Relief in Sight for Laguna Beach?

Four months after a devastating landslide destroyed or damaged 20 homes in a Laguna Beach canyon, Sen. Dianne Feinstein toured the slide area Tuesday and vowed to help the city secure federal disaster funding.

Flanked by a throng of news cameras, Feinstein gazed at the barren Bluebird Canyon hillside from a dirt clearing where three homes had stood before the June 1 slide. Neighbors listened, while Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider introduced the senator to landslide victims.

“I think this is heartbreaking,” Feinstein said, gesturing to the hillside. “It’s much more dramatic to be here and see it than to see it on television.”

City officials said they hope Feinstein’s support will bolster their appeal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which in August denied a request to help fund repairs to the Bluebird Canyon hillside.

The rejection dealt a heavy blow to the city of 24,000, which was counting on FEMA to cover about one-third of the rebuilding cost.

The senator is the first highly influential politician to view the fallen hillside since the first days after the disaster. Former Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) visited the site within the first week.

“I think most people recognize that she’s a senior senator from California, and, even though she’s a Democrat, I think she’s well respected by people of both parties,” said City Manager Ken Frank. “She has some influence and authority.”

Feinstein suggested Laguna Beach might be able to obtain federal funds to replace the public infrastructure through a transportation bill. The senator also pledged to try her best to have the Bluebird Canyon slide folded into earlier presidential federal disaster declarations, despite the initial denial.

She said she plans to contact FEMA officials directly, ask them to see the slide area for themselves and reconsider multiple geologists’ reports that blame heavy rains for the slide. City, state and federal geologists said winter rains caused the landslide, but FEMA officials disagreed.

Landslide victim Jill Lockhart came with her two young children and told Feinstein her family hopes to rebuild.

“We want our house back,” said Lockhart, whose Flamingo Road home was destroyed.

Afterward, Lockhart said she was heartened by Feinstein’s visit. “Just the fact that she came was a huge sign and hopefully a step in the right direction,” she said.Bluebird Canyon resident Craig Lockwood also came out for Feinstein’s visit, which lasted a little more than 30 minutes.

“To this neighborhood, which has been so impacted ... the attention of any major political figure like the senator is important,” Lockwood said.

Repairs to the hillside will cost between $12 million and $15 million. If federal officials reverse their decision, Frank estimated that Laguna Beach could obtain as much as $5 million in federal aid to help pay for rebuilding public infrastructure.

“We’re just asking for some help. We’ll do most of it ourselves,” he said. Residents go to the polls Dec. 13 to vote on a half-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase that would generate $1.7 million over six years, much of which likely will be used to pay for the slide.

Laguna Beach deserves the same treatment as Culver City, which received disaster aid from FEMA after winter rains collapsed a saturated hillside, Frank said. “Fair treatment is all we’re asking for,” he said.

City officials expect the federal government to respond to their appeal by mid-November.