cliff, including the installation of a 200-foot-long concrete bulkhead.

All construction costs are being borne by the county as partial settlement of a $20-million suit filed by the restaurant owner, David Perrin, said John L. Hoskins Jr. of the county’s risk management division.

Other portions of the suit, which claims the slide was caused by county negligence, are still in arbitration. Those portions, Hoskins said, include alleged damage to the restaurant building and loss of business.