ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : When a Dream Slides Away

The perilous winter of 1993 has left many Southern Californians gasping at the sight of broken, sliding houses and some homeowners listening in horror to cracking glass and popping wood. “It sounded like a cross between a bomb and an earthquake,” one shaken homeowner on San Clemente’s seaside cliffs said this week in testifying vividly to the hazards of life on the edge of earth, sea and sky.

Remarkably, across town, developers were considering--on the very same night--a new and, some critics say, perilous plan for building new homes in another landslide-prone area of San Clemente. A developer proposes spending $6 million to shore up a canyon to make it landslide-proof, so that history would not repeat itself on that ill-fated site. The idea essentially would be to start over, to launch a new housing development in the very canyon where 10 houses slid to their demise a decade ago.

As workers shore up the banks of Piru Creek in Ventura County, and survey the ruins of this wet season in Anaheim Hills, Pacific Palisades and other Southern California communities, the lesson seems obvious. Even for those hopeful California souls ever in quest of the most beautiful ocean view or the most endearing canyon experience, it is always a good idea to learn from yesterday’s mistakes.

As debris from homes fell onto Pacific Coast Highway, it turns out that city officials in San Clemente were looking with sufficient and well-placed skepticism at the plan to rebuild on the former landslide site. The city, before even considering the proposal, is insisting on a major environmental and geological study. A wise move. In dealing with the shifting land beneath people’s dreams, there is a lot to be said for proceeding with caution.