Slide-Clearing Plans Told : Officials Say Cleanup of Slide on PCH Is Still Months Away

City officials, facing federal deadlines and increasing anger from homeowners and business people, unveiled three proposals to clear a vital stretch of Pacific Coast Highway of tons of rubble left over from a massive landslide in February.

The proposals to shore up the sandstone bluffs and open the highway--a critical emergency evacuation route in the case of an accident at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station--were presented at a private meeting Monday to five families who lost their homes when a hillside collapsed on the night of Feb. 22.

While each of the proposals calls for some combination of retaining walls and underground cables to hold the bluffs in place, only the most expensive includes the complete restoration of the homeowners’ bluff-top back yards.

The plans range in cost from $2.3 million to $2.8 million and would be paid for in part by a combination of federal and state disaster money, officials said.

But officials from Dana Point and San Clemente cautioned that the proposals were preliminary and that the start of work is still months away.

“We have a variety of approaches, but none of them will be able to be implemented quickly,” said David Elbaum, city manager of Dana Point. “We are talking many, many months.”

Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), who represents the area, asked a state budget committee this week for a $500,000 emergency loan to begin the process of cleaning up the stretch of highway linking Dana Point and San Clemente, which has now been closed for nearly four months.

The landslide destroyed five homes on La Ventana above the highway and endangered 45 others. The slide sent a 30-foot-high mountain of dirt and debris cascading across four lanes of Pacific Coast Highway, over the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad tracks and through a brick fence protecting a line of beachfront homes.

The railroad tracks have since been cleared and the fence repaired, but the highway has stayed closed and the homes above remain perched precariously on the 75-foot-high bluff top, to the dismay of many of the displaced homeowners.

Richard Vaughn, who lost all of his back yard and 2,000 square feet of his La Ventana home, remains skeptical that he will ever recover his loss.

“Only the most expensive option would allow us to get our property back,” said Vaughn, 55, who has lived on the bluff for 11 years. “The homeowners will have to come up with the extra $500,000 it takes to restore our property lines.”

Businesses on either side of the slide have also suffered as traffic along the normally busy highway dwindled. June, usually the start of the tourist season, promises to be another lean month, owners say.

“My business is down 60%,” said Jim Nudo, 41, the owner of Herbie Fletcher’s Surf Shop in San Clemente. “In all this time, not one City Council member or anyone from the city has stopped by here to ask how we are doing.”

The business outlook doesn’t look any better on the Dana Point side of the slide, said Git Patel, owner of the Capistrano Seaside Inn, a 29-unit bed and breakfast. Patel bought the inn last July and has struggled to survive through the winter since the slide closed the highway right outside his front door.

“We are surviving through telephone reservations, that’s it,” Patel said. “Last year, when we took over, we had lots of walk-in traffic. But not now.”

Don Case, manager of the 30-room Holiday Inn Express Edgewater said the closure has cut walk-in business by 25% to 30%.

“We are as eager as anybody to have the highway open again,” Case said.

Part of the reason for the slow pace in the cleanup is that the debris scattered across the highway is helping hold up the bluffs, officials said.

“It’s not just a question of putting up a fence and scooping the dirt away,” Elbaum said. “We have to make sure the work is done safely and competently and one time only.”

Further complicating the solution are the different jurisdictions and agencies sharing the problem, Elbaum said. The homes on the bluff top are owned by several individual families and are located mostly in San Clemente, although some of the homes actually straddle the city boundary.

The debris from the slide landed in the city of Dana Point, but also across Pacific Coast Highway, a segment of the federal highway system. That could turn out to be a positive note because it allows for using federal emergency money to pay for some of the repairs, Elbaum said.

But federal funding comes with strict guidelines, he added.

“Some federal funds will cover 100% of the costs, but for only the first 180 days after the incident. They only cover 80% thereafter,” Elbaum said. “The reality is the bulk of the construction costs will be pushed out into the 80% window. . . . But then we can approach the state for disaster assistance.”

Also, about 125 homeowners are considering setting up a special district--called a geological hazard abatement district--to tax themselves to pay for some repairs. Such districts have been created in other parts of California.

Repairing the Bluff Dana Point and San Clemente are considering three proposals to shore up a crumbling bluff along Pacific Coast Highway. A look at three alternatives: Plan A Most expensive proposal: $2.8 million Reinforced soil: Several layers of soil and thick plastic mesh Re-grade slope Concrete-filled cables angled into soil and tied to slabs of concrete for added reinforcement Railroad Pacific Coast Highway Remove about 45,000 tons of debris Original slope Existing slope New slope Plan B Least expensive proposal: $2.3 million Double the number of concrete-filled cables and slabs Plan C This proposal costs $2.6 million Retaining wall will rest on top of caissons, or drilled holes filled with metal and concrete

Landslide on Feb. 22 blocked Pacific Coast Hwy Source: City of Dana Point; Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times