SFist: Those Buildings on the Cliff in Pacifica Are Slipping, Still.
Those Buildings on the Cliff in Pacifica Are Slipping, Still
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Winter Storm Further Erodes Esplanade Avenue Bluff, City to Call Meeting
Winter Storm Further Erodes Esplanade Avenue Bluff, City to Call Meeting by Camden Swita, Pacifica Patch
Swita reports that Pacifica building official Doug Rider plans to call a meeting next week with Pacifica City Attorney Cecilia Quick, City Manager Steve Rhodes and the owners of the buildings to discuss what the owners can do to save their property and under what circumstances the city would have to step in. Rider said,
Those buildings cannot be allowed to topple into the ocean.
According to Rider, the building owners have not been able to acquire funds to finance a rehabilitation of the bluff face, despite applying for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and California Emergency Management Agency (CALEMA) money. Rider concluded
If we can make it through one more winter, it will give them [the owners] more time to raise that money.
Low Expectations
The news reports of the past hours share a common theme of unanswered requests for comment and reaction from missing property owners (see links here). If experience is a guide, then we can expect the owners to respond slowly but adequately, and to request more time to look for the funds to rescue the buildings.
For a complete chronology and links to many more photos see Evacuation underway at 330 Esplanade:
http://adequatebird.com/2009/12/17/evacuation-underway-at-330-esplanade/
See all of my pictures of the Esplanade crisis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisd2006/collections/72157622920945823/
Rainwater Continues to Undermine Esplanade Buildings
News of additional erosion under one or more buildings along Esplanade brought out both TV and print reporters and residents were treated to a hovering helicopter and a news van with bright lights on the dark street. We’re waiting for up to pictures of our own, so for now we’re using a picture taken back on December 1, 2010.
Julia Scott’s story, As Pacifica cliff crumbles, city scrambles for plan B, (San Mateo Times via MercuryNews.com) makes plain the dilemma facing Pacifica officials: how long to wait for the owners to take action before condemning the buildings. Scott learned that the vacant buildings are not in imminent danger of collapse. According to Pacifica Building official Doug Rider’s estimate another “30 or 40 feet” of bluff would need to disappear before they really start to “teeter and fall over.” Note that elsewhere in the story a much more dramatic, but WRONG, assessment of the damage was made by a building’s manger who indicated that one-third of a building is unsupported. Both 320 Esplanade, seen on the left of this photo, and 330 Esplanade (right) have experienced loss of supporting soil.
Amy Hollyfield’s video piece Rains cause more damage to Pacifica apartments (KGO-TV 7 ABC) reported that a building official with the city of Pacifica (possibly Doug Rider) said the piece that fell out was small, nothing too dramatic, but he said the building owner needs to do something to stop the erosion of the bluff.
Meanwhile Pacifica is waiting for the owners to take action, an indication that owners intend to abandon the properties, or for the buildings to become a hazard.
My prediction: the building owners will “walk away” (allow the building loans to foreclose, go bankrupt, etc.) and Pacifica will have to pay for the demolition and removal of the buildings.
For a complete chronology and links to many more photos see Evacuation underway at 330 Esplanade:
http://adequatebird.com/2009/12/17/evacuation-underway-at-330-esplanade/
See all of my pictures of the Esplanade crisis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisd2006/collections/72157622920945823/
Great Highway poised for disaster | San Francisco Examiner
With the El Niño season looming, city officials are bracing themselves for another potential emergency along the Great Highway, where the crumbling bluffs have left the area in a precarious state.
San Francisco Examiner: Great Highway poised for disaster
Rain causes headaches along Pacifica coast (Photos)
Rain causes headaches along Pacifica coast
It is early in the winter 2010 season and already unmistakable signs of fresh groundwater erosion are visible beneath the buildings along Esplanade Avenue in Pacifica. Groundwater, water flowing underground, weakens and separates the layers of soil, sand and clay beneath the buildings, and washes away the surface of bluff. Given enough time groundwater will undermine and destroy the buildings just as surely as winter storms surf.
The dangers to the buildings on Esplanade Ave of uncontrolled groundwater drainage have been known since almost the beginning. A project including channels to control and divert groundwater has been completed at 360 Esplanade, but similar work at 330 Esplanade Ave was abandoned unfinished. (For an early reference to groundwater risks see Esplanade Update – Sunday February 7, 2010.)
The owners, community, and city of Pacifica need to remain alert of the dangers posed to the unprotected buildings along Esplanade Ave. Those buildings, in turn, continue threaten the road, infrastructure and well being of the residents in the nearby neighborhood.
Groundwater Seepage Example
Darkened earth and soil, stained by fresh groundwater, is visible in the following photos of the bluff below the south end of 330 Esplanade Ave. To the left is the flaked and shredded unfinished concrete and soil nail project intended to protect that vacant apartment building. These were taken following a dry period, but the recent storms are starting to make a difference.
310 Esplanade south: November 27, 2010 versus August 15, 2010
The still-occupied apartment building at 310 Esplanade Avenue in Pacifica stands atop a sand and soil bluff that shows significant fresh groundwater-related damage. The vacant buildings just south, 320 and 330 Esplanade are also showing recent weather-related erosion. The base of the bluffs are armored with about 30 feet of massive boulders, and so far the winter storms have not produced surf approaching that height.
In this view we see the south end of 310 Esplanade and neighboring, vacant 320 Esplanade.
310 Esplanade south: detail view
The earth – soil, sand and clay – beneath the protruding drainage pipe has receded since August.
310 Esplanade north erosion, August 15 and November 27
The north end of 310 Esplanade is next to the open “dog park”. More threatening, fresh erosion is happening here, too.
310 Esplanade north erosion detail:
An area of more than 20 square feet has fallen away from the bluff, as shown in these photos. The amount of earth (sand / dirt / clay) that has fallen seems small so far.
11/24: Rain causes headaches along Pacifica coast
The press continues to cover the Esplanade Ave story. KGO-TV, San Francisco (ABC) ran the story Rain causes headaches along Pacifica coast: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=7806869
For a complete chronology and links to many more photos see Evacuation underway at 330 Esplanade:
http://adequatebird.com/2009/12/17/evacuation-underway-at-330-esplanade/
See all of my pictures of the Esplanade crisis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisd2006/collections/72157622920945823/