A series of ongoing issues are suddenly coalescing and threatening the future of two mobile home parks along Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades: Palisades Bowl and Tahitian Terrace. The situation has become especially complex and harrowing for homeowners in these two parks (just north of Temescal Canyon Road) because of the projected cost to repair the slumping hillside below Asilomar Boulevard and above the parks. This cost is conservativeloy estimated at $40 million, according to a city spokesperson who is not authorized to be quoted. The City of Los Angeles owns the uppermost portion of the endangered hillside’an easement next to Asilomar Boulevard. The middle portion of the hill belongs to Tahitian Terrace owner Desmond McDonald, and the bottom portion is owned by Palisades Bowl, LLC, for Eddie Biggs. Who will pay for the ultimate remediation? Councilman Bill Rosendahl said that this hasn’t been determined yet. ‘I have no clarity where the money will come from,’ he told the Palisadian-Post. ‘We’re investigating the options.’ In 2005, 11 Bowl units were evacuated because of land slippage. Two years later, the three hillside owners hired Ninyo & Moore, a geotechnical consulting firm in Irvine, to investigate and make recommendations. In addition to analyzing soil samples, checking groundwater and measuring slope movement, the firm’s engineers also examined historical photographs and prior reports done in 1958, 1962, 1980 and 2001, and concluded that the Asilomar slope has older and younger landslide deposits as well as an area of recent movement. The younger landslide area extends below the residential property located at 405 Puerto Del Mar, extending to the toe of the slope (Palisades Bowl) and then under the existing North Terrace Drive (Tahitian Terrace). The older landslide area is 85 feet or more below ground surface and extends beneath the mobile home parks into Santa Monica Bay, The report summary, which was released last August, stated that ‘the existing slope condition is slowly creeping with more significant movement during inclement weather.’ In a three-month period, inclinometers placed in the ground to 39 feet measured a 2.7 inch land movement. This movement also incapacitated the instruments from giving further readings. In their report, Ninyo & Moore recommended the following actions: ‘ A pile-supported wall at the top of the slope with tie-back anchors be constructed; ‘ removal of the active landslide deposits below that wall; ‘ and reconstructing the slope below the wall. The report noted that existing mobile homes in the vicinity of the active landslide mass near the north end of Kontiki Way and the south side of North Terrace Drive at Tahitian Terrace should be relocated during the reconstruction period. Prior to the removal of the landslide deposits, a soldier pile wall would be constructed near the top of the landslide and could include as many as 130 cast-in-drilled hole reinforced piles (36-inch-diameter) with five-foot spacing. Once grading is completed, a portion of this 30-ft.-high wall would also become a permanent retaining wall. The same spokesperson for the city who cannot be quoted said that once the design is completed, the project put out to bid and residents relocated, construction would take a minimum of one year. Residents of Palisades Bowl (which has 170 leased spaces) received a letter last month from Richard Norris, attorney for owner Biggs, that stated: ‘The greatest single problem for the Park is the fact that the hillside behind the Park is sliding.’ Norris writes that Biggs is involved in a never-ending series of lawsuits pertaining to the Park, combined with continuing litigation with tenants and the City of Los Angeles, and that his Park is operating at a loss without sufficient rents to cover operation costs or to finance ongoing litigation. According to the letter, Biggs tried to raise rents, but was denied by the L.A. rent control board. He has also tried to convert the Park to condo ownership (tenants own the homes, but not the land, which is what they pay rent on), but the City of L.A. refused to allow his request to proceed. The letter also threatens that unless tenants purchase the Park, dismiss all pending litigations against him, and take on the responsibility for the resolution of the landslide, Biggs may file for bankruptcy. Norris also claims that Biggs recently received an offer of about $40 million from an international hotel developer. At Tahitian Terrace, McDonald has his 22-acre site (which has 158 mobile home spaces) listed on a Coldwell Banker Real Estate Web site, but realtor Adrienne Barr told the Post on Monday, ‘We are not technically listing the property right now.’ McDonald has initiated the condo conversion process at Tahitian Terrace. Residents have been told that the prices for buying the land under their mobile homes may cost from $400,000 to $1 million, which for many seniors and low-income residents isn’t possible. Although no one is forced to buy, many mobile home owners oppose conversion because once one home undergoes conversion, local rent control for all residents is removed. Low-income residents no longer come under city control, and those with moderate income who have been under rent control face rent increases over a four-year period to market value. When several residents, who oppose the conversion, raised questions about the liability of the hillside, they were given the following information by the Tahitian Terrace board: ’Tahitian Terrace is not legally liable for the repair of the hillside. The slide was caused by a combination of natural geology and numerous offsite sources of causation. Based on all available opinions from the appropriate experts in geology, civil engineering and law, Azul Pacifico, Inc. (McDonald is president) and Tahitian Terrace have no legal liability (duty) to repair the hillside failure financially or physically. Without making promises, Azul Pacifico will, in all likelihood, retain responsibility for the repair of the hillside. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each lot will be allocated to Tahitian Terrace’s goodwill participation in the prospective repair of the hillside.’ ’We know its prime real estate and its beautiful land, but the bluffs are not just for the super rich,’ said Councilman Rosendahl, who added that he’s committed to the people living in the two mobile home parks. ‘It’s a different day, now, from when someone could come in and buy the land and then throw people off.’
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
