Agoura Hills : City to Accept Bids for Mudslide Repair

Agoura Hills is expected this week to begin seeking bids for the final phase of a project to repair a mudslide that damaged several homes in the city’s Via Amistosa neighborhood.

City Engineer Elroy Kiepke has recommended that the city begin advertising for bids today.

Under Kiepke’s plan, bids would be opened March 27, and construction would begin in May. The first phase, installation of pilings to reinforce the slope, was completed last year, officials said, and the slope has meanwhile been covered with plastic to prevent further erosion.

The final phase will be repair of the roadway along Calle Montecillo, which lies just above the failed slope, officials said. During that phase, which is expected to take about a month, utilities will be shut off to four homes along the street, and residents will be put up in area hotels at the city’s expense, Kiepke said.

He estimated that the remaining work will cost about $520,000. To date, he said, the city has spent $368,000. The city had been approved for a $500,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but it was taken back because the work was not completed within the time frame specified by FEMA, Kiepke said. Homeowners had denied the city access to the property, he said. The city is appealing the FEMA decision.

In a related matter, after a trial in Central West Courthouse, a jury last week absolved the city of Agoura Hills of responsibility for the mudslide, said Girard Fisher, an attorney for Agoura Hills.

The plaintiffs, two homeowners on Via Amistosa and a homeowner on Calle Montecillo, charged that the city had failed to adequately maintain the roadway along Calle Montecillo, which the plaintiffs claimed led to the slope failure, Fisher said. The three homeowners were seeking damages, Fisher said, but Judge James E. Satt ruled against them, saying the slope was on private property.

Craig Collins, an attorney for the homeowners, said they are undecided about an appeal.