Agoura Hills : Hills to Be Stabilized to Prevent Mudslides

With the rainy season fast approaching, Agoura Hills officials are scrambling to shore up hills in the Via Amistosa neighborhood to prevent damage from mudslides.

Engineers have been hired and the project will go out to bid Sept. 20, City Engineer Elroy Kiepke said. Crews will have to hustle, he said, to finish before the rains come. The work is expected to begin in early October and take about six to eight weeks.

“It’s going to be very tight,” he said, “but doing something is better than doing nothing.”

The city has been unable to move forward because property owners have denied the city access, he said. Those obstacles have been removed, he said, now that the city has purchased two of the homes.

Area property owners whose homes were damaged in a 1993 mudslide sued the city and some litigation is still pending. In May, the city settled with two of the homeowners, agreeing to pay Richard and Elizabeth O’Linn $395,000 and William and Irene Ferber $375,000. The city now owns those homes under the settlement.

The city budget adopted in July includes $950,000 to pay for the repair project. Officials expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to reimburse the city for all but 6% of the cost.

Crews will reconstruct a 30-foot slope above Via Amistosa, Kiepke said. Pilings will be installed to protect a home above the slide area on Calle Montecito, he said.

The O’Linn home will be torn down, Kiepke said, and the city will pay to repair three other homes, including the Ferber home, damaged in the 1993 slide.