LAKEPORT — Dr. Fred Johnson, an anesthesiologist at Sutter Lakeside Hospital, finally came out and said it, articulating what other homeowners at the Lakeside Heights subdivision were thinking at Monday”s Lake County Office of Emergency Services meeting at the Board of Supervisors” chambers.
Whoever is found responsible for the landslides that resulted in five red-tagged homes and the threat that more are slowly sinking into the same abyss ? be it the homeowners” association, the county, or, as some insurance companies are said to b e claiming, God himself — it”s time to do the research and figure out what”s going on.
“If we blow this,” the Lakeside Heights homeowner told a panel of experts from local and state agencies, “if we don”t do our due diligence, we run the risk of ultimately being in harm”s way.”
“Don”t” do half of the investigation,” Johnson told county officials. “You”re responsible for finding the extent of the (problem).
“It”s the county”s responsibility to insure the safety and quality of the basic utilities,” he later said. “They can say they can”t micromanage every builder. But what they can do is make sure the basic utilities are installed, secured and repaired.”
About 40 homeowners and renters attended the meeting, which started with county officials introducing an expanded team of representatives from county and state agencies in areas of health and safety and emergency response. There was a state engineering geologist in the group and a PG&E representative.
The Board of Supervisors (BOS) last week declared the landslide a local emergency and pushed for similar declarations at the state and federal levels last week. There are two slide areas within several yards of each other near the southeastern boundary of the subdivision.
The BOS also authorized Special Districts staff to negotiate with a civil engineer and local contractor to work on relocating the utilities and approved a $350,000 emergency loan from a county reserve fund to provide initial funding
But what most everyone agreed on at Monday”s meeting was that it”ll take more money to find the source of the problem, to solve the riddle of where the water”s coming from and how it got there in the first place.
Homeowners voiced their frustrations and fears of what might await them, from temporary evacuations to permanent loss of their houses ? but with them still being responsible for the monthly mortgage payments for years to come.
They said their insurance companies are alternatively telling them that it”s an act of God that”s taking place or that the county is clearly responsible, which in both cases would limit the insurance carriers” responsibility.
“Right now everything”s nebulous and the insurance companies have an out,” Johnson said. County officials took some heat for granting the permits required to build the subdivision when there appeared to be evidence that everything wasn”t in order.
The homeowners also pointed out to the panel what many of them perceive to be a clear history of indicators, of warning signs that something serious was percolating in the ground below, or something illegal was getting overlooked.
“It”s clear at some point that some illegal behavior occurred ? and that illegal behavior set up an environment of continuing illegal behavior,” Johnson alleged.
Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 14 or rmellott@record-bee.com.
