As crews completed the first phase of repairs following the Oct. 3 Mount Soledad landslide and public interest died down, officials with the City of San Diego and attorneys for homeowners continued to litigate certain issues for many of the affected residents.
Although construction crews are still winterizing the slope to protect against future sliding, the next phase of repairs ” to fix the road and the bank where the homeowners’ property is located ” has not begun.
The city completed the first phase of repairs to the slope and road, which consisted of installing shear pins, but has not started the second phase of construction.
“We still aren’t sure if they have decided to use shear pins or tiebacks to stabilize the slope for the second phase,” said Carol Drummond, public information and media relations officer for the City of San Diego.
But crews continue to stabilize the slope before more rains occur by removing dirt and re-grading dirt that rests on a layer of thin clay called the slide plane, said Steve Borron, a forensic geologist with American Geotechnical.
“The city’s doing repairs and we’re not doing anything to hamper them right now,” said Craig McClellan, attorney for Soledad homeowners affected by the slide.
The second phase, which includes removing about four tons of dirt off Desert View Drive, changing the angle of the bank, installing shear pins and widening the alley, would free up houses that have been locked in from the slide, McClellan said. Although the city posted signs that would allow them to begin construction, no work has started.
Many of McClellan’s clients’ homes are located at the base, or toe, of the slide, in the alley of Desert View Drive. The repairs will affect these homeowners because they own half the bank, while the Mount Soledad Road homeowners own the other half.
The city denied the homeowners’ claims for damages, but McClellan said he expected that outcome.
In the lawsuit against the city, the homeowners are claiming damages as if their homes had already been condemned, McClellan said.
“We’re claiming inverse condemnation, where somebody by their actions takes your property,” McClellan said.