Woodland Hills : Residents Fear Slide of Hillside Property

Rainy, stormy nights are the most frightening for Marcela Weinstein, who says she sleeps fitfully, braced for the terrible rumbling that would mean the hillside above her bedroom window is coming down.

Weinstein and her son, Robert, and their neighbors in the 4500 block of Ensenada Drive in Woodland Hills say they fear that the hillside--which has a vacant home atop it--will eventually give way in heavy rains, burying their neighborhood in rubble.

A cinder-block retaining wall around the hilltop home, in the 4500 block of San Blas Avenue, collapsed about three years ago due to heavy rains, city officials said. The owners, Douglas and Joyce Maskart, moved out about a year later, officials said, after their home was damaged by the Northridge earthquake.

Since then, neighbors and city officials say, mud and debris from the Maskart property have been oozing down the hill. Meanwhile, two huge concrete pillars, which officials said once held up the retaining wall, are perched precariously on the slope.

Robert Weinstein and his mother, Marcela, who live below in the 4500 block of Ensenada Drive, say they have tried repeatedly over the past two years to get the Maskarts and the city to resolve the problem. Frustrated, they have filed a lawsuit against both.

Jim Ashby, an inspector for the city’s Department of Building and Safety, said he believes the slope does not pose a hazard. He said the city, which has been trying to get the Maskarts to fix the retaining wall, filed a criminal complaint against them late last year. The couple’s failure to have the wall repaired is a violation of city code, Ashby said.

The Maskarts, who will be arraigned Feb. 28, are investigating ways to protect the slope against future slides, Ashby said.

The Maskarts could not be reached Wednesday for comment, but their attorney, Michael Ring, said the couple has filed suit against their insurance company to cover the cost of repairing the wall.

Some neighbors say that despite all that has happened, they have sympathy for the Maskarts, who they believe are caught up in circumstances beyond their control.