More Bluebird homes fine to occupy

Cindy Frazier

Families of 18 evacuated residences on the periphery of the Bluebird

Canyon landslide were told the good news Monday that they can return

to their homes.

Also, two red-tagged homes -- deemed too dangerous to enter

without an escort -- were upgraded to “yellow” status, meaning that

the owners may enter them but may not spend the night.

The action came after city officials determined that an earlier

report of movement on Madison Place was in error, and that the area

is stable.

On Friday morning, city officials warned homeowners of a possible

new landslide in Bluebird Canyon, and also downgraded the status of

some homes. Officials revised their findings by 4 that afternoon,

after a recheck of inclinometers installed in the area to measure

earth movement.

“Additional monitoring since Friday and today indicates no

movement at the surface or at depth,” Hannes Richter, city geologist,

said Monday.

Six inclinometers have been installed around the landslide, and

four more will be put in this week on Flamingo Road, in the middle of

the slide zone.

Richter said the erroneous reading was attributed to an anomaly in

the inclinometer at a depth of 20 feet, unrelated to any movement of

earth.

The inclinometers consist of plastic pipe, 3 1/2 inches in

diameter, which are set into boreholes 100 feet deep in the soil. The

pipes have vertical grooves down their length, and the measuring

instrument lowers down the middle of the pipe with wheels that sit in

the grooves. The instrument measures the alignment of the pipes to

indicate any movement in the soil.

The first drilling directly into the slide zone was conducted

Monday morning, Richter said.

Richter said that Sunday’s 5.6-earthquake near Anza, felt

throughout much of Southern California, did not cause any further

sliding at Bluebird Canyon.

The homes certified for reoccupancy on Monday are: 963 Oriole

Drive; 910 and 916 Bluebird Canyon Drive; 1007, 1095, and 1096

Flamingo Road; 1095 and 1099 Dyer Place; 1020, 1034, 1046, 1051,

1056, 1089, 1061, 1070, 1080 and 1081 Madison Place.

Six homes may be certified as safe for reoccupancy on Monday, June

20 with geotechnical approval. They are: 959 and 919 Oriole Drive; 930 and 940 Bluebird Canyon Drive; 1021 Didrikson Way; and 1015

Flamingo Road.

On Friday, Bob Burnham, the newly hired community recovery

coordinator, said his office will be meeting with affected families

to assess their needs.

“We will profile every resident to give appropriate assistance,

and to match resources with the needs of impacted residents,” Burnham

said.

Also on Friday morning, City Manager Ken Frank told residents of

the worst-affected properties not to expect to get back into the

slide-devastated area for at least two years.

That’s the least amount of time it will take to determine how to

stabilize the hillside.

Answering a question posed by one woman, “When will we get back

our lives,” Frank said the next step will be to “winterize” the

canyon so it won’t slip during next year’s winter rains.

City officials must assess the cause of the slide and decide what,

if anything, can be done to make the area safe for rebuilding.

“Things are moving faster than in the first Bluebird Canyon

landslide [in 1978], but we need to handle the slope and the stream,

and get the area winterized, and then in the spring see what can be

done,” Frank said.

“The best case would be that you could start rebuilding in two

years.”