Residents on Hill, and Below It, Left to Wait, Wonder

LAGUNA NIGUEL — In the midst of the guards, security fences, work trucks and the wreckage of collapsed houses, one man walked out of his doomed residence Saturday with perhaps his last fistful of happy memories from Via Estoril street: A small bouquet of colorful, hand-picked flowers.

“I know it’s not much to take out, but . . . “ said Harold Greenberg with a shrug, clutching the flowers as a security guard closed a cyclone fence behind him. “We have to get out.”

Along a row of nine condemned houses, many of the residents already have moved, and some have begun settling into temporary rental housing.

But day after day, they come back to these places that once housed their lives and loved ones, places they can no longer use because of the unstable hill they were built upon.

“We come back every day,” said Dr. Charles Kovan, whose home was one of the first two that fell down the hill early Thursday morning. “We still own the property. We still make the mortgage payments, believe it or not. It’s still ours.”

Three have partially or completely collapsed, tumbling down the man-made slope. Several others threaten to drop as the hillside continues shifting from a combination of thousands of tons of fill dirt, heavy rains and natural formations prone to slippage.

At the bottom of the hill, the 41-unit Crown Cove condominium complex is nearly in ruins, more than half of its dwellings evacuated because of the force of the sliding hillside.

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Niguel Summit, developed within the last 12 years by Hon Development, J.M. Peters Co. and others, is a community of 1,400 houses of unmistakably South County vintage: pale yellow, light peach or white stucco with red tile roofs. They grow across the hillsides like chaparral.

Most have four bedrooms, three baths and a bonus room. The literature promised yards with 180-degree panoramas that included views of the ocean, mountains and city lights.

“They were really something,” said Barbara Millar, who moved in nine years ago with her husband, Ward, a Korean War hero. “People would wait for one to fall out of escrow so they could grab it.”

Like Kovan, the Millars’ house collapsed and tumbled into the ravine on Thursday morning. A part of the front of Kovan’s garage remains standing, framing the panoramic view he once enjoyed from his pool. The Millars’ house is completely flattened.

Richard and Susan Olsson were original owners, buying 11 years ago.

“I bought the house because of the location, the view and the reputation of J.M. Peters,” Richard Olsson said. The hillside underneath his house on Via Estoril has slipped away, and the Olssons have moved.

But each day, they return to Via Estoril to look, talk and think. They have losses that their attorneys said can’t begin to be measured. These houses were intended to be retirement homes.

Now they cannot obtain home equity loans on the damaged or destroyed dwellings. As retirees, they have difficulty borrowing on their own. They haven’t been able to enjoy lower interest rates because they cannot refinance their houses.

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In addition to making mortgage payments and paying insurance bills, they also pay homeowners dues, and, in some cases, utilities if they are still connected. They continue doing so, they say, because they remain responsible for their property and hope to one day recover.

“Everybody’s looking for some sort of closure, hoping for closure,” Kovan said.

The property owners have sued developers in a complicated legal tangle in Laguna Niguel. Another suit has been filed by the condominium owners at the base of the hill against developers and the homeowners association that represents residents of Niguel Summit.

Residents of Niguel Summit met Saturday at Laguna Niguel City Hall in an informational session. Condo owners are scheduled to meet today.

Some Niguel Summit residents not affected by the landslide fear other portions of the hillsides may become unstable. In response to the concerns, experts with American Geotechnical, under contract to the Niguel Summit homeowners association, will install ground sensors to monitor the hillside upslope from Via Estoril.

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The hillside has been moving at a rate of one-eighth of an inch each hour, or about 3 inches a day, said Ralph K. Jeffery, principal geologist of American Geotechnical. He said that, for now, houses north of the slide area appear safe and solid.

In all, 30 houses and condo units have been evacuated, and city officials hope the number will hold. However, losses are well into millions of dollars and residents need help immediately, said an attorney for the condo dwellers.

“Half of the units are empty and the other half have people who are wondering what the heck is going to happen,” said Thomas E. Miller, the attorney. “They’re sitting there with their life savings in these places.”

The developers have said they are considering offering buyouts to residents affected by the disaster, even though they insist the landslide was primarily a natural failure.