Mission Viejo Residents Dig for Answers

Workers have begun drilling the first of five holes on an unstable hill in a Mission Viejo neighborhood to drop a geologist 70 feet inside to learn why the slope has moved and forced the evacuation of some residents.

Test results are due in about two weeks.

Much of Mission Viejo was carved out of hills in the late 1960s. Steep knolls like the one that is sliding are found throughout the city. But city officials say there is little likelihood of the same situation happening elsewhere.

City Engineer Rich Schlesinger said that sometimes the top 3 feet of a hill might slide. This one, though, is much deeper. “It tells us something bigger is going on,” he said.

Five homes on Ferrocarril were evacuated this week when the 67-foot hill behind to slide; a sixth, on Encorvado Lane atop the slope, was also vacated. Backyards that were once flat are bulging mounds of earth while walkways have been destroyed. The backyard of a home on the top of the slope has dropped 5 feet.

Even those who haven’t been asked to leave are nervously watching the hill above them. Ramona Wilkerson, 57, has packed a trunkload of clothes.

City engineers are keeping an eye on the house of her next-door neighbor whose pool deck is cracking.

“It never crossed my mind,” Wilkerson said. “A tremor from an earthquake now and then perhaps, but I never dreamed that the hill would come down.”

Unlike Malibu or the Hollywood Hills, these aren’t daring homes built on a crumbling beachfront bluff or hillside mansions atop poles.

This is Mission Viejo, one of Orange County’s master-planned inland communities, known for its rolling hills and cul-de-sac neighborhoods. Residents had been attracted to the hillsides and green open space of their 30-year-old city.

But belying the beauty is the risk of landslides. And during this winter’s record rainfall, Southern California has been seeing its fair share of creeping earth.

Mission Viejo’s hillsides are private property; residents must pay for their own geology surveys and hillside repairs. The six affected property owners do not know how much their hillside study will cost.

Insurance agents who surveyed the homes this week told residents that their policies don’t cover landslides.

But homeowners may have some recourse. Landslide victims in Laguna Niguel and Anaheim have received settlements from developers.

“It’s tough with a 40-year-old project, but there may be exceptions,” said Paul Hegness, an attorney who has represented landslide victims against developers.

Schlesinger emphasized that homeowners are responsible for maintaining vegetation and drainage channels on their hillsides.

The channels on the hillside above Ferrocarril were filled with debris and vegetation, he said. “We’re not saying it caused the problem, but it was certainly a contributing factor,” Schlesinger said.

Schlesinger said the city had a specialist investigating what federal aid programs, loans and other assistance the homeowners might qualify for.

On Ferrocarril, Linda Rogers said federal funding was her only hope. She has come back to the house her parents live in every day.

“It’s just horrible. It’s something you don’t think was going to happen to you,” she said.

Two months ago she moved her parents, Ken and Phyllis Craft, into the house. They left their longtime home in San Bernardino to be closer to their children.

Weeks after laying new flooring in the bathrooms and installing custom kitchen cabinets, the Crafts had to vacate Tuesday evening.

“They put their life savings into that house and at that age, it’s very devastating,” Rogers said.

A dejected Ken Craft, 78, stood outside the house Friday shaking his head. “We moved in here two months ago and now I’m living out of a suitcase,” he said. “We were planning on spending the rest of our lives here.”