The Tramonto landslide closed one lane of traffic between Sunset Boulevard and Porto Marina when the toe of the slide went onto PCH. Caltrans wants the city to remediate and stabilize the upper slope.
Photo: MURRAY LEVY
L.A. City Planning had tentatively approved four large homes to be built on an active landslide on Tramonto in the Castellammare area of Pacific Palisades.
The residents were against the development, not because they didn’t want the homes, but rather out of concern that the landslide needed to be remediated before anything was built on the site.
Councilmember Traci Park held a meeting on October 1 with residents before the project went to the Planning and Land Use Committee. She told residents that the City felt that doing “anything” for the slide is better than doing nothing.
That meeting came to an abrupt halt, when residents found some unexpected backing from Caltrans official, Joon Kang who said, ““We are concerned about this development.”
Now, Caltrans has sent a November 6 letter to the City and the local property owners, requesting a meeting and detailing why the agency was concerned.
“On the weekend of March 9, 2024, following heavy precipitation, a major movement of the existing landslide occurred,” the letter noted. “Caltrans Geotechnical Services (GS) performed an initial site observation and noted that the large landslide movement from within the City of Los Angeles and Private Property Owners’ right of way had pushed slope material, measuring 30 feet by 20 feet by 160 feet, onto Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), a state highway.
“The landslide debris blocked both the northbound PCH right lane and shoulder. Caltrans re-aligned and re-striped PCH in April 2024 through an emergency project,” the letter stated. “This has fully restored two travel lanes in each direction. Motorists are currently being redirected around the toe of the landslide. The landslide debris remains on state right of way.
“The failed slope, which is owned by either the City or by private parties, as well as the resultant landslide debris is encroaching onto state right of way and adversely impacting the safe operation of PCH. Caltrans intends to clean up landslide debris to restore PCH to its original alignment, and to develop a long-term remediation plan to prevent any future slope failures that may impact PCH and public safety.
“Caltrans has concerns that the City Department of Building and Safety is processing permits that would allow private developers to build homes on the upper portion of the currently active Tramonto Drive landslide area.”
The letter said that Caltrans requested a meeting with the City and Private Property Owners (and/or their representatives) to discuss this matter. The letter was also sent to Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and Councilmember Traci Park.
The lack of remediation on this slide has been an ongoing issue. In 2010, a joint study was done by Caltrans and the City of Los Angeles, which documented the history of the slide and recommended that long-term repairs start from the top of the slide. The cost then to repair it was listed at $25 million. Nothing was done.
So when these homes are built and they start sliding are taxpayers going to bail them out as in Rancho Palos Verdes? “The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) are paying for 75% of the voluntary buyout program for landslide-affected homes in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The property owners will pay the remaining 25%”
The residents of Castellammare are so grateful that Caltrans is willing to take a stand against the City of Los Angeles in its commitment to do what’s safe and correct in the long run. Tramonto is an active landslide that cannot be stopped by anchoring huge homes in the center of it. Without proper drainage systems the big homes are likely to exacerbate the situation and trigger a much bigger slide and bring down our feeble roadway which would leave us worse off than our neighbors in Rancho Palos Verdes. God bless Caltrans.
Re: the Slides on our fragile hills…
As homeowners along our hills overlooking PCH have found, Mother Nature frowns on building inappropriate projects in those areas. When I was thinking of buying a view site, instead of calling the ordinary professionals, I called the retired head of the pertinent department at USC. I knew him to be honest, extremely knowledgeable and highly regarded in the profession. And, importantly, he had no financial ties. He didn’t even need to come out to look. The addresses I gave him were enough. He said anyone who bought land deserved what they got. He explained there are springs under the land and the land is ALWAYS moving. It may be extremely slowly but the movement will NOT stop. What he said then, with a wry smile in his voice, was, “Anyone who buys in this area deserves what he/she gets.” And, if you pay any attention to the hills facing the ocean from the Incline to Malibu, there are constant tiny slides, fresh dirt showing and remnants of previous slides.
I lived on lower Las Casas (300 block) in the early ’70’s. One night, helicopters, lots of commotion caused all the neighbors at the keyhole to come out to see what was going on. I went over to the Judge’s house, but the older couple who lived at the end of the street had come out as well. As I remember, they went back into their house, to the back porch to see if they could tell what was going on.
Well… Y’know that wedge of PCH that sticks out toward the ocean between Von’s and Tahitian Terrace? Yeah, that one. That used to be the old couple’s big back yard. Imagine their surprise when they walked through the house to the yard to find – no yard… On the backside street of Las Casas (Grenola), there had been a sort of Mother Earth warning some time before when a house next to the keyhole (200-ish Grenola) crashed down the hill. And, movement goes on till today.
Rancho Palos Verdes is learning the bitter lesson that the Professor warned me about several decades ago. It would be a shame if our tax dollars went to provide an attempt to stabilize the delicate areas with cement so inappropriate buildings could be built on the sites.
Cheers…
It’s time for Councilmember Traci Park to acknowledge how dangerous this project is and to prioritize the safety of our community over the interests of developers. The narrative that this development will somehow benefit our area is deeply misleading. Building on an active landslide without addressing the underlying issues is not just irresponsible—it’s dangerous. Thankfully Caltrans has now joined residents in expressing serious concerns, stating clearly that the slide is actively threatening Pacific Coast Highway and public safety. This aligns with what residents have been saying all along: Construction in this area should not be considered. Developers who purchased this land hoped that money would outweigh the realities of the situation, but the facts remain: this site is unsafe for building, and further construction risks worsening the problem. We need our City leaders to listen to both experts and the community, focus on proper landslide mitigation, and put public safety first. Let’s hold them accountable.