Land movement in Rancho Palos Verdes has slowed down, but the city is bracing for winter rains

Rancho Palos Verdes officials said Tuesday the landslide that has rendered dozens of homes uninhabitable and crippled infrastructure has slowed significantly, but with the rainy season approaching, the city is bracing for a potential uptick in damage.

The movement has gone from 1 foot a week at one point last year to 1.4 inches a week, the city’s geologist Mike Phipps told councilmembers. City staff attributed the slowdown to dry weather and the effectiveness of dewatering wells that pump water out of the ground.

But the slowdown doesn’t mean life goes back to how it was. Last year, accelerated land movement forced utility providers like SoCal Edison and SoCal Gas to turn off services for hundreds of residents.

“We're trying to get down to that magic number of 1 inch per week and sustain that for a while for Edison's purposes and probably other utilities,” Phipps said.

That means propane tanks will continue to power some homes within the landslide area.

Officials also said the main road through the landslide complex has not stabilized. Instead of a major repair every two to three weeks, crews are conducting minor repairs on a weekly basis. But there still are instances of potholes forming overnight or fissures developing.

Some good news

Rancho Palos Verdes anticipates reopening around 5 miles of trails, including the popular Burma Road Trail in upper Portuguese Bend, and Filiorum Reserves by December if the land continues to stabilize. City staff, together with staff from the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, currently are repairing the pedestrian and equine friendly trails.

How much is managing the landslide costing the city?

Rancho Palos Verdes’ annual operating budget for the whole city is around $40 million. Mayor David Bradley often reminds residents the city is not a single-issue city. But a single issue has put a major strain on city finances.

Since October 2022, Rancho Palos Verdes has spent around $48 million managing the landslide, including shoring up the main road through the landslide complex, Palos Verdes Drive South. And the city is projected to spend another $16 million this fiscal year.

Preparing for winter

In anticipation of winter rains, officials have taken some measures to slow down land movement:

• Altamira Canyon: A pipe was installed to reduce stormwater runoff and prevent water from collecting at the foot of the canyon. But officials will keep a close eye on the pipe to make sure it’s not crushed by land movement.
• Portuguese Canyon: Another pipe was installed so water can pass from the Burma Road Trail to the toe of the canyon instead of collecting at the head and seeping into the ground.
• Kelvin Canyon, Klondike Canyon and Seaview neighborhoods: Some of the work crews did last year to prevent the rainwater from seeping into the ground is still holding up, including filling fissures, covering the ground with pond liners and placing sandbags.