La Conchita Residents Lobby for Study to Shore Up Hillside

La Conchita summer resident Shaun Hart, 11, arched over a fold-out table and began writing a letter to a state senator using his best cursive script.

“I like La Conchita because you can get away from the people, the violence, the trouble of L.A.,” the Burbank youngster wrote, as several La Conchita residents cooed over his penmanship.

The problem is, La Conchita residents couldn’t get away from the 600,000 tons of dirt that crushed 10 homes and damaged others during the March 4 landslide that hit this beachfront community north of Ventura.

Now they are worried disaster could strike again this winter if Ventura County doesn’t move forward quickly with a geotechnical survey necessary to find ways to stabilize the mountain.

On Saturday, La Conchita residents dropped by a table planted across the street from the American Gas and Mini-Mart to sign petitions and write letters to their elected officials, pleading for funding needed to conduct the study.

Looming in their minds was a May 25 report that warned “if no mitigation efforts are undertaken, the probabilities are high that future damaging landslide and mudflow events will occur during the next winter storm season.”

“I’m comfortable today, but I’m going to be very uncomfortable come winter,” said 57-year-old La Conchita resident Donna Hubbard over the din of traffic speeding past this patch of about 200 homes just off U.S. 101. “I want to see the study get done so we can figure out the best way to stabilize this hill.”

Some of the houses lining Vista Del Mar, the street closest to the hillside, are now merely jumbles of plywood and two-by-fours, while others are stamped with county signs reading “Geologic Hazard Area--Enter at Your Own Risk.”

The longer the county waits to do the study, estimated to cost about $200,000, the more nervous Hank Alviani gets.

“Only a small portion of the hill came down,” said Alviani, 67, who lives 30 feet away from the original slide. “The other portion is literally sitting up there, and it will be the one to roll next.”

County officials say they want to hire a consulting firm to do the study right away, but are waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to agree to pay for it.

“Right now the pressure needs to be on state and federal legislators to get FEMA to fund the study,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “I’m anxious to get some word from FEMA.”

La Conchita’s petition-signing rally netted more than 500 signatures that residents will deliver to county supervisors at Tuesday’s board meeting. Shaun said he hoped his letter to state Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara) will prompt authorities to approve funding for the study and stabilization.

“I’m hoping that he’ll read this and that he’ll give us the money to fix the hill,” he said. “I’m afraid that it might come down on my house.”