State to Study La Conchita’s Slide Problem

More than a year after a mudslide killed 10 people and destroyed 15 homes in La Conchita, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday announced plans for a study to determine how to prevent future slides in the area.

Homeowners have been pressing for money to stabilize the hillside in the aftermath of the Jan. 10, 2005, slide, which sent 400,000 tons of rain-soaked rock and mud into four blocks of La Conchita. But Ventura County officials have rejected their pleas, arguing that it is not safe for anyone to live in the area and that future slides could subject the county to lawsuits.

Now, the governor has set aside $667,000 for a yearlong study that will “examine the geologic, economic, social and environmental factors necessary to craft a sound and equitable solution,” said Fred Aguilar, the governor’s cabinet secretary.

“While several studies on the geology of La Conchita have been completed,” he said, “these have not been focused on finding solutions.”

Aguilar said the study would be a “collaborative process” involving those trying to determine whether to stabilize the hillside above the hamlet nestled between Ventura and Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County.

This is not the first time experts have grappled with how to prevent slides in La Conchita.

A $1.5-million geologic study performed after a 1995 slide, which crushed nine homes, estimated it could cost up to $150 million to stabilize the hillside. Engineers considered options including terracing the slopes, installing a drainage system and building retaining walls.

And last October, UC Santa Barbara geologists said that a “mega-slide” occurred in the La Conchita area more than 20,000 years ago and that another giant slide is possible, because a major fault bisects Rincon Mountain behind the town.

But homeowner representatives Thursday welcomed the governor’s pledge to study the problem anew.

“There were actually tears in the community when they heard about this,” said Mike Bell, chairman of the La Conchita Community Organization. “This study will be the definitive report on what can be done to stabilize this area.”

Bell dismissed claims that the area is beyond hope.

“I’m not fearful of the megaslide theory at all,” he said. “If you’re not able to build on areas of an ‘ancient slide,’ then nothing would ever have been built in Santa Monica, Malibu or Pacific Palisades.”

The first meeting of the study’s oversight group is set for the second week of April.

Among those the state has invited to participate are the homeowners, La Conchita Ranch Co., Caltrans and Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the tracks separating La Conchita from the ocean.

Several federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Geological Survey and the federal Department of Transportation, will serve as advisors.

Ventura County officials will also participate, despite the county’s opposition to trying to stabilize the site.

Supervisor Steve Bennett, who represents the La Conchita area, said the Board of Supervisors is set to designate a representative to the study group at the board meeting Tuesday.

In January, families of the 10 residents who died in the slide filed wrongful-death suits against the county and La Conchita Ranch Co., which grows nearly 700 acres of avocados and citrus on a bluff above the town.

Separate lawsuits also were filed on behalf of eight people who were injured and the owners of more than a dozen homes that were destroyed.