Landslide continuing to cause limited road access
Officials say it could take at least a year for repairs to get started as things remain shaky
A slow-moving landslide in the Santa Cruz Mountains is threatening hundreds of residents' access to main roads and emergency services.
County officials first became aware of cracks appearing on a portion of Mountain Charlie Road just south of Lexington Reservoir on Feb. 26. The slide has rendered a portion of the road inaccessible to cars and barely accessible on foot, and almost completely decimated a private driveway just off the road that leads to five houses.
Residents of the five houses have tenuous access to water, internet and propane, and were forced to carve out a trail down a steep hill to walk by foot onto Mountain Charlie Road since the driveway is completely inaccessible by car and by foot. For residents living south of the landslide, the portion of Mountain Charlie Road that was affected by the landslide remains temporarily accessible on foot, but ongoing movement with the slide and intermittent rain may change that in the near future.
With fire season approaching, residents are also worried that the landslide could block emergency vehicles from accessing their homes in the event of a fire or other emergency.
“The community's really, really worried about what happens if there's a fire,” said Debbie Robinson, a resident on the south side of the slide. “We literally have one way out, and how are vehicles supposed to get up there to fight the fires, or if there's emergencies where we need an ambulance or a fire truck?”
Steve Wiesner, assistant director of public works for Santa Cruz County, said on March 21 that the Scotts Valley Fire Department will be dispatched to respond to any emergencies that take place south of the slide, and the county's fire department will continue to respond to emergencies north of the slide. The departments have tools they can use to transport patients from the houses above the private driveway if needed, Wiesner said.
For now, some residents on the south side of the slide are walking across the slide to get to their cars to eventually get to Los Gatos, where many of them work and attend school.
But since the slide is moving every day, it will soon be inaccessible by foot, and all residents will be forced to drive several miles to Scotts Valley to safely get onto Highway 17, making a 15- to 30-minute commute now one to two hours. And with the onset of warmer weather and a corresponding increase in traffic from beachgoers using Highway 17, they're worried that these already long commutes could double or even triple in length.
“With accidents and then beach traffic time when there's a lot more people coming to and from, I think that's going to really severely impact all of us as well,” Robinson said.
Robinson said her 17-year-old daughter, who is also a new driver, has struggled to navigate alternative routes to Highway 17.
“One morning it took her two hours to get to school one way due to traffic on 17 and the new extended route,” she said.
Don Ferris, who lives in one of the five houses above the private driveway that was most impacted, said his neighbors' primary concern at the moment is access to propane, which helps power heating including hot water, dryers and stovetops for their homes.
Propane companies “can't get their vehicles in, and they don't have hoses long enough to get to us,” Ferris said.
Wiesner encouraged attendees at the meeting to connect county officials to propane companies that have been slow to respond to “get them to engage in a more fruitful conversation.”
Wiesner said the department will be unable to begin work on the road until the slide's movement slows to about 3 to 6 inches per week, which could take months. It's now moving at about a foot per week.
“I do want to temper some expectations,” he said at the meeting. “I know a lot of folks would love us to get out there and repair this thing as soon as possi