City will help to stabilize canyon

Hoping to prevent a landslide that could destroy homes along Morning

Canyon in Newport Beach, city officials plan to shore up the

hillsides and build rock structures to reduce erosion.

The stabilization project, which will cost about $796,000, comes

as a relief to homeowners, who have complained that runoff from the

Pelican Hill golf course and other development in Newport Coast has

scoured away soil from their backyards and left them unstable.

The city began studying the problem in 2004, after owners of about

20 homes on the canyon’s edge asked the city to help pay for a fix

because some of the water was coming from an old city storm drain.

The project will include seven rock structures called gabions that

will slow water coming down the canyon, structures to buttress the

slope, and landscaping with native plants. Two homeowners will pay

for about $300,000 of the work, and some are giving the city

permanent easements on which to build and maintain the gabions.

Initially the city and the residents didn’t agree on who should

pay to fix the problem, but they reached a compromise that will

benefit the homeowners while helping to restore the canyon, said

Steve Badum, Newport Beach’s public works director.

“If there’s damage and homes sliding down the hill, it’s going to

cost a whole lot more and there’ll be plenty of lawsuits for

everyone,” he said. “The council saw that it was the right thing to

do. We’ll spend a few bucks up front and prevent a disaster down the

road.”

The work is scheduled to start in early October so it can be

completed before winter rains start. It will be a race against the

weather, but homeowner Chris Wynkoop will be happy just to see it

started.

“I think they [the City Council] finally addressed a long-overdue

problem, and I’m happy they’re stepping up to the plate,” he said.

“It’s going to allow me to sleep better at night.”

Badum said the erosion problem didn’t come about because someone

did something wrong when they developed their property. Rather, the

science of drainage has simply improved since the area was developed.

Even after the canyon is shored up, the city will continue working to

prevent runoff that ends up in the ocean, he said.

“This is a long-term solution for erosion,” Badum said. “We’re

still going to be working with the upstream residents and property

owners to reduce dry-weather flow.”

The Morning Canyon restoration could also be a model for how to

handle similar problems in Buck Gully, he said.