O.C. Hill Getting Top-to-Bottom Fix

Hoping to prevent further slippage of a Mission Viejo hillside into six threatened homes, city contractors Thursday began moving soil from the top of the 67-foot-high slope to the bottom.

The city hopes to have the grading done by Saturday, city engineer Rich Schlesinger said.

The hillside had been moving about an inch a day for three weeks but recently has been sliding as much as three inches a day, Schlesinger said, causing pool decks and backyards to buckle. Two weeks ago, contractors placed plastic tarps over the soil to try to keep it dry as crews waited for a break in the recent rain to complete the emergency fix.

The entire hill, not just the topsoil, has been sliding down, and city engineers hope that putting more weight at the bottom will staunch the movement.

As a precaution, the six homes on the 24400 block of Ferrocarril have been deemed uninhabitable, Schlesinger said, while heavy equipment, including two bulldozers, a small excavator and a backhoe, work on the hilltop. In addition, he said, a house at the top of the hill, on the 24400 block of Encorvado, has been yellow-tagged, meaning that access is restricted and that the residents may not stay overnight.

Though crews hired by the city are doing the repair work, Schlesinger said, the homeowners will have to reimburse the city because the slide occurred on private property.