Anaheim Slides Have Fractured More Than Houses

To the right, five spacious homes now sit abandoned. To the left, three more sit vacant, cracking and creaking into the night.

Those who still live in the ridge-top community that runs along Maple Tree Drive in Anaheim Hills can do little but try to pick up the pieces as their neighbors slowly pack up and move away because of the sliding hillside below, said Don Hanashey, who has lived on Maple Tree Drive for 17 years.

“It is extremely sad and pretty bizarre,” Hanashey said of the shrinking community. “Fortunately, lives were not threatened or lost.”

The first slide hit in January 1997, forcing the emergency evacuation of five homes closest to Nohl Canyon Road. Those homes have remained vacant. A second slide on April 16 of this year forced another three homes to be abandoned, leaving the neighborhood in a state of disarray.

The California Department of Transportation, which owns the hillside below Maple Tree Drive, bought and repaired the homes damaged in 1997. Caltrans entered into negotiations last week to buy the three recently damaged homes and has left a standing offer to do the same for other homeowners who no longer want to live in the area.

It remains unclear what caused the slide. Some residents have blamed Caltrans, which has been working in the hillside area since 1996 and began a $780,000 hill stabilization project in February. But the transportation agency said the cause of the slide has not been determined.

“Until the data can be analyzed, we do not feel a conclusive cause [for the sliding] can be determined,” Caltrans spokeswoman Pam Gorniak said.

The agency has been working closely with homeowners to keep them updated, and in the process has noticed a tight relationship among neighbors, Gorniak said.

“The community has been there for 20 to 30 years,” Gorniak said. “They are very close-knit and really look out for one another.”

For example, when the disaster struck, neighbors were quick to offer a helping hand, a place to stay for the night or assistance moving personal belongings to safety. They also offered their sympathy.

“If that was my house [that slid] I would be freaking out now,” Hanashey said. “It was real unfortunate what happened. It makes you think, ‘It could have been me.’ ”

Many of the residents who remain said they are worried about home values. But Mike Harrison, who sells homes for Touchdown Real Estate in Anaheim, said the demand for homes in the upscale neighborhood has not declined.

“People who want to buy [property] in Anaheim have heard stories of the sliding,” Harrison said. “But there has been little effect. I’d say about one in 50 [prospective buyers] has asked questions about it.”

But Harrison said securing loans for a home in the area is a legitimate concern.

“When the home is the only collateral, lenders may be a little cautious of loaning $300,000 to $400,000 for houses that may meet an act of God not covered by insurance.”

At least one resident said she was in the process of selling her home when the buyer’s bank loan fell through, an abrupt reversal that was blamed upon all the publicity about the slide.

Hanashey said he doesn’t believe the slides will have an impact on real estate in the area. The breathtaking view from Maple Tree Drive makes the turmoil worth it, he said.

“This is the payoff for the burden,” he said as he gazed down upon a panoramic view of Orange County and a 50-mile radius that allows him to look as far as the San Gabriel Mountains and Catalina Island. “I’m on top of the world here.”

Others shared that feeling, until recently.

“It has been very traumatic,” Patty Hurst said as she helped move her aunt’s belongings from the Maple Tree Drive home where she lived for decades. “It is not easy leaving a place you decorated, landscaped and loved for over 30 years.”

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A Neighborhood Divided

The moving earth along Anaheim’s Maple Tree Drive has fractured more than a hillside. Neighbors used to looking out for one another now have gone separate ways, not an easy experience even if Caltrans is picking up the tab for damaged homes. Owners of three homes damaged in the most recent slide are in negotiations with Caltrans, while five homes bought after a January slide have closed escrow and will be put on the market.

Source: Caltrans