Proposed Change to Building Ban May Be Election Issue

In a move that could weigh heavily in next month’s City Council elections, Rancho Palos Verdes officials are proposing changes to a building moratorium that has blocked development in the landslide areas of Portuguese Bend and Abalone Cove for more than a decade.

The suggested changes, to be unveiled at a Planning Commission hearing Tuesday, are mostly administrative remedies designed to eliminate ambiguities and inconsistencies in the moratorium ordinance, according to city officials. Some new language may be added to the ordinance, but officials say no effort is under way to weaken the building ban.

However, just the announcement that the city is considering any changes in the ordinance--coming only weeks after the city’s geologist said the moratorium could be safely lifted--has raised a political firestorm.

The council is split over whether some lands in the two-square-mile slide area should be excluded from the moratorium. Two councilmen say areas that are proven geologically stable can be removed, two others say they are opposed to lifting the ban, and one council member is undecided.

With three of the five council’s at-large seats up for grabs on Nov. 5, the issue becomes a pivotal one. Five of the six candidates seeking election, including one incumbent, said they are opposed to any change that would open the moratorium area to developers. The sixth, a city planning commissioner, has declined to discuss the issue before it comes to the commission.

Critics of the city Administration say efforts to change the moratorium and accommodate developers are being “railroaded through” the Planning Commission and City Council before the election.

“Pro-developer elements of the R.P.V. Planning Commission, City Council and staff are jointly conspiring to undermine the moratorium ordinance,” said Chris Manning, who lives on a bluff directly above the slide area. Manning is president of Peninsula Preservation, an advocacy group organized two years ago to preserve the building moratorium in the slide area.

According to Manning, all of the steep canyon lands in the moratorium are part of an ancient slide that is still unstable. Proposed development of the area would jeopardize the homes in his bluff-top neighborhood, Manning said, citing the reports of geologists hired by Peninsula Preservation.

In a newsletter mailed to hundreds of homeowners who live in the bluffs above the slide area, the group claims the Administration is attempting to weaken the ordinance’s tough, anti-development language before the November election. The flyer urges a big turnout for the Planning Commission hearing.

The controversy over the 13-year-old landslide moratorium is complex because it involves several divergent interests. There are the developers, the homeowners in the slide area, owners of nearby homes, and a city government that desperately needs more tax revenue but fears the liability of allowing development on unstable lands.

More than 200 homes have been damaged or destroyed in four slow-moving landslides in the Portuguese Bend-Abalone Cove area over the past 35 years. In out-of-court settlements, the county admitted liability for road construction that triggered the slides. The county has paid homeowners $12 million in damages and was ordered to fund a $10-million bond issue to help the city defray the cost of trying to stop or slow the landslides.

The city imposed the building moratorium on the 1,100-acre area along Palos Verdes Drive South after a 1978 Abalone Cove slide destroyed dozens of homes. The city and homeowners have spent millions trying to halt the slides, with limited success.

In 1981, the city adopted a policy that allows developers exemptions from the moratorium if they can prove their lands are geologically stable. The policy is not a part of the moratorium ordinance but would be added to it under one of the proposals pending before city officials.

So far, Orange County developer Barry Hon is the only one to apply for an exclusion under the existing policy. Hon wants to take 427 acres in the Portuguese Bend slide out of the moratorium so he can build 25 luxury homes and a golf course.

“We’ve always said that if a developer can prove the stability of area, then we would consider excluding the land from the moratorium,” said Mayor Douglas Hinchliffe, who is retiring from the council when his term expires in January.

But critics say they are afraid that any changes or additions to the moratorium could open the door to new development in the slide area.

Manning contends developers are trying to “railroad through” the changes they want before the voters elect a pro-moratorium council. If development is allowed and slides result, Manning said, the city’s taxpayers will be liable for millions of dollars in damages.

City officials say the suggested changes in the moratorium are just a part of a larger effort by the council and Planning Commission to bring development codes up to date.

“Time has shown us some changes (in the moratorium language) may be desirable,” City Manager Paul Bussey said. Some of the proposed changes, he said, would clear up contradictions in the ordinance.

For example, one section of the moratorium allows the owners to replace a house that is totally destroyed, but another section prohibits rebuilding if more than 90% of the building was is destroyed. The suggested change would make it clear that a totally destroyed home could be replaced if geologic reports show new construction would not trigger more slides.

Another proposal would streamline the process whereby homeowners can get permits to remodel or add on a room. The moratorium now prohibits such add-ons, but exemptions can be granted by the council.

Bussey also suggested that it may be useful to allow the development in the slide area of of golf courses or parks that would not require heavy grading or construction of buildings. If designed properly, such uses could generate income for the city without adding to slide dangers, he suggested.

The current controversy was sparked in early September when city geologist Perry Ehlig suggested that the moratorium could safely be lifted in some parts of the slide zone that have not moved in thousands of years. Ehlig is a professor of geology at Cal State Los Angeles and a recognized landslide expert.

His comments caused an immediate furor on the council and a scramble among the candidates to establish their positions.

Two councilmen, Mayor Hinchliffe and Melvin Hughes, support Ehlig’s position. Neither is seeking reelection.

Councilman John McTaggart, up for reelection, opposes any new development. “I disagree with Mr. Ehlig . . . . I don’t buy his arguments,” he said.

Councilwoman Jacki Bacharach, with two years to serve on her current term, is also opposed to lifting the moratorium. “I haven’t seen any information to persuade me we should lift or modify the ordinance,” she said.

Finally, Councilman Robert Ryan, who also has two years left to his term, said he might approve excluding lands from the moratorium only if developers have “absolute proof” the areas will not slide.

Four of the five council candidates--Kay Bara, Barbara Dye, Dawn Henry, Steven Kuykendall--say they oppose any building in the slide areas.

The sixth candidate, Susan Brooks, declined to comment because she is a member of the Planning Commission and did not want to prejudge the matter before the hearing Tuesday. The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Hesse Park.

Where Rancho Palos Verdes Council Members Stand Douglas Hinchliffe

Agrees with geologist Perry Ehlig that areas proved geologically stable can be removed from building moratorium.

Melvin Hughes

Agrees with Ehlig.

John McTaggart

Opposes lifting moratorium.

Jacki Bacharach

Opposes lifting moratorium.

Robert Ryan

Might approve removing lands from moratorium if developers have “absolute proof” areas will not slide.