City staff is examining the “proximity to the buildings to the bank,” based on code governing same, and “right now we have a couple of accessory buildings that fall within the limit set by code. We inspected 15, and hopefully we’ll finish that up and then turn over to the county” the areas within their jurisdiction. “But they’re Santa Paulans and we’re helping them out and we’ll continue to.”Stuart said that six of the homes being accessed are within city limits. About seven residents of four Harvey Drive are able to access but unable to sleep in their Building/Safety Department tagged homes until the slipping hillside is corrected. Stuart said the safety of the residences will be reevaluated this week, and “we’ll see if we can release the restrictive use on those.”Another hillside on Fuchsia Lane threatened four homes, but the area is “pretty well stabilized…the owners continue to do their cleanup.” In addition, “There were a few landslides around town, nothing of a significant nature, but owners will have to” stabilize their property and study preventative measures for the future. In all, 33 residences underwent an initial assessment and have damages estimated at $800,000.Five businesses in the Lemonwood Industrial Park have potential damages estimated at $2.1 million due to flooding threats from the area where the creek pours into the river. In the unincorporated areas surrounding Santa Paula there are 11 residences and one business – a Santa Clara Street rock processing plant that Stuart said will be in “trouble if they don’t get their stuff cleaned out of there” - affected with damages estimated at over $2 million. “Of course these numbers are going to change as we add information in…these figures are just estimates,” said Stuart.
City starts calculating storm damage, assessments ongoing
January 19, 2005
Santa Paula News
The damages resulting from the five-day storm are still being studied, according to a city Building/Safety official, who estimated losses at almost $3 million within city limits.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe damages resulting from the five-day storm are still being studied, according to a city Building/Safety official, who estimated losses at almost $3 million within city limits. “We are still in the process of doing post-disaster safety assessments,” said Building/Safety Director Steve Stuart on Friday.Throughout the city, the storm – which brought a record downpour throughout California – caused land and mud slides, eroded hillsides, Santa Paula Creek and the Santa Clara River, and flooded yards. One single-wide mobile home perched on the edge of the Santa Paula Creek was lost, residents of the Santa Paula West and Annex mobile home parks were evacuated, and river valley agriculture was destroyed.Stuart noted that although the state has jurisdiction over mobile home parks, the city was asked to take the lead and inspected 17 coaches. Estimated damages to the mobile homes – which sit near the Adams Canyon Barranca, which overflowed during the storm – are about $1,500 each in “round figures,” said Stuart, mostly due to “minor problems with electrical and mechanical systems of some of the coaches.” The issue was turned over to the state agency on Thursday for completion.The disaster inspection of Santa Paula Creek is continuing in an area “essentially from Magnolia all the way up to Bridge Road,” mutual aid for the County of Ventura, noted Stuart. “We intend to complete that by Tuesday.”