Braude Pushes for Inspections as PCH Reopens After Slide

Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude said Wednesday that he will push for the city to inspect cliff-top property along Pacific Coast Highway to determine whether lawn watering caused a landslide Tuesday that injured two motorists and forced a portion of the highway to close.

Meanwhile, Caltrans officials reopened the highway early Wednesday evening, but that was not soon enough to spare motorists in the area two frustrating, bumper-to-bumper rush-hour commutes.

Heavy traffic was reported Wednesday on the Ventura Freeway and other roadways used by motorists to bypass the slide, which had closed the road from Temescal Canyon Road to West Channel Road.

Braude said he decided to call for inspection of all property along the highway from Santa Monica on the south to the county line on the north after noticing the watering systems on the bluff-top Pacific Palisades homes during an inspection of the area after Tuesday’s landslide.

“Water is the oil that makes the ground move in that kind of geology,” said Braude, who plans to present the motion to the council next Tuesday. “Just a slow drip can cause serious landslides. We have to inspect those back lawns.”

Although Caltrans officials said they had not yet determined the cause of the landslide, the councilman added that it may be necessary to prohibit automatic sprinklers in bluff areas.

“It is incumbent on private property owners not to maintain hazardous conditions on their property,” Braude said, adding that the city will not allow houses to be built in those areas under current building codes. The bluff houses were built several decades ago.

Caltrans officials have repeatedly said that the expensive homes that the run along the bluff are not in imminent danger.

The landslide, which occurred just behind a home in the 15000 block of Corona del Mar, overturned two vehicles, injuring the two drivers, and slammed a third vehicle into the side of a cliff. Barbara Sue Phillips and Edwin R. Withers, both 47, were treated at Santa Monica Hospital for injuries received when their vehicles were tossed around by the slide.

Two other motorists--Kathy Keating and Judy Lester--were unharmed when their Jeep Wagoneer was knocked into the side of the bluff.

On Wednesday, Caltrans crews continued efforts to shore up the cliff. Aided by a private firm under contract with the state, Caltrans workers loosened excess dirt and removed a gnarled eucalyptus tree and a slab of patio left hanging over the cliff after the landslide.

Geologists hired by the city blamed the slide on a natural spring flowing near the area of slide.

Caltrans spokesman Thomas Knox said the agency has not yet determined what caused the landslide, although he too suggested that water--including water from nearby homes--could be the culprit.

“We know there was a lot of water on that hillside,” he said. “It has been theorized that the water was coming from nearby homes.”

Although Caltrans employees spent most of Wednesday working in the area, nothing has been done to shore up the side of the cliff, Knox said.

Residents of the upscale Pacific Palisades area said they were concerned about the erosion of the land, but didn’t believe that it posed a direct threat to their homes.

“We haven’t had a problem with the landslides,” said Rosa Salkin, who lives a few doors away from where the slide occurred.