CARLSBADCARLSBAD — Carlsbad declared its third storm-related emergency this week, this time to stabilize a sliding slope that threatens the backyards of at least four hill-top homes.
Construction could cost close to $1 million for the soggy ground overlooking El Camino Real at the rear of the 4200 block of Trieste Drive, city officials said at a brief special Carlsbad City Council meeting Thursday.
“The recent severe storms have created additional fissures in the slope that need to be repaired quickly,” said Tom Frank, transportation director and city engineer. The slope is on city property at the rear of a housing development built in the mid 1970s.
Approval of the emergency declaration allows the city to expedite permits and contracts for the work. It also could make the city eligible for grant funding to help cover the costs.
Staffers are preparing repair plans and construction will be begin after the permits are obtained, a city official said Friday.
Councilmember Melanie Burkholder, whose district includes Trieste Drive, thanked city employees for taking action.
“It’s really important for those residents up on the hill,” Burkholder said Thursday. “We know there has been significant damage there from the recent rains.”
Damage so far appeared to be confined to backyard patios, fences, landscaping and some outbuildings along Trieste Drive.
City officials have been monitoring the site for several years and were aware that it was unstable. Repairs were planned as part of the city’s capital improvement program, and that project was about halfway through the design and review process.
Previously, at its regular meeting Tuesday, the council ratified two declarations made a few days earlier by City Manager Scott Chadwick acting as emergency services director.
One was for emergency work to remove weeds and sediment clogging the Buena Vista Creek channel. The concrete-lined channel carries storm-water drainage from state Route 78 beneath the El Camino Real over, where the state highway has flooded multiple times in recent years. That work is expected to cost $771,000 and had not started as of Friday, a city spokesperson said.
The other emergency was declared to make quick repairs to a storm drain pipe along Carlsbad Village Drive near Pontiac Drive, where the combination of intense rain, debris flow and intrusive tree roots caused erosion that threatened to undermine the road. That work, expected to cost about $140,000, has been completed.
Most of Carlsbad received a little more than 4 inches of rain in early February, after other powerful storms in late January. The National Weather Service said Friday the area could get another inch of rain Monday through Wednesday.
Council said that while Carlsbad’s storm-related problems were significant, other cities have fared far worse.
An unusually strong storm Jan. 22 dropped a massive amount rain quickly, flooding hundreds of homes in low-lying areas of San Diego. Some of the damage was attributed to poorly maintained storm drains and stream channels, and several lawsuits have been filed by homeowners.
The January storms triggered a landslide in San Clemente that has suspended enger train traffic between San Diego and Orange counties since Jan. 24.
The recent foul weather follows an exceptional 2022-23 storm season, when a series of 14 “atmospheric rivers” drenched the state from December through March, according to the California Department of Conservation. Some areas of Central California received twice their normal annual precipitation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a disaster declaration covering 40 counties last year to help with repair damage from flooding and landslides that came with the deluge.
