City moves on landslide

Barbara Diamond

The ink was barely dry on the city’s new community recovery

coordinator’s business cards when he met with Bluebird Canyon

residents Monday night at the Neighborhood Congregational Church.

Robert Burnham, 61, who recently retired after 20 years as the

highly regarded Newport Beach City Attorney, was hired Monday to

oversee landslide recovery. He will coordinate city efforts to secure

funding for the restoration of the slopes, roads and infrastructure

of the devastated area, and work with displaced families.

“My first priority is to find out what you need,” Burnham told the

residents. “I’m available to you days, evenings and weekends.”

Burnham has lived in Bluebird Canyon for decades and was evacuated,

along with his family, when the landslide occurred.

As of Wednesday, city officials and consultants had no idea what

the cost will be to restore the area. The next update and press

conference were planned for 11 a.m. today in City Council chambers.

However, they brought words of hope to the meeting Monday.

“We are not seeing any [slide] movement around the edges,”

geologist Hannes Richter told the residents at the church. “With

several days of good weather, we should be able to release a

significant number of yellow tags by Monday (June 13).”

Yellow tags identify the homes near the uninhabitable red-tagged

homes in the immediate slide area. Some red-tagged homes may be

upgraded to yellow in subsequent weeks.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider has appealed to the state to

offer vacant, state-owned mobile homes in El Morro to families that

will not soon, if ever, live again in their pre-slide homes. State

Sen. John Campbell and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore have shown support

for the proposal. City Manager Ken Frank said containers and sites

for long-term storage of belongings are almost set.

Geologists rappelled the precipitous scarp face Monday with the

aid of firefighters, Richter said. Monitoring instruments have been

installed in the area and borings will begin, requiring some heavy

equipment -- risky, but necessary, Richter said.

Geologists will read the instruments daily.

“We will try to create roads next week for our vehicles and yours

[stranded by the slide],” Richter said. “We will be drilling for the

next three weeks. A lot of equipment will be needed for large borings

that will determine what the bedrock is doing.”

The information will contribute to the analysis of how to restore

the land, which inevitably will involve re-grading.

Richter said that clay soil 60-110 feet deep slid and the city

will have to go down that deep to begin repairs. In 1978, crews

worked 24 hours a day, under lights at night, to restore that slide.

“We have to do something before the rains begin again this year,”

Richter said. “Pump stations will be installed at Madison and

Flamingo to serve the area for the next couple of years.”

Drainage will have to be rerouted.

“And it would be really, really helpful if residents did not

irrigate the hillsides, even if it means losing a lawn,” the city

manager said.

Frank, known for his hands-on style of management, said it became

clear almost immediately after the slide that it would be impossible

for him to devote the necessary time to the sustained effort that

will be needed for the next two or three years.

He knows what it takes. Frank worked almost around the clock in

the aftermath of the 1993 fire, despite losing his own home. It took

up much of his time in subsequent years.

Frank counted it a boon that Burnham knows the city as a 25-year

resident, and his retirement made him available for the coordinator’s

job.

“Bob will take the leadership in working with the OES [Governor’s

Office of Emergency Services] and the federal government,” Frank

said. “He will supervise the eventual restoration of public and

private facilities.”

Burnham will supervise the specific city staff member assigned to

each displaced family.

After seeing to the welfare of the families, the city’s top

priority is getting funding.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had two teams in town

Monday. One was evaluating public facilities, the other looking at

property damage. The head of state emergency services toured the site

last week.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman announced at the City Council meeting

Tuesday that a coastal commission geologist has agreed to come to

Laguna and share his knowledge of coastal slide conditions.

Congressman Chris Cox also toured the site. He and Sen. Dianne

Feinstein have told the mayor they are ready to move ahead as soon as

the state declares a disaster, a prerequisite for federal funding.

“That would provide funds for restoration and possibly some modest

grants,” Frank said. “If it can be shown that the rains in January

and February, which already were declared a national disaster, caused

the slide, we can piggyback on that and not require a separate

presidential declaration.”

Otherwise the governor must make a declaration of disaster and

pass it on to Washington D.C.

After the fires, some banks declared a moratorium on mortgages

until residents were able to return to their homes. The Laguna Relief

and Resource Coalition was created to assist those victims, and

remains in operation to help slide victims.

Richter said homeowners should contact local geo-tech consultants

and structural engineers to discuss their specific problems -- as

soon as possible.

Pearson-Schneider has talked to the county tax collector about

abating taxes while residents are out of their homes and perhaps

reducing their taxes permanently. Frank said neighbors might also be

eligible for tax reductions -- a major concession from a man who

loathes the thought of less property tax revenue.

For many residents of Bluebird Canyon, their homes are the sum of

their assets and the loss of them means bankruptcy. The majority of

homes in the slide area were built 40-60 years ago, before modern

technology and codes were in place.

“Keeping this story in the media is vital,” Burnham said. “Laguna

Beach is not a rich, white enclave.”

It might be an enclave of resilience. Todd McCallum, who lost his

home, organized the meeting at the church Monday to form a Bluebird

Canyon Neighborhood Association recovery team. He introduced himself

as 994 Bluebird. “That’s my new identity,” he said.

The mayor told the Bluebird Canyon residents that the city stands

shoulder to shoulder with them.

“You are not alone,” she said. “We are with you. We will not

abandon you.

“My goal is to rebuild the hill, the roads, the infrastructure and

to make sure everyone has a pad to rebuild. We will rebuild

together.”