Residents Told to Evacuate Homes

Fearing that their homes are on the verge of sliding down an unstable slope, some residents of an upscale Anaheim Hills neighborhood began evacuating Thursday night on the advice of Caltrans officials.

Heavy winter rains may have undermined seven residences in the 3000 block of Maple Tree Drive, Caltrans officials said. Homes in the area are valued at $350,000 or more, and most have swimming pools and breathtaking views.

“Within the last 36 to 48 hours, we have detected some slipping,” Caltrans spokesman Albert Miranda told a group of residents late Thursday. “We don’t have fear of homes slipping but are concerned with continuing damage. We felt we needed to get out here today to try and avoid any major panic.”

That was not reassuring, though, to Patrick Patterson, whose wife, Kimberly, tearfully loaded the family’s Ford Explorer with bare necessities while Patterson was on a cellular telephone arranging for the rest of their belongings to be moved.

“We were eating dinner and there was a knock on the door,” Patterson said. “A man from Caltrans said, ‘I strongly suggest you leave this house.’ My children left this house 30 seconds after that knock on the door.”

Patterson said he had contacted Caltrans in February, when he noticed a crack in his pool. Next he spotted hairline cracks in his backyard patio. Those crevices, he said, are now several inches wide. He said he did not think that officials took his concerns seriously.

Patterson said he thinks the stability of the hillside was undermined when Caltrans began grading earlier this year to shore up the slope, near the intersection of the Costa Mesa and Riverside freeways.

“There’s no saving this home now,” he said. “If they had started working on it earlier, maybe they could have prevented this. I guess now they can’t say that I’m crazy.”

The Pattersons were among three families advised to leave. Residents of four other houses were notified that their homes are near the endangered properties. Those residents all chose to stay put, Caltrans officials said.

Miranda said Caltrans will pick up the tab for the relocation. The agency has been working since February to complete a $780,000 slope stabilization project on a section of hillside behind Santiago Boulevard between Nohl Ranch Road and Nohl Canyon Road.

Caltrans geotechnical teams have been monitoring the slope for changes. They said the most recent slippage is not related to earlier problems that prompted the agency to evacuate and purchase five other homes on the street. Officials said they plan to resell those houses once they are assured that the hillside is stable.

Jim Dougherty was among those whose homes were purchased. He moved out Dec. 31 but had returned Thursday night to pick up mail.

“We lived here 32 years, but once we saw those cracks, we knew it was time to go,” Dougherty said. “It was a shame to have to leave this beautiful neighborhood.”

Caltrans officials say the portion of the Costa Mesa Freeway adjacent to the neighborhood is not in jeopardy.

The slope “has been heavily saturated with rain because of El Nino storms,” Caltrans spokeswoman Pam Gorniak said. “It did not help our efforts to stabilize it.”

Though the voluntary evacuation notice applied to only seven houses, other residents of the neighborhood were anxious about the stability of their property.

One of them, Jonie Rechsteiner, confronted Caltrans officials and demanded to know what was going on. Then she asked that an inspector come to her house immediately.

“It’s a little scary when your neighbor comes over and says, ‘We have to move.”’ she said.