City Orders 10 Orange Homes Evacuated

Citing “extreme peril,” Orange city officials said Tuesday they have ordered the evacuation of 10 homes by June 1 because of a landslide threat.

The evacuation order applies to 10 houses in the Vista Royale development on the east side of Vista Crest Road. Five $1-million homes in Peralta Pointe, perched on the ridge above Vista Royale, were evacuated earlier this month.

Residents of the two communities, built in the 1980s, learned in February that their homes were on the brink of disaster and that an evacuation could be called at any time. Geologists have said the homes will have to be destroyed and the hillside flattened to save other property in the area.

Attorneys representing the project’s developers recently signed a tentative agreement to pay the 10 Vista Royale homeowners a total of $4.2 million for their property. But talks with the owners of the five hilltop homes have stalled.

Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz said Tuesday of the ongoing negotiations: “Every day that they don’t get it done, it gets more difficult for the people involved.”

Seven of the 10 Vista Royale homes at the bottom of the 180-foot slope already have been evacuated, Orange police spokesman Art Romo said. Residents of the three remaining homes have until 9 a.m. June 1 to evacuate, city officials said.