City Council Meeting Highlights

Highlights from the October 1 City Council meeting:

• The Council approved an emergency financial assistance program that will provide $10,000 to property owners impacted by indefinite utility shutoffs in the landslide area using $5 million in relief funds from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. 
• Information on how eligible property owners can apply will be shared with their homeowners' associations in the coming days. 
• The remaining funding will go toward the City’s ongoing efforts to slow the landslide, including adding more deep vertical dewatering wells to relieve water pressure from two heavy rainy seasons that is fueling the unprecedented sliding. 
• The latest geological data shows that since August, the overall average rate of movement in the landslide area has decelerated by 13% to 8 inches per week, with a range of 1% acceleration to 27% deceleration, depending on the area. 
• Six new dewatering wells recently installed by the City on the coastline between the South Bay Archery Club and Portuguese Bend Beach Club are pumping out 720 gallons of water trapped deep underground per minute, or about 1 million gallons per day. These wells are already showing positive results. 
• The Council extended the City’s local emergency declarations that were put in place to bolster the City’s response to the land movement and utility shutoffs through November 30. 
• In an effort to reduce crowding in animal shelters and to be consistent with county regulations, the Council introduced an ordinance increasing the number of dogs allowed per residence in the City from three to four, and cats from three to five.

For all City Council actions from the meeting, watch video at rpvca.gov/agendas.