Homeowners Are Ready for Some Stability : Housing: Eleven years after the hill beneath an Oceanside retirement community began slipping, repairs begin.

Martin and Wilhelmina Eichman moved to Oceanside in 1977 to escape the smog and traffic of Los Angeles.

“We wanted to get back to God’s country, as it were,” Martin Eichman said.

Eichman, now 72, had just retired after 16 years at IBM, and he and his wife were attracted to Oceanside Manor, a senior citizens housing tract, because of the peaceful neighborhood and accommodations for people their age.

Shortly after they moved in, their retirement dream home cracked, the result of movement of the unstable hill it was built on.

The Eichmans live in one of at least 55 homes that have been damaged in the 233-unit seniors community along Lake Boulevard in Oceanside. The houses were built between 1973 and 1978.

Now, 11 years after the cracking in their home began, the couple, along with other homeowners in Oceanside Manor, are getting repairs, and a little peace of mind.

In the Eichman house, a crack three-eighths of an inch wide developed along the floor, running from the front door through the living room and dining room to the other side of the house. Cracks in the stucco also developed along window sills and door frames because of the shifting, said Eichman, a retired engineer and Marine Corps officer.

“We weren’t here much more than a year and there started to be damage to the hillsides,” he said, referring to land movement under the houses. “And not much after that, the homes were affected, with the slabs and walls starting to show heavy cracking.”

A series of lawsuits began in 1979, filed by at least 60 residents of Oceanside Manor against the joint developers, Harry Summers Inc. and Hermosa Homes; a soils engineering firm, Woodward-Clyde Consultants and insurance companies that wrote policies on the homes but refused to pay, saying that type of damage was not covered.

“At the time, it was a fairly noteworthy and substantial case,” said Bradley Hallen, an attorney for the Oceanside Manor Homeowners Assn. “Since that time, there have been a number of extremely large settlements and awards.”

“For most of our history in San Diego County, the developers have built on fairly good ground,” Hallen said. “It was only after all the good parcels were built up did they start to build on marginal areas.”

He predicted more litigation because of the increased development of North County. Many of the Oceanside Manor lawsuits were filed after nine homes in the area were torn down in 1982 and part of the hillside was removed to alleviate the pressure causing the sliding. The developers claimed that the slope was repaired sufficiently, and every side had an expert to back its claim.

“We had probably as many opinions as there are experts in the field,” said Stan Smith, an attorney for Harry Summers Inc.

Most of the suits were settled in January, 1987, when the developers and consultants agreed to a $10-million settlement with the homeowners association and individual homeowners. Most of the money was earmarked to stabilize the hillside and repair the homes.

Later, disputes with three insurance companies were settled separately for a total of $10.5 million, Hallen said. The money went to the homeowners association, also for repair work.

Now, after three years of stabilizing work on the hillside, work on the homes is scheduled to begin in late March. No one is sure how long the process will take, but residents say they are pleased to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“It has been a traumatic period for most people, particularly for those on the landslide,” said Ann Boltz, 72, whose house was damaged by ground water that seeped through her floor. “One of the geologists said to me, ‘You were sitting on a pool of water.’ ”

“Seemingly now, though, the worst is behind us,” said Boltz, who chaired the homeowners group during part of the litigation.

“We’ve waited 11 years for the repairs, and it’s been a long, long wait,” said Eichman. “We had to do it the hard way. If we hadn’t had access to considerable funds through (our individual) insurance, we wouldn’t have been able to pursue the legal efforts.”

Although housing prices in the tract plummeted, Eichman is optimistic that the value of his house will rise after the repairs are completed.

“This property is probably the best investigated and documented property in all of Southern California,” he said. “Our stability here will be unquestioned.”

Eichman said that several years ago, when he and his wife were unsure whether they would win a settlement or not, they went shopping in North County for a new house.

“There wasn’t a single place that we found that met our needs like this place did,” Eichman said. “Now that the repairs are going to be done, we’re going to stay here forever and ever, amen.”