Landslide Victims Discuss Tax District : Rebuilding: San Clemente residents learn about geological hazard abatement zone that could help them with loans, bond sales or special taxes.

SAN CLEMENTE — Looking for ways to deal with the slide-ravaged cliffs threatening their homes, La Ventana Street residents and others living on the bluffs met Thursday night to discuss taxing themselves to pay for repairing the unstable slopes.

About 125 homeowners packed a local church to get advice from state and local officials on setting up a geological hazard abatement district in their community.

“We want to learn whether there is support in the neighborhood for this,” said Peter Shikli, a La Ventana resident who lost his house in the massive Feb. 22 landslide that ruined five homes and will cause Pacific Coast Highway to be closed for months. “We need to find some way to solve the problems created by the slide.”

The special district could allow residents to raise money through increased property taxes, bond sales or loans. The money could be used to help shore up the shaky ground underneath their homes by paying for drainage-pipe installation, installing retaining walls or several other possible measures.

The district would affect about 200 homes that line a two-mile section of bluff tops that stretch from Capistrano Beach to San Clemente. A majority of the homeowners would have to approve the plan for the independent public agency to be created.

If approved, a governing board from the neighborhood would be appointed to decide how to raise and spend the money.

Many homeowners in the audience said they favored the district, although several others expressed concerns about whether the neighborhood should share the entire cost of the massive cleanup.

“I’m being asked to fund all of this, yet there are other agencies responsible” for damage caused by the slide, said Addison DeBoi, who lives in a home on the cliffs.

The hazard abatement district would be the first in Orange County, said officials. Since 1979, six other similar districts have been set up throughout the state.

Some of the officials who have worked with the hazard abatement districts were on hand Thursday night to share their experiences with beleaguered San Clemente homeowners.

Allan Barrows, a senior geologist with the California Division of Mines and Geology, said the special district helped Rancho Palos Verdes residents stabilize their property in 1979.

“I really hope you folks listen to this” discussion on the special district, he said. “It’s a good, proactive way of dealing with these problems.”

Other officials expressed support for the hilltop residents.

“It’s very admirable of them to try and take care of things themselves rather than turning around and saying ‘let’s sue somebody,’ ” said Betty Anderson, administrative assistant for 73rd District Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside). “They might not be able to cover the entire cost of the project themselves, but they may be able to lend some very valuable assistance.”

Jim Holloway, San Clemente community development director, agreed with Anderson.

“I like the fact that they’re coming together and organizing to come up with solutions,” Holloway said. “A lot of times neighborhoods go one of two ways--they either band together to solve their problems or fracture and create more problems. I think what’s happening here is very positive.”

The late-night slide sent thousands of tons of rubble cascading down to Pacific Coast Highway, covering the road with up to 30 feet of debris in places.

The slide tore apart Shikli’s home and left four others hanging precariously over the edge of the ruined bluffs. City officials have condemned all five houses and consider four adjoining homes to be vulnerable to another further earth movement.

The homeowners group would have to submit a plan of control that details what steps could be taken to deal with the slide area.

Options extended by geologists Thursday night ranged from extreme moves, such as rerouting Pacific Coast Highway, to installing a 30-foot retaining wall at the foot of the bluffs.

All methods will be expensive, but not as costly as not taking action, geologists said. The amount of money needed to make repairs is not known.

“Your bluffs for at least 30 years were left as they are,” said Steve Peter, a principal owner of Peter & Associates, a San Clemente engineering firm. “They haven’t been maintained, and everyone has turned their back to them so far.”