Big Mt. Soledad project nears completion

Eight years after a landslide in the Mt. Soledad area destroyed nine homes and damaged dozens of others, the city is replacing a storm drain that stopped a third of the way down the steep, unstable slope.

Bill Harris, spokesman for the city's Stormwater Division, confirmed that heavy construction on the eastern slope from Desert View Drive down to the I-5 is being done by the city to replace 230 feet of drain pipe with 730 feet that will take the water down to the bottom of the hill.

"We are stabilizing the street and the hillside," Harris said. "It's a big project that has been a long time coming."

Work began in July, with the contractor's crew digging up the old drainage pipe and replacing it. Drainage-eroded areas are being filled in with gravel (it looks like concrete) and finishing off the $5 million job with plants to keep the soil stable.

"Once the construction is finished, we're going to restore the hillside with native plants," Harris said. "We're going to button it all up and resurface the street." The project should be finished in January, he said.

If you stand at the driveway entrance to Costco on Morena Boulevard, you can get a good look at the entire project. Desert View has a history of devastating slides caused by water leaks, its location near the Rose Canyon Fault, and a host of other factors that have been argued in many forums.

In October of 2007, a big chunk of the slope slid and rendered nine homes uninhabitable; as many as 52 homes needed repairs ranging from minor to major. Residents had started noticing land movement in July of that year and had been reporting to the city as the street cracked and their homes tilted downward.

About 65 homeowners sued the city and lost at trial in 2009. They fought the verdict and eventually settled with the city for $284,000 in 2010. The whole thing became part of a course curriculum for a 101-level class called “Science and the Public Good” at California State University Sacramento.

According to the La Jolla Light, the area has a history of slope instability.

"A landslide that destroyed seven homes under construction occurred in December of 1961. In 1989, a landslide occurred on the 5600 block of Desert View Drive, and in 1994 a landslide affected the canyon below the 5800 block."

Residents on the east side of the I-5 report being awakened by noises during night work. Harris confirmed that there were deliveries being made at night, though he said no work was being done.

Our tipster, on the east side, begs to differ, saying there's been midnight construction to shore up the hill and the city is staving off lawsuits from people who shouldn't live on unstable ground to begin with.

“We're looking at a giant construction effort meant to prevent homeowners who built their homes on crumbling sandstone cliffs from suing the city again when their houses slide down the hill. Again," our tipster wrote.