SAN CLEMENTE : El Camino Real to Be Closed Again

El Camino Real will be closed for a second time after a massive excavation project on unstable bluffs overlooking the coastal highway was approved by the City Council this week.

Work crews will begin carving into the cliff tops on Wednesday. The excavation is expected to take at least a month, during which time the highway below will be closed to all vehicles and bicycles.

By a 4-1 vote, the council on Wednesday approved an ordinance declaring that an emergency exists along El Camino Real, between Avenida Pico and Avenida Palizada.

A milelong stretch of El Camino Real was closed for five weeks while city officials decided how to stabilize the cliff tops, which are riddled with crevices created by erosion and rodent holes.

The closure affected motorists and nearby businesses that reported substantial drops in their receipts.

Councilman Thomas Lorch joined several residents and shop owners in questioning the severity of the bluff renovations, which geologists estimate will remove 310,000 cubic yards of earth from the cliff tops.

Lorch challenged reports made by the geologists, which warned that the unstable cliffs were ready to collapse.

The councilman accused his fellow council members of “trying to destroy the bluffs.” And he unsuccessfully tried to pass a measure to put the issue on a citywide ballot.

His comments were echoed by Glenn Roy, a resident who told the council that they were being used by the Lusk Co., a development firm that owns the 200-acre site encompassing the bluffs.

Roy said the council’s action frees the Lusk Co. to do whatever work is needed to prepare the cliffs for future housing development. The company had submitted plans for a housing tract that were withdrawn when a proposal to build the Richard M. Nixon library on the site fell through in 1987.

However, the council approved the excavation, citing the dangers of a landslide outlined by the geologists.