Council Will Consider Deadlines on Clearing Fire Debris From Lots

Hoping to clear all remaining debris from properties burned in the wildfires of October 1993, the City Council tonight will consider setting deadlines for landowners to remove slabs, walls and other structures from lots.

Under the proposal, landowners would have up to nine months to clear their properties before city initiation of nuisance-abatement proceedings.

Of the 286 houses that were destroyed within the city limits nearly four years ago, 61 lots remain debris-laden but otherwise vacant. Residents and officials say the lots are eyesores in newly rebuilt neighborhoods.

The city has surveyed the littered properties and produced a 76-page report that categorizes them according to the degree of difficulty involved in clearing the debris.

Category I lots are generally on flat surfaces and involve relatively simple demolition work, according to a memo to the council from community development director Kyle Butterwick. The estimated cost of clearing those lots is less than $5,000 each.

Properties in categories II and III present greater challenges for demolition crews. They may be on steeper slopes, have foundations that cascade down a hillside or require detailed advance geotechnical and structural engineering reviews. In some cases, retaining walls or foundation remnants help stabilize an adjoining street or hillside. Debris removal at some of those sites could cost more than $20,000.

“Removal could easily create unstable conditions unless effectively mitigated,” Butterwick’s memo states. It would be wiser to allow structures to remain in some cases, the memo says, such as those involving simple slabs or retaining walls that run alongside a property’s exterior and support a neighbor’s property.

Butterwick is recommending that owners of Category I properties be notified that they must remove the debris by Oct. 15. Owners of the other lots would be given until April 30 to dispose of the ruins.

The 1993 fire damaged or destroyed 441 homes in and around Laguna Beach. While most have been rebuilt, city officials estimate that 10% to 20% of the sites may remain vacant indefinitely.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.

Information: (714) 497-0705.