Shattering noise, nerves

A major excavation project on Ceanothus Drive in South Laguna is raising a ruckus ? on the ground and among its neighbors.

The four-home project by Laguna Crestview Properties at 31422, 31452, 31460 and 31462 Ceanothus requires the removal of part of a large hill. Excavation began last week, but after several days of digging and moving soil, the contractors hit hard rock.

On Wednesday, a ripper ? a huge rock-breaking machine ? shattered the rock and the ears of neighbors for hours.

“This is what I was afraid of,” Linda Kiehlmeier, who lives directly beneath the hill that is coming down, said over the crashes of the rock-breaker.

Keihlmeier’s steel-and-glass house ricocheted with the smashing sound of the ripper.

“It started at 8 and will end at 4,” she said.

Wednesday was the first day the rock breaker was used. An area of about 50 feet by 50 feet and seven or eight feet deep was excavated. The debris was to be hauled Thursday ? an estimated 20 truckloads traversing narrow, hair-pins turns as they made their way to Coast Highway.

On Wednesday evening, neighbors and community leaders gathered with city officials and Councilwoman Toni Iseman to see what, if anything, can make the development bearable.

Iseman used a calming presence to reduce tensions. She also kept city officials from walking out at one point.

The neighbors are up in arms about the dust from the grading and about the noise, particularly the bone-shattering, house-shaking din of the rock breaker, which will be used intermittently to chew up the rock on the hillside.

John Kiehlmeier said the city can’t expect residents to put up with the grading without some support from the developer.

“You want to get it [excavation] done as fast as possible,” he told grading contractor Richard Holt. “We want to save our sanity.”

“I have walls that go ka-boom, ka-boom all day long,” Linda Kiehlmeier added.

South Laguna resident Bill Rihn asked if there was any way to muffle the sound, such as packing the machine with foam.

“I’d love it if there were,” Holt said. “My drivers would love it.”

City Manager Ken Frank told Holt that if there is a way for the workers to minimize the noise, the city would expect them to use it.

“But,” Frank told the neighbors, “they have a legal right to do this. It is not the worst I have ever seen, but it’s pretty close.”

The rock breaker will not be used on two consecutive days, Holt told the neighbors, and the rubble will be hauled on alternate days. Holt could not predict how often or when the ripper would be back in action.

“We are going to watch the contractor closely,” Frank said.

Community Development Department director John Montgomery said the grading operation could take three to six months, depending on the hardness of the rock ? which is breccia and sandstone, according to Holt.

Neighbors Pamela Middlebrook and James Kosik joined the Kiehlmeiers in asking for better dust and debris control and better protection for neighbors’ property than the chain-link fence topped by a fabric screen and water-filled tanks at the base of the work.

City monitor David Harris ? fresh from oversight of a now-completed Mar Vista grading project ? said he was watching the Kiehlmeiers’ house and, if anything comes off the hill toward their property, he will stop the grading immediately.

Harris said the grading contractor is watering the site to reduce dust while trying not to compromise the safety of the workers.

“If we get Santa Anas, they will have to shut down if they can’t control the dust,” Harris said.

Frank instructed Harris to contact the public works department about getting a city street sweeper up to the project, and he suggested that the developer could build good will by hiring a cleaning service for the fronts of the neighbors’ homes.

“Maybe you could have the neighbors’ cleaning people come in an extra day each week,” Frank suggested to the contractor. “I suggest it as a positive thing in a terrible situation.”

The Ceanothus project includes four lots, designated as legal building sites when South Laguna was annexed in 1988 by Laguna Beach. Lot line adjustments created the four lots out of the original three, each measuring 60 feet by 100 feet, neighbors said.

Frank said he was surprised that neighbors did not appeal the project, which was approved by the design review board with the proposed homes tucked into the hillside as per city policy.

Tucking the houses into the hill reduces their visual intrusion but often requires extensive grading, which developers often oppose because of the expense.

Neighbors of the project told the City Council in February that they didn’t appeal because they didn’t think it would be productive since building is allowed on the lots.

? Barbara Diamond

contributed to this story.

Credit: CHRISTOPHER WAGNER / COASTLINE PILOT Caption: An excavator gathers dirt from a hillside, which is to be loaded into the awaiting truck on Ceanothus Drive on Monday. cpt.14-ceanothus-1-CPhotoInfo3P1ST5N520060714j2bkk0ncCredit: CHRISTOPHER WAGNER / COASTLINE PILOT Caption: (LA)Linda Kiehlmeier stands in front of the fence barrier that is being used to block falling rocks and debris from the construction site that is directly across the street from her home on Ceanothus Drive. Neighbors have complained to the city about the work. cpt.14-ceanothus-2-CPhotoInfo3P1ST8MU20060714j2bkjjncCredit: CHRISTOPHER WAGNER / COASTLINE PILOT Caption: (LA)Linda Kiehlmeier stands in front of the fence barrier that is being used to block falling rocks and debris from the construction site that is directly across the street from her home on Ceanothus Drive. Neighbors have complained to the city about the work.