Palos Verdes Peninsula News
Saturday, June 23, 2007
by Chris Boyd 

Developer aims to fix landslide, build new homes

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Developer Laing Urban plans to stabilize the Deep Valley Drive landslide, which forced the evacuation of businesses in 1997. Once the slide is fixed, the developer wants to build townhouses there.

Laing Urban is willing to foot the bill for nearly half the cost of slide repair.

By Chris Boyd - Peninsula News

    RHE — Since winter 1997, when it forced the evacuation of adjoining businesses, including the Peninsula News office, the Deep Valley Drive landslide has sat covered with tarps and sandbags. It’s an eyesore that rankles city officials and nearby business owners, but Rolling Hills Estates doesn’t have the money that it would take to stabilize it.

    Enter development company Laing Urban, which has plans to secure the landslide and demolish the existing office buildings to make way for 169 residential units, including a series of hillside townhouses, over nearly eight acres from 655 to 683 Deep Valley and 924 to 950 Indian Peak Road.

    “The hillside behind our project is dangerously unstable. The only way to get it fixed … is to have us do the development,” said Philip Simmons of Laing Urban. “If we didn’t do our project, the slope would still need to be stabilized.”

    According to Simmons, fixing the slide would cost the city $16 million to $18 million. But Laing Urban has offered to pay for nearly half ($7 million to $8 million) while relying on public utilities that use the land and possibly the city itself to make up the difference.

    “We have to [rely on other parties]. Otherwise the project can’t be financed,” Simmons said. “Everybody wins if this project moves forward, and everybody loses if it doesn’t.”

    City staff expects to release the draft environmental impact report for the project in the coming months, according to Senior Planner Niki Cutler. Included in the plans are many two-bedroom condos, in addition to some one- and three-bedroom units, a private courtyard with a pool and a public courtyard for people walking along Deep Valley, as well as 14,200 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

    Associate Planner Kelley Thom said the project calls for the export of an estimated 48,200 cubic yards of dirt, a height variance of 17 feet above the city’s requirement of 44 feet and a variance to exceed the city’s three-story limit by two stories.

    “To me it’s all about the safety of the hill,” said RHE Councilman Frank Zerunyan. “I’m not dying to put a bunch of units there.”

    As the EIR hasn’t even hit the streets yet, Zerunyan said he doesn’t know enough about the project, but he does know one thing. “We don’t have $20 million to remedy the hill,” he said. “We still need to hear from Laing Urban. We still need to hear from their seismologists … I hope that Laing Urban comes back with their studies and all of their homework done.”

    Simmons said five geotechnical engineers are studying the landslide and that his company will stabilize it from the bedrock to the top. “Nobody has a bigger interest in making sure it’s safe than we do,” he said.

    What about skeptics who say even the best developer can’t tame Mother Nature? “It simply isn’t true,” Simmons said. “We are removing all of the unstable soil and we are literally rebuilding the hill.”

    However, nearby residents, like Rancho Palos Verdes’ Steve Zurnacian, who lives above the Deep Valley-Silver Spur Road corridor and has monitored development there, have concerns about the project. Zurnacian admits landslide repair could be a “godsend,” but he questions whether Laing Urban can tame it.

    “I’m not sure if they’re going to fulfill all the technical requirements,” he said.

    Zurnacian also worries about the size of the project, which proposes more units — 169 — than the 133 approved so far by City Council in the downtown commercial district. “The other concern is the enormity of the project,” he said. “You are looking at a huge change in the landscape of the commercial corridor … There are a lot of unknowns associated with the design.

    “There is a huge concern about the traffic, parking, air quality and peace and quiet we’ve enjoyed in the neighborhood,” he added. “I don’t think the debate is over on this project.”

    As for the project’s size, Simmons noted the density of 20.9 units per acre complies with city code. “We’re not asking for any higher density than what the current zoning allows,” he said. “We have to do our traffic mitigation and environmental review like everyone else.”

    Simmons said Laing Urban has worked with the city for at least two years and wants to hear the community’s concerns. “We’re trying to talk to everybody and hear what they have to say,” he said, adding that he hopes city officials one day will use the project “to set the standards for future development.”


 Visit the PV News website at:  http://www.pvnews.com/local_news/