SAN DIEGO — People living in a La Jolla condo building have been forced to vacate their homes after months of deteriorating conditions following the discovery of a sinkhole. CBS 8 is working for you to find out what went wrong and what’s being done to fix the problem.
“At this point, we’re in the hotel, there’s still no answers as to what we’re going to do with all of our stuff,” said Kyle Voors, a tenant at La Jolla Terrace condos along with his wife, Sarah. “All the furniture, clothes, all of it’s still sitting there. The doors won’t lock fully, all the sliding doors are not even close to closed because the building’s tilted so much.”
The 8-unit building at 8803 Gilman Drive was red-tagged on October 3, deemed unsafe by city engineers.
Voors says too little, too late. He’d been sounding the alarm for months.
“They told us the building’s not moving, they’re surveying it and everything was safe, which at that point in time, it was obviously moving, sidewalks were still falling in,” said Voors.
The sinkhole was discovered and reported to the City of San Diego on March 31. According to City spokesman Tyler Becker, “It was determined that winter storms had caused a section of a 132-inch diameter corrugated metal storm-drain pipe buried approximately 45 feet underground to collapse.”
At that time, the city deployed an emergency contractor to contain the sinkhole and devise a repair plan. “No impacts to the building were initially observed,” Becker said.
When the city’s contractor began excavating and shoring activities, they worked 10 hours a day and seven days a week on the repairs.
“It’s when we’re getting all the vibrations in the house, they’re doing the boring machines, you know, within a foot of the balcony, same with the piledrivers, that’s when the whole house is shaking the entire time,” said Voors.
The situation worsened with each passing month, and then Tropical Storm Hilary hit San Diego, opening another sinkhole next to the building, and damaging the construction site.
“It just got worse and worse and worse to where the actual foundation of the entire building was cracked all the way across,” said Voors.
At that point, city engineers determined the building was unsafe and ordered residents to vacate the premises.
“It’s absolutely pathetic,” said Voors. “It was understandable maybe the first few weeks with the construction project, but two months down the line, the excuse is no longer valid, the building is actually showing visible damage.”
Walking around the building, CBS 8’s Brian White saw visible cracks on the exterior walls.
“City contractors are still working to determine the cause, damage, repairs and timeline related to the water main break,” said Becker. “We will continue working diligently to assess the situation and provide a solution as quickly as possible.”
“It’s incredibly disappointing and I think it should be known and I think the city should take responsibility for it,” said Voors.
At CBS 8, we are always Working for You and our community. This is a station promise that we will go the extra mile to solve a problem our audience can’t solve themselves. We want to hear your ideas on how we can cover and help our community. If you have a story idea, please email us at workingforyou@cbs8.com.
WATCH RELATED: Apartment buildings guised as Granny Flats in San Diego