ANAHEIM : Landslide Damage Claims Blame City

Some 246 Anaheim Hills homeowners are pressing claims in the millions of dollars against the city, saying it is partially responsible for the landslide damage to their homes after January’s rainstorms.

Citing geological studies conducted in the 1970s, the homeowners allege that city officials knew that the houses would be built on an ancient landslide area and should not have approved the developers’ plans, according to claims filed with the city in the last week. At the very least, say the claims, the city should have warned prospective home buyers about the potential danger.

The claimants include 35 of the 48 homeowners who were evacuated when it was feared that their homes might collapse. Another 209 claimants live within two blocks of the 25-acre area that was evacuated, while the other two live between a half-mile and a mile from the landslide zone. All 246 are asking for unspecified damages in excess of $10,000.

The liability could be in the tens of millions of dollars if the homeowners prevail. Many are claiming their home values have plummeted since the slide. However, legal experts have said that cities are generally immune to such lawsuits.

The evacuated area included all or parts of Avenida de Santiago, Burlwood Drive, Georgetown Circle, Pegasus Street and Rimwood Drive.

Filing a claim is a legally required step before filing suit against the city.

“We filed our claim because we couldn’t sell our house now if we had to,” said Marilyn Clayton, whose home abuts the area that was evacuated. The home suffered $18,000 in damage in the slide, she said, but worse is the psychological damage of not knowing if her home will withstand another prolonged rainy season.

The Clayton home was valued at $335,000 before the slide, she said. A recent appraisal was unable to determine a market price for it, she said, because no one has sold a house in the neighborhood since January.

She and her husband had lived in their Burlwood Drive home for less than a year when the landslide began in earnest Jan. 18 after 13 consecutive days of rain.

“We were never told that this was a landslide area,” she said. “The city knew that.”

Claimant Gerald Steiner’s million-dollar hilltop home was so badly damaged that he donated it to charity and moved to Mission Viejo. The city shares blame for the slide because it allowed streets to be dug into the hillside, Steiner said.

City Atty. Jack L. White did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

City officials have said they first learned about the landslide in June, 1992, when residents on Rimwood Circle reported buckling in their street. Between July, 1992, and Jan. 17, the hillside moved one inch. But following the heavy rains, the slide accelerated dramatically.