ANAHEIM : Special District for Slide Area Proposed

City officials plan to begin talks with Anaheim Hills homeowners about possibly establishing a special assessment district to pay for continued monitoring of hillsides devastated by massive mudslides last January.

According to a four-page letter sent by the city to about 50 homeowners affected by the landslides, geological tests showed the landslide area around Pegasus Street, which has a history of sliding, continues to be unstable. The city recommends that underground water continue to be pumped out because “heavy and prolonged rainfall similar to last year will accelerate movement,” according to the letter signed by Tom Wood, deputy city manager.

City officials are trying to get money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay for a comprehensive underground study of the slide area, the letter states.

So far, the city and other public agencies have spent more than $4 million in response to the landslide along Avenida de Santiago. The city says that it has pumped out water and effectively lowered the ground-water level in the area, which “provides a layer of safety that did not exist in January, 1993.”

The city has begun preparing for more rain, officials said. Many of the streets in the slide area will be resurfaced, and the city will seal cracks along streets or sidewalks, the letter states.

Some homeowners criticized the city’s tentative plan to establish a special assessment district. One former homeowner, Gerald Steiner, said, “It’s like reverse malpractice where we the homeowners are forced to pay for the city’s malpractice.”