> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Slopes to be firmed upby2007 - URL: https://www.smdp.com/slopes-to-be-firmed-up-by-2007/ - Published: 2005-12-28T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T08:25:25.000Z - Author: Ryan Hyatt - Tags: Government & Politics, Pacific Palisades, #archive-import *Bluffs project to begin in November* PALISADES BLUFFS — Officials say they are on schedule to complete an $11 million project in two years which will help prevent landslides on the Palisades Bluffs. Ranging from 30 to 150 feet high, the Palisades Bluffs mark the western edge of Santa Monica, where they rise — vertically at times — directly above the Pacific Coast Highway. Landslides have occurred on the bluffs for at least 130 years, officials said. Feared as dangerous and unstable, Santa Monica’s Palisades Bluffs are constantly eroding and in need of repair. That was the key finding of a geotechnical study delivered to the City Council in April of 2004\. Scientists recommended draining the bluffs of as much water as possible, while paving over the crumbling rim and evicting the resident ground squirrels. The URS Corporation, an engineering consulting firm, was hired by City Hall for $907,000 in April of 2005 to create the design plans for the Palisades Bluffs improvement project, sanctioned to reinforce the steep slopes that line the PCH. The final design plans for the project are underway and the environmental impact report will likely be reviewed by the necessary government agencies early next year, officials said. After that, construction is expected to begin in November of 2006 and will be finished by May of 2007. More than half of the $11 million project is being paid for from federal sources. In 1998, Congress passed the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, legislation intended to improve highway infrastructure and safety nationwide. One of the high priority projects approved under the Transportation Equity Act was the Palisades Bluffs, known for its landslides caused by earthquakes and storms, officials said. The first reported landslides along the bluffs were reported by stagecoach travelers in route between Santa Monica and Topanga Canyon in the 1870s and 1880s, according to Anthony Antich, an engineer for City Hall. Antich told the council in April of 2004 that the bluffs over the years have suffered from several slides and “rim failures” — leaving debris covering the PCH. In the 1930s and 1950s, City Hall did some work to limit erosion of the bluffs, but Antich said the tunnels they drilled into the hillside to help drain ground water fell into disuse and are now inoperable. The geotechnical study called upon more than 50 years of research material and highlighted several approaches to reinforce the bluffs, all with varying costs and impacts on residents and motorists. The federal government has agreed to pitch in $6.5 million toward the Palisades Bluffs improvement project, while an additional $4.5 million that’s needed will be paid by City Hall through funds from its re-development agency. Councilman Kevin McKeown — who has previously showed concern about the eradication methods of ground squirrels at Palisades Park, believed to contribute to the erosion problem — said he hopes the bluffs improvement project will be successful in overall goals. "Natural erosion created our bluffs, but putting a city atop them has created subterranean water flows that we hope to be able to mitigate,” McKeown said. “Palisades Park is too important, and Pacific Coast Highway is too vulnerable." Dave Britton, City Hall’s civil engineer, said URS is incorporating a number of the recommendations suggested in the geotechnical study to reinforce the bluffs. These include: De-watering; surface treatment; soil-nailing; and some plant removal, he said. “De-watering is probably one of the primary mitigation strategies to lessen potential for future landslides,” Britton said. “It could include pipes that are drilled into the bluffs and then water gets into the pipes and is channeled away (from the Bluffs) into the storm water system.” Britton said a surface treatment will likely be sprayed onto the bluffs to stabilize it. “The stabilizing agent will be environmentally benign or a natural material that has been successfully used elsewhere,” Britton said. Another method is called soil nailing. That’s when a plate, perhaps five feet in length, is cemented into the face of the bluff, near the edge, and painted to match it, Britton said. The plate is connected to rods drilled 50 to 100 feet inside the park and can be tightened to strengthen the soil. Britton said non-native plants may be removed from the bluffs, because some of them increase erosion. The non-native plants will likely be replaced with those whose roots spread in a way that will help preserve the slopes. The idea of paving over the crumbling rim to stabilize it — suggested in the geot-echnical study — has been taken off the table, due to a lack of support from citizen groups, Britton said. ERODE SLOPE HOPES Another idea recommended in the study — to remove the many ground squirrels that burrow in Palisades Bluffs and contribute to the erosion problem — may continue to occur, but that undertaking is separate from the Palisades Bluffs improvement project, Britton said. LA County officials classify ground squirrels as communal rodents, many of which are believed to have fleas that carry the bubonic plague — a health risk to humans and other animals when a field inspection reveals there are more than three squirrels per acre visible above ground, said Gail VanGordon, a supervisor for the vector-born disease surveillance unit. Exceeding this visual survey, VanGordon said the county conducted two in-depth inspections at Palisades Park last March, which revealed the number of below-ground burrows had increased from 46 to 146 in a matter of weeks. Since the ground squirrels frequently burrow together, that likely puts their number well into the hundreds, spread over a 1.5-mile stretch. In August, the debate over how to deal with some 500 ground squirrels believed to have been holed up beneath Palisades Park reared its head again after a local group voted to continue eliminating the rodents at the county’s request. The Recreation and Parks Commission narrowly voted in favor of upholding a Los Angeles County Department of Health Services directive which would likely require the ground squirrels at Palisades Park continue to be killed in the future, in order to keep the rodent infestation at appropriate health levels. Britton referred questions regarding the ground squirrel population control to City Hall’s open space management division. Representatives from City Hall’s open space management division referred questions regarding ground squirrel population control to Judy Franz, City Hall’s spokeswoman. Franz, on vacation, was unavailable to comment. McKeown said he doesn’t believe the squirrels are contributing to the bluffs’ erosion. “Squirrels don't cause bluff failures, water flows do,” McKeown said. “The killing of our squirrels by the county was about fleas, not flows.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 28, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122805.pdf?ref=smdp.com)