CURRENT LAND MOVEMENT SITUATION

As an RPV resident, are you current as to the devastating impact on our neighbors in the slide area? Do you clearly understand what is needed to stabilize the area and the total financial costs to the city for both short and long-term remediation that could potentially bankrupt our city? Let me provide you with some background and that everything you need to know on this land movement crisis.

The landslide stabilization was a priority and the most important issue two years ago when we elected Ferraro, Bradley and Seo and to expedite the EIR (council meeting right after the debate in 2022) for the next actionable preventive measures.

What happened to that commitment from the city and council to our residents and ensuring the slide area was a priority as the timing was critical? Because of the lack of priority and lack of decisions delaying timely preventative action, RPV neighbors in the slide area are impacted and we now have a city crisis threatening our financial stability.

Preventative Measure: Prevent the water from going into the slide area contributing to the pressure. Removing the pressure and water reduces land movement and allows for the much-needed stability and a requirement to re-establish the utilities for the area. Stabilization decreases our short and long-term on-going mitigation costs for on-going repairs. Many reports (analysis) provided to the city repeated by concerned residents have been sharing this preventative measure with our city and council for many, many years and we have failed to address in a timely manner and have it as the number one priority and not we are in a financial crisis.

Were you aware that Palos Verdes Drive south went from a 1-million-dollar line item to a 7-million-dollar line item?

WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITY FOR OUR WONDERFUL CITY AND POTENTIALLY MANAGEABLE IS NOW CONTRIBUTING TO BOTH CITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD CRISIS

Be sure to view this video below created by Herb Stark, which highlights the reports referenced and are available on the RPV website.

SOME GOOD NEWS

The current conditions as of the 10/01/2024 Report from city geologist Michael Phelps, from GPS monitoring. GPS Data through 09/04/2024 before pumps went on line:

13% land slide deceleration
Average velocity of about 8 inches a week, prior movement from 12-13 inches a week
Deceleration due to pumping efforts already going on in the districts translates to 2 ½ -4 ft a month but we still have significant movement. Current decleration:
- 8% Abalone Cove
- 14% Portuguese Bend
- 15% Klondike canyon
New slide area identified and the city is watching Burma Road, switch back area, which is moving about ½ inch per week, and they are evaluating to see if it is connected to the movement in Rolling Hills
New monitoring points were established further east in response to concerns in Seaview neighborhood and no movement- no further expansion to east and west
Slide is about but 700 acres and if the switch-back area is included, upper Burma Road it is a total of 775 acres and it is not expanding east or west but uphill and clearly is a slightly larger land area now
Additional changes and there is new growth off the coast shoreline off of PB beach and is now extended 450 ft offshore and the beach at the beach club has risen 6 ft.

Deceleration rates and the impact of test wells, dewatering and monitoring points

Analogous to a giant rubber bladder with pin holes which is decreasing the pressure and the effect of punching those holes (test wells, bore holes) has released enough pressure to slow down the movement in addition to running the pumps and removing water. 9/13/ 2024 first well came on-line reveals the following:

Greatest deceleration rates are happening in lower Portuguese Bend slide area even before pumping wells came on line
20-30% decline in movement rate elsewhere in landslide but where the wells are located, there is 55-57% decline in movement rate in a matter of 2 weeks and it is not due to the dewatering
Volumes of water around 865,000 gallons of water per day is being removed but what is impacting and slowing the movement is the incremental reduction in pressure and that is causing the deceleration. Huge pressure drops as a result of the boring programs
Per the data, the pilot wells were a great use of funds and the science/ data needed to better understand the deeper land slide areas movement and getting a much better understanding of what is happening with our land slide. An additional benefit, not expected as the test wells also generated a huge pressure drop which is slowing down the land movement

What about potential shearing of the wells? More good news:

Shearing of the pumps issue
Currently there is not very much defamation, and we are getting more life from the pumps, why? Longevity due to less than ½ inch movement, reduction in movement and they are holding as a result of the pressure due to much less movement
This translates to longer life and less cost to replace

BAD NEWS: CITY FINANCIAL SECURITY AT RISK

At the 10/1/2024, city presented the mitigation cost as they asked city council to “allocate and appropriate” to continue the dewatering program and additional winterization for the preventative measures needed. Potential funding gap of 26.1 million. We could wipe out our reserves which took 20 years to accumulate.

Here is a summary of the Funding Sources & Gaps for this fiscal year:

**1. Funding gap due to repairs with only 1.5 million coming from public assistance and that is not expected for 3 years. No other assistance from city, state and federal is expected**

**2. Land slide expenditures for the last 3 years…..please note projected $24 million for FY24-25**

**3. Based on current 2024-25 budget: Potential funding gap of 26.1 million**

**4. Current costs for dewatering programs**

**5. Costs for Winterization (preventative measures)**
- Fill fissures and line the canyon to prevent water and pressure build up,
- Goal is to fill in where there is no drainage and maintain and re-establish positive drainage so we can maintain surface water flow environment down to beach. Need to redirect water flow away from the canyon as it is the most dangerous.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The landslide situation in RPV requires urgent and prioritized attention from local leaders to ensure both community safety and the city's financial integrity. The combination of timely preventative actions and adequate funding is crucial to avert a potential crisis for residents and the city as a whole.