Rebuilding the canyon

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series about the restoration of the Bluebird Canyon neighborhood devastated by a landslide in June 2005.

As city officials plan to celebrate the reopening of Flamingo Road in Bluebird Canyon next week, landslide victims Jim Moore and John Gustafson have their own reasons for celebrating.

Moore and Gustafson are already deciding who to invite to their first open house in their newly rebuilt home. The story poles are up, and the couple’s proposed home will be presented to the Design Review Board Thursday.

It won’t come soon enough for the pair, who have moved four times in the 2 1/2 years since their home was destroyed.

“We’ve been more than grateful to live in all these different places, but it’s difficult moving all the time,” said Gustafson, who on June 1, 2005, watched from a window as the hill above crumbled toward his home of 21 years.

“I want to go home. I want to enjoy my home and entertain others,” Moore added.

Losing two-thirds of their belongings in the disaster, Moore and Gustafson are not alone in their plight. Eleven homes were demolished and six others severely damaged by the landslide.

The area’s public and private utilities were destroyed and a creek along the canyon floor threatened to flood neighboring homes.

But after 2 1/2 years of engineering, restructuring and rebuilding with help from California’s Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the city of Laguna Beach has cause to celebrate.

  Ribbon-cutting

On Dec. 15, the city will commemorate the completion of the $30-million restoration project, including the reopening of Flamingo Road, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and community picnic.

“We’ve invited everyone who helped on the project — city staff, council members, the planning commission, everyone who worked on the project and all the residents who lost their homes,” said City Manager Ken Frank. “It should be a good crowd and a fine celebration.”

With the area opening for reconstruction, displaced residents have a difficult decision to make.

Some will rebuild. Some will not.

Awaiting Design Review Board evaluation on Thursday, Moore and Gustafson are the first residents to define the perimeters of their planned home with stakes and brightly-colored flags.

“We’re hoping to get over this first hurdle so we can move on to the next step,” Moore said.

  Moving again

If Moore and Gustafson’s plan is approved, they can advance to structural engineering, then building, a process they expect to take at least two years. Meanwhile, they’ll have to move out of the trailer they’ve occupied on a vacant Canyon Acres Drive site since October 2006 and find yet another temporary housing situation.

Despite the financial hardship rebuilding will bring, Moore and Gustafson never wavered in making their decision. They’d lived in the house since 1984 and, aided by Moore’s father, did much of the work themselves when they remodeled in 1994.

They are still unsure how much it will cost or exactly how they will finance it, but they have been living as economically as possible in anticipation of acquiring an “enormous” loan to cover construction of the new dwelling and what remains on the mortgage of their old one.

“We haven’t wanted to buy anything new because we want to have the maximum amount for a new loan,” Gustafson said.

“We’ve tried to live and enjoy life these past two years, but we try to do it as economically as possible,” said Moore. “We go to a lot of free events.”

House had ‘a heart’

Moore describes the proposed residence as more modern and slightly larger than its predecessor, but not large enough to fill the void left by the slide.

“I always thought that house had a heart and when the landslide hit, it totally broke our hearts,” Gustafson said. “We want to get back there. We want to rebuild, though we know it isn’t going to be easy.”

“We love Laguna Beach and we love our neighborhood,” Moore added. “It’s not going to be the same, but we hope the future will bring back somewhat of a natural canyon.”

Moore and Gustafson consider themselves fortunate to have met local architect Horst Noppenberger and landscaper Steve Kawaratani in the aftermath of the landslide, both of whom donated their design services to the couple.

“One positive thing has been that we’ve met a lot of new friends as a result of the landslide,” Moore said. “People we can entertain in our new house.

“But it will be a potluck.”

LANDSLIDE FACTS

When it happened: around 6:30 a.m., June 1, 2005

What happened: A major landslide ruptured Flamingo Road, causing the road and surrounding area to slump 30-plus feet. The road and homes dropped, and the entire area of some 300 homes was evacuated. No one was seriously injured.

Most residents returned to their homes within days, but about two dozen homes were red-tagged as uninhabitable.

A total of 11 homes were demolished and the remainder were able to be repaired.

Why it happened: Unprecedented winter rains saturated deep soil, causing a slip 100 feet below the surface of Bluebird Canyon.

What happened next: Landslide families who lost their dwellings were “adopted” in a unique program created by then-Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider, which gave them monetary aid and free housing if needed.

After the city was denied help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, city officials petitioned Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who visited the area and interceded in obtaining critical financial assistance to replace infrastructure and make the area safe.

Voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase to offset the costs of the landslide and create a disaster fund for future responses.

What it cost: The total cost of restoring the landslide-affected area is now up to $30 million.

What now: The first home to be replaced in the area will go to Design Review Thursday, with more to follow.

Flamingo Road will be reopened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Dec. 15.