Bluebird Canyon push to meet deadline

The Bluebird Canyon hillside restoration is shaping up.

Restoration of the hillside that slid into the canyon June 1, 2005 is progressing toward a completion date of March 31, according to an update presented Tuesday to the City Council. The slide damaged 21 homes, 12 of which were destroyed, and buried city infrastructure.

To meet the target date, city officials said the contractor is expected to work six-day work weeks from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and possibly some Sundays, if needed, to make up for rain delays. Missing the deadline could be costly, because the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could decline reimbursement for costs incurred after March 31.

“I would like to see the workers work longer and faster so the work could be completed even sooner,” said Kelly Viszolay, a neighbor who witnessed the devastation firsthand.

To date, city officials said, the Bluebird Canyon drainage project has been completed, the headscarp of the slide has been stabilized with a large shoring wall and beam complex, erosion and flow control devices have been installed to minimize and ensure the quality of storm water run-off, and the Flamingo Road reconstruction is ready for mass grading in mid-January.

The initial phase of the Flamingo Road project involved the removal of about 60,000 cubic yards of dirt from the site, extensive excavation and recompaction of the soil to guarantee a solid buttress for the slope and related improvements.

“I want to thank the residents who have been living with this construction,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “We owe them a truckload of thanks.”

The sooner restoration is completed, the sooner displaced families can begin to rebuild the homes they lost. It won’t be easy.

“The victims are encountering significant problems as they attempt to rebuild,” Community Recovery Coordinator Bob Burnham said. “Unlike fire victims, the landslide victims did not have, and could not have purchased, insurance.

“Accordingly, they don’t have insurance proceeds to make existing debt service payments [mortgages] or pay living expenses and — on top of those obligations — the victims must borrow more money to rebuild and then make payments on the second loan.”

The city will waive construction fees for rebuilds of 3,500 square feet or less and ease design review requirements to try to cut costs and red tape — some of the same measures that were offered people who lost homes in the 1993 Firestorm.

“This last year has taken a terrible toll on our landslide families,” Pearson-Schneider said. “I am supportive of anything that helps them.”

The update Tuesday included a concept plan for re-vegetation, prepared by landscape architect Frederick Thomas Hume.

“Our primary objectives are to create a riparian woodland theme and preserve views,” Hume said.

Costs for the completed restoration are now estimated at $20.5 million. The increase comes as no surprise to city officials, who have seen the budgets blown on almost every capital project due to increases in the costs of material and labor, and partially due to glitches in some slope movement that slowed construction.

The good news is that the costs are covered. Federal and state emergency funds will pay for all but about $1.6 million of the estimated total, and that will be funded by revenue from the temporary half-cent sales increase that voters approved last winter. All of the public money will be used to restore public land and property, not to build private homes.

Tax revenues should fill the funding gap within a year. Another two years will be needed to salt a $3-plus million permanent disaster fund — which could mean an early termination for the tax, which has a six-year sunset.