SAN CLEMENTE : City to Loan Cliff Residents $200,000

The city will loan La Ventana street residents $200,000 to help shore up the cliffs above landslide-choked Pacific Coast Highway under a proposal before the City Council today.

The financial arrangement is part of a cooperative agreement between the city, Dana Point and La Ventana residents whose cliff-top homes are threatened by the crumbling slopes that deposited thousands of tons of rubble on Pacific Coast Highway almost a year ago.

The unstable cliffs are in San Clemente, while the highway is on the Dana Point side of the border.

Under the proposal, San Clemente will loan seven property owners the $200,000 needed to pay for restoring the cliffs underneath their ocean view homes. If there are any construction overruns, Dana Point would pay the next $75,000.

Also, homeowners will not hold either city liable for damage occurring from the slope repairs, said Peter Shikli, a representative of the La Ventana residents. The residents will be free to sue over the February, 1992, landslide, which severely damaged or destroyed five homes.

“Anything to do with the restoration project is excluded from any claims,” Shikli said. “I don’t have any problems (with the cooperative agreement). It took us a long time to get to this point and I think it’s a win-win for all of us and the fastest way to open Coast Highway.”

Although Dana Point officials expect federal funding to pay for the most expensive part of the project, clearing the highway, work has been stalled for several months over the slope restoration.

Some of the homeowners balked at pitching in to pay the $200,000 not covered by the federal grant, which only pays for highway excavation. Residents also say city officials required them not to sue Dana Point and San Clemente over the original landslide. Officials in both cities deny the claim.

San Clemente City Manager Michael W. Parness said the compromise would be good for all sides as well as for the motorists using Pacific Coast Highway every day.

“Our other option would have been to put a wall at the bottom of (Pacific Coast Highway) to catch the homes as they fall down,” he said. “Now, everybody is working in the same direction.”

Contractors will cut into the top of the cliffs at an angle to stabilize the slopes. The new ground surface will be built up using original bedrock and other materials so that homes can be reconstructed and renovated.

The Dana Point City Council is expected to vote on the cooperative agreement at its Feb. 8 meeting.