City Won’t Respond to Claim Until Study Is Finished

Costa Mesa city officials said Saturday that until a geological study is completed, there will be little response to a $53-million claim against the city and 14 other public agencies by homeowners whose houses have reportedly been damaged by land movement.

Assistant City Manager Allan Roeder said the city-commissioned geological study in a north Costa Mesa neighborhood where houses have been damaged by shifting land will not be completed for at least two or three weeks.

The claim on behalf of 53 homeowners was filed with the city Nov. 8 by San Francisco attorney Patrick E. Catalano. The City Council will review the claim during its regular meeting Monday, but Roeder said the panel probably would reject it.

“I would imagine that would be the case,” Roeder said. “We’re basically in a holding pattern until we receive the results of the (geological) test.”

Denial Predicted

If the City Council decides to reject the claim, then the homeowners could go ahead and file lawsuits. Councilman David Wheeler said the City Council will consider the claim “on its merits,” but predicted it will be denied.

“If anyone thinks the city will accept it, they are either naive or stupid,” Wheeler said.

Catalano, who was on business in San Diego on Saturday, was unavailable for comment.

Mayor Norma Hertzog said the city should not be held liable because all of the construction codes in existence 15 years ago--when most of the homes in question were built--had not been violated. The homeowners who filed the claims live just north of the 405 Freeway and west of South Coast Plaza.

Others Named in Claim

“There is no evidence that the city was at fault (when the tracts were built). I don’t know what any city can do to protect itself against shifting soil,” Hertzog said.

The mayor also said she thought that the claim Catalano filed on behalf of the 53 homeowners served only “to put the city on notice” because, even though Costa Mesa’s geological study has not been completed, the homeowners were required by law to file any claim within 100 days after they discovered the soil shift.

Besides the City of Costa Mesa, the claim also names the city’s redevelopment agency, parking district and its parks and recreations district. Named as co-defendants are the county Board of Supervisors, the county flood control district, the county sanitation district and several state agencies.

The controversy surfaced two months ago when homeowners complained to city officials that their houses were shifting, creating cracks on their walls, kitchen counters and concrete sidewalks. Some told city officials that their swimming pools had cracked as much as an inch.

Some homeowners theorized that the land shifts were caused by construction of the nearby South Coast Plaza extension on the west side of Bear Street and the Arnel Development Co. apartment project next to the 405 Freeway.

The city then contracted on Oct. 2 with Leighton & Associates Inc. of Irvine to conduct a $35,000 geological study. Earlier this week, Catalano said he would conduct his own survey on behalf of his 53 clients.

Most of the homeowners represented by Catalano live in the Mesa Woods tract. However, not all the residents in that area whose homes have been shifting have decided to join in the claim against the city and the other local and state agencies.

Mary Chapman, who lives at 1070 Redding Ave., said she and her husband, Linwood, have decided to let their insurance company determine the actual cause of the land movement beneath their home.

“Our insurance company will go ahead and determine the cause of the problem before we decide what to do,” Chapman said Saturday.

She added that joining any claim or lawsuit with other homeowners against the city would only prolong the deterioration of their home.

“Our cracks have gotten worse. But we’re not inclined to join in a lawsuit at this time,” Chapman said. “We feel that a lawsuit is only going to extend (the problem) and it could go on forever.”