Laguna to Study Slide Danger in Mystic Hills Area : Disaster: Frustrated residents are told at special council meeting it could be 8 to 10 months before some fire victims get permits to rebuild.

Worried about the discovery of a possible geologic problem, the City Council voted 4 to 0 Tuesday night to further study the Mystic Hills area before some property owners are allowed to rebuild homes lost in the Oct. 27 firestorm.

The special council meeting was called after a consultant reported that an ancient landslide may lie beneath about 50 lots in the neighborhood and that the land might have to be stabilized before reconstruction can safely begin.

City officials informed the council that if the hillsides must be stabilized, it could be eight to 10 months before some fire victims receive building permits.

The council took the action before about 150 frustrated residents who packed the council chambers urging the city to let them proceed with rebuilding.

“Let’s get on with it,” one of the fire victims said. “We want to get back in our homes.”

The council voted to spend $35,000 on further geologic study that could take four to six weeks. The study is intended to determine whether an ancient landslide actually exists.

City Council members expressed sympathy for residents eager to rebuild but said they must take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the area is safe.

“Lately life has been dealing us a tough deck,” Councilwoman Lida Lenney said. “Just when you look around and think it can’t it get any worse, it does.”

Councilman Robert F. Gentry, whose Mystic Hills home burned in the fire, was on vacation and thus absent from the council meeting.

After news of the possible ancient landslide circulated through town Tuesday, contractors and architects filed steadily through City Hall seeking information about what it might mean to their rebuilding plans.

After the fire that damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes in Laguna Beach, the city had promised to make the rebuilding effort as speedy as possible by expediting the permit approval process.

For example, while hillside residents must normally gather a “second opinion” from a city-hired geologist before getting a building permit, the city wanted to waive that requirement for fire victims, City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said.

Now, however, residents throughout the fire-damaged areas will have to take that additional step. They will be required to deposit $500 with the city for a second geologic review of their lot.

The snag in the rebuilding effort came after at least two geologists drilling test borings discovered evidence of a landslide almost 50 feet down. After studying the test results and aerial photographs, they “began to get a picture that something was wrong,” Frank said.

If the ground must be stabilized, one method would be to pour concrete into drilled holes and secure the posts with steel supports. If retrofitting is necessary, Frank said, it would have to be done on the entire section of hillside at once.

“If it’s in the middle of a slide and the slide is 50 feet deep, there is nothing you can do for one house at a time,” he said. The work “would encompass the fire-damaged lots and the houses that are left standing so everybody’s home would be made safe.”

Frank, whose Mystic hills home also burned, would not speculate how much retrofitting would cost, but said “I think most people will find it’s financially feasible.” It is unclear who would pay for the work if it is needed, Frank said, but added that he would likely recommend that a special tax assessment district be formed to pay for it.

The city has received about 80 applications for building permits, and so far two have been approved. On Monday, city officials stopped work at one of the two sites because it is located in the potential slide area, which encompasses several streets on a hill above City Hall.

While coming geological tests could reveal problems elsewhere in the city, Frank said he expects the inspection and permit approval process will go smoothly for most property owners.