It will cost about $8.5 million to stabilize the moving ground beneath San Clemente’s Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens and the City Council has agreed to spend that money, even if it means work on a footbridge near the beach needs to be delayed.
The council approved recently the emergency repairs at the estate, once home to city founder Ole Hansen, which is owned by the city but operated by a nonprofit. The casa and its 2.5 acres of grounds are used for public art programs, as a place where schoolchildren learn about the beach town’s history and as a picturesque rental venue for weddings and other private events.
The more than 100-year-old casa sits on a cliff high over the pier and offers panoramic views of the ocean and coastline from its manicured gardens and view terraces.
While the council also considered doing nothing to shore up the hillside or getting more bids for the work, support from the community made the decision to push ahead easy, officials said, with the council agreeing to move forward with the contractor already in place and beginning the emergency repairs.
“We don’t know if we’ll get financial assistance or grants, but we have to get moving,” Mayor Chris Duncan said. “We have a little bit of money, but we’ll also need to prioritize projects and this may push some of those out.”
It’s been 12 weeks since the first signs of slipping soil appeared near the historic home’s view terrace on April 27. At one point, several units of a condo complex below and just to the north of the Casa Romantica were red-tagged because of concerns of stability and falling debris as portions of patio crumbled down the hill.
An initial geological study and work to shore things up cost the city $75,000.
The temporary repairs and efforts to remold the slope didn’t stabilize the soil, said Kiel Koger, the city’s public works director and engineer.
A $6.5 million barrier wall was also built along the train tracks below to resume service halted because of falling debris, but that cost was not on the city.
With the council’s approval, efforts to get a handle on the slope will continue, Koger said, especially in advance of winter rains. The project could take as long as a year, but officials are hopeful it will move forward more quickly.
Work will be done in sequences, first starting up near the casa and then gradually working its way down the slope. Tiebacks and beams will be dug into the ground along the slope beneath the casa buildings to secure the unstable soil, Koger said.
The slope will then be reconstructed and reinforced. The extra soil will be hauled from the site, blended with other soil material, compacted and then brought back to the hillside, where it will be reconstructed in front of the large and deeply buried beams, Koger said.
Chuck Hartman, who spent decades doing similar soil stabilizing work and has a civil engineering background, happens to be one of the residents of Reefgate, the condominiums right next to the slide, and has a direct view. Since the land movement first began in April, he’s been the homeowner association’s liaison to the city.
“We’re really happy to see the city move forward with the project,” he said, adding that all of the staff, including Koger and City Manager Andy Hall, have been extremely responsive to the needs of the condo community residents.
Hartman was evacuated from his unit for three and a half weeks.
“My unit was the last red tag to get lifted,” he said. “It’s directly adjacent to the slide. The one below me, they still have no use of it.”
Hartman said he was very impressed with the construction of his own building and that of the complex as a whole, noting it was built in 1973.
“The buildings are designed to take vertical loads,” he said of the amount of earth that came down the slope and slammed into his wall from the side.
“We were afraid the whole place would come apart,” he said, adding that the sides of the building, which is on deep caissons, are shored up with timber for protection which, he said, is important now to protect it as work continues above. In the end, he said, it is likely his building that stopped an even larger slide from happening.
“They’ve been listening to us and taking our stuff into consideration,” he said. “While the focus is on the casa, we live here and they’re really neat units.”
He’s happy the city is stepping up immediately to get the slope stabilized and not waiting around for funding sources, he said. “Nature has its own timeline. This will be a historically strong and early El Nino; they need to get after this.”
In the meantime, officials at Casa Romantica are continuing to offer programs and are planning to hold two private weddings – a few sections of the property are still cordoned off.
They’ve also asked the community for financial support to help offset the costs they incurred earlier by having to cancel school tours and more than a handful of private events.
They met their initial fundraising goal of $250,000, but officials said their need continues.
The proceeds are being used to keep the doors open and fund the restoration of plants – as many as 500 – that were damaged in four of the estate’s 10 gardens, including unique varieties and historically rare plants that have been part of the property since 1927.
The funds will also assist in rebuilding three of Casa Romantica’s major performance spaces, which play a vital role in hosting a diverse range of arts and cultural programming. Kylie Travis, executive director of operations and programming, said she appreciates the tremendous outpouring of support and said with the continued support, the casa will “overcome these obstacles and emerge stronger than ever.”
“We remain committed to our mission of providing exceptional cultural experiences and fostering a sense of community through the arts,” she said.
The money being used for the slope stability project by the city is expected to be diverted from the planned maintenance of the Mariposa Pedestrian Bridge, which was projected to cost about $10 million but can be delayed, Koger said.
The casa doesn’t really pay any money to the city for use of the building but, in the past, has paid back some money loaned from the city for work done at a parking lot there, Hall said.
“The city isn’t investing in Casa Romantica to recoup its cost; we’re trying to retain an important part of our community heritage rather than a return on investment,” Hall said. “It’s for its historical value, not its economical value.”
