San Clemente OKs Cliff Stabilization Pact

Legal and financial disputes that have delayed the clearing of landslide-choked Pacific Coast Highway for almost a year were swept away Wednesday when the City Council approved a partnership agreement that defines who will pay for shoring up the unstable cliffs above the heavily traveled roadway.

The pact’s key element is a $200,000 loan from the city to the eight property owners on La Ventana whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the February, 1993, landslide. The money would cover the cliff stabilization project.

The council approved the agreement without comment, 4 to 1.

The agreement removes a major obstacle to the clearing of the highway. However, it will still take several months before the first shovelful of dirt is removed, Dana Point officials said.

Federal funding that will pay for the bulk of the work won’t be available until September, said Andy Anderson, Dana Point’s emergency services coordinator. Dana Point officials hope Pacific Coast Highway will reopen by June, 1995.

The devastating slide ruined five bluff-top homes in San Clemente and put three others in jeopardy as it dumped 44,000 tons of rubble onto the highway in Dana Point. It also started a nearly yearlong dispute between La Ventana homeowners and the two cities over responsibility for restoring the cliffs.

Officials in both cities have said that some homeowners believed the cities should pay restoration costs. The homeowners refused to sign liability waivers over the excavation work needed to clear the highway and shore up the cliffs, the officials said.

La Ventana residents dispute the cities’ version of events. They claim officials in Dana Point and San Clemente pressured them to sign away rights to sue over the original landslide before Dana Point would begin any restoration work.

Tired of waiting for the liability waivers to be signed, Dana Point won state Coastal Commission permission in November to clean up the highway without stabilizing the cliffs. Dana Point officials had planned to install a wall to protect the road from future slides.

But San Clemente City Manager Michael W. Parness said residents indicated they would file suit to prevent Dana Point from clearing the highway without also shoring up the 75-foot-high cliffs.

However, all eight La Ventana property owners whose residences were either destroyed or threatened by the landslide later decided to sign the waivers, said Peter Shikli, who has acted as a spokesman for the homeowners.

Under the terms of the 20-year loan, residents will hold the cities blameless over any damage caused by the restoration work, but are free to sue over the February, 1993, landslide.

The Dana Point City Council is scheduled to vote on the joint agreement at its meeting Tuesday.