SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Hill Neighbors Seek to Stop Grading

A local builder’s nine-month effort to stabilize four lots on McCracken Hill has erupted into a dispute among neighbors who claim the project is jeopardizing the safety of their homes and blocking views.

Led by former planning commissioner Collene Campbell, the neighbors pleaded with the City Council on Tuesday night to halt all grading on the six-acre parcel until city engineers can restudy the project. A petition calling on the council to stop the grading was signed by 20 of McCracken Hill’s 24 homeowners and presented to the council.

Campbell told the council that the neighbors “felt quite betrayed because (the project) did not go through the normal process.”

“We want to make sure (this project) doesn’t devastate our rural atmosphere,” Campbell said.

But Gerald Klein, owner of the Klein Group, a San Juan Capistrano building company, said his project was approved by all the city commissions before the company started grading last October. All he is attempting to do is fix a “serious erosion problem” in a canyon along the west side of McCracken Hill, Klein said.

“We thought we were doing a good thing up there,” Klein told the council. “We just want to do what’s right.”

Klein said that the four view lots were subdivided 20 years ago and that a storm drain was installed “that exacerbated the erosion in the canyon.”

“It was eroding so badly, one of the neighbors to the south was in jeopardy of having his house fall down the hill,” said Klein, who also owns a home on McCracken Hill. He added that after spending $250,000 himself to stabilize the four lots, he would attempt to sell them for future home sites in the $300,000-$400,000 range.

Councilman Kenneth E. Friess called the problem on the hill “a breakdown in communication.” He said the neighbors have known of the erosion problems and that “the terrain has been gradually moving down” toward Valle Road.

Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer suggested that the city hire an outside engineering firm to study the situation.