Glitch Delays Laguna Landslide Decision

A glitch in a probe measuring movement in the Laguna Beach landslide area early Friday mistakenly alarmed homeowners and city officials who feared the ground might still be shifting.

But by day’s end, no movement had been detected and several homeowners were expected to be allowed to return to their homes Monday.

“We’re feeling much better,” said Hannes Richter, a geotechnic engineer hired by the city. “We’re back where we started. We’re not seeing movement.”

City officials questioned the fallen hillside’s stability Friday morning after an inclinometer detected one-tenth of an inch of slight, but significant, movement. Richter suggested that a portion of the hill west of a cul-de-sac on Madison Place might fail if movement continued.

City officials downgraded the status of some homes, put others into a “state of limbo” with no expected return date, and urged some residents to accelerate property removal.

The news was met with a flurry of questions -- and some tears.

“Now it feels like we’re back to the day of the landslide,” said homeowner Tricia McInnis, 36.

“When you hear there’s movement and potentially another slide, you think, ‘When will it stop?’ ” said Todd MacCallum, a spokesman for the Bluebird Canyon Homeowners Assn. and the owner of a yellow-tagged home.

But by afternoon, officials had discovered an irregularity in the probe that they said may have skewed the morning’s results. “We’re continuing to take readings this weekend and we will reevaluate on Monday,” Richter said.

Forty-eight homes in Bluebird Canyon remain uninhabitable as a result of the June 1 slide. Of them, 22 were destroyed, severely damaged or imperiled. A local relief fund has raised $50,000, with pledges for more.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider announced Friday the launch of Adopt-a-Landslide Family, a national fundraising campaign to collect $150,000 for each red-tagged homeowner.

“We’re not abandoning you. We’re here with you,” she said.

Fundraisers, including the Laguna Relief and Resource Center, which is spearheading the national campaign, said they are fighting an inaccurate perception that the slide’s victims are rich beachfront homeowners.

“Despite what MTV tells the world, this is not the wealthy area,” said Debi Cortez, the center’s executive director. “The [victims] were mostly working-class people who bought the homes when they were only $35,000.”

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank cautioned that more time needs to pass before he is confident that the slide has completely settled. Monday, he said, will hopefully be the first step on the long road toward normalcy: “We’re still optimistic that by noontime on Monday we’ll be able to call 11 people and tell them they can move back in.”