YORBA LINDA : Family Ordered to Leave Their Home

The city has ordered the occupants of a $665,000 hillside house to move out today, saying deep fissures created by a landslide after the winter’s heavy rains have made the dwelling unsafe.

City inspectors condemned Gale and Eric Wardrop’s house on High Tree Circle on Wednesday and gave them 72 hours to move out. The inspectors were concerned about fissures that had developed on the hillside lot and through the middle of the house.

The Wardrops first noticed the cracks in March, following several heavy rainstorms during the previous month.

“We noticed several small cracks and that the deck seemed to be pulling away from the house,” Eric Wardrop said.

Since then, he said, the cracks have widened to fissures that are four feet wide and 40 feet deep. Half of the lot has slipped four feet down the canyon and the 3-year-old house is tilting and crumbling, he said.

Since contacting both the builder and their insurance company, the Wardrops have been playing a waiting game to find out how severe the damage was to their 4,200-square-foot home. The initial consensus from geologists and surveyors was that the house could not be saved. But the family, which includes three children and Eric Wardrop’s parents, decided to stay put.

“We never had any hope that we would be able to save the house, but we wanted to delay making a decision as long as possible,” Eric Wardrop said.

The city’s action did not take the Wardrops by surprise. They have been packing boxes for weeks in anticipation of the condemnation order.

“We knew once the city got involved, it would only be a matter of time before we’d have to leave,” Eric Wardrop said.

The family said they plan to move into a condominium for the time being.

City officials said six homes in Yorba Linda were damaged as a result of landslides caused by the rainstorms, but only the Wardrop house has been condemned.