Residents of Landslide Area Wary of Building Plan

A developer’s plans to build homes and a golf course in a landslide-prone area of Rancho Palos Verdes has drawn fire from area residents fearful that any new construction could trigger land movement and endanger homes.

Orange County developer Barry Hon has asked city officials to exclude more than 400 acres he owns from a longstanding building moratorium in the area. He is also hoping to build a lavish resort hotel on coastal property outside the moratorium area.

“It has everybody worried sick here,” said Maureen Griffin, who lives in the Portuguese Bend area below the property that Hon wants excluded from the ban.

Hon’s request to exclude his property from the moratorium has yet to be reviewed in detail by city staff members. Once their review is completed, they will make a recommendation to the City Council, which will make the final decision.

But council members Bob Ryan and Jacki Bacharach said last week that they are skeptical of Hon’s request. Ryan said he opposes any new development in the area, calling it “a time bomb for the city.”

Peter Herman, a spokesman for Hon, said the company has not yet filed any development plans for the property. However, if the land is excluded from the moratorium, the company is prepared to move ahead with plans to build an 18-hole golf course and single-family homes, he said. The number of homes has not been determined, but it would probably be fewer than 80, he said.

There are presently more than 100 homes in the moratorium area, which was established by the city in 1978 after two active slides had been discovered. A third was detected in 1980. Under the moratorium, no new structures can be built, although existing homes can be repaired or renovated if the work does not increase the amount of land the home covers.

Since the moratorium was imposed, the city has received only a handful of exclusion requests from property owners. None has been granted, city officials said.

Hon acquired his property in the landslide area in 1987 when he purchased about 850 acres in various parts of the city and formed the Palos Verdes Land Holdings Co. Hon is in the early stages of trying to win city approval for a 450-room Ritz Carlton resort hotel immediately west of the San Pedro border. That plan also includes a golf course and homes.

The moratorium area includes an estimated 1,100 acres and is part of an ancient landslide. The first of the three active slides was discovered there in 1956. Since then, numerous expensive efforts have been made to stop them.

Charles Abbott, the city’s public works consultant, said that one of the three slides in the moratorium area--the Abalone Cove slide, which has caused considerable damage to a number of homes--has stopped. Another, the relatively small Klondike Canyon slide, also has stopped, apparently because the water table below it has lowered in recent years, he said.

The largest of the three slides, the 270-acre Portuguese Bend slide, is still moving at the rate of just over a foot a year, Abbott said. The slide, which between 1978 to 1984 moved at the rate of 40 feet a year, destroyed more than 130 homes over a 30-year period.

The property Hon wants excluded from the moratorium lies in the Portuguese Bend landslide area and directly north of it.

In geological reports submitted along with Hon’s request, the company maintains that about 100 acres covered by the moratorium but outside the slide area, known as Peacock Hill, is stable enough to allow construction of single-family homes. Hon is also proposing to spend $3 million to $5 million of his own money to stabilize the property within the slide area, largely through a network of dewatering wells. He would then build a golf course.

Perry Ehlig, the city’s geologist, said he reviewed Hon’s geological studies and believes that additional testing is necessary to determine whether the Peacock Hill area is stable enough for single-family homes.

As for the property where Hon wants to put a golf course, Ehlig said his own studies have indicated that the slide can be stopped if more work is done to provide proper water drainage. If Hon were to perform the work and the slide does indeed stop, Ehlig said he believes there is no reason why the land could not be used for a golf course.

Some residents and city officials, however, said they are not convinced that the moratorium area is suitable for any development. Some said several years of light winter rains may have given people a false complacency. Land that has not moved recently could move again if heavy storms hit, they said.

Councilman Ryan said he opposes any development in the moratorium area because the area’s rugged topography would require extensive reshaping of the land. That, in turn, could destabilize the area even more, he said.

“I just think it is just far too risky for the city,” Ryan said.

Councilwoman Bacharach said she would need geological “proof positive verified many different ways” before she would consider removing any property from the moratorium area.

“I guess my reaction is people are starting to panic and they shouldn’t,” she said of Hon’s request.