Rancho Palos Verdes · October 28, 2026
Rancho Palos Verdes reports the Portuguese Bend landslide complex sped up slightly this fall but is still moving about 30% slower than a year ago, and on Nov. 4 the City Council will consider formally accepting more than $55 million in federal grants for buyouts and remediation.
The latest survey data from early October show areas still moving inside the active landslide boundary averaged 1.05 inches per week, up 7.6% since August. The city geologist attributes the increase largely to wave erosion at the toe of the slide from unusually strong southerly swells. The landslide complex is still moving about 30% slower than a year ago. From September to October, the Abalone Cove Landslide sped up to an average of 1.36 inches per week and the Portuguese Bend Landslide to 0.88 inches per week, and Klondike Canyon showed no measurable movement.
At its Nov. 4 meeting, the City Council will consider formally accepting over $54 million in FEMA funds to buy 27 pre-selected homes and over $1.9 million to bring permanent power to the deep dewatering wells. It will also consider two contracts totaling more than $3 million for design, engineering and environmental work tied to two pending federal grants for long-term remediation, and whether to extend the local emergency declarations and the bicycle and motorcycle ban on about 2 miles of Palos Verdes Drive South by 60 days. The dewatering wells have now pulled about 589 million gallons of groundwater since September 2024, and new drainage on Palos Verdes Drive South needed no pump trucks during about half an inch of rain the week of Oct. 18.
In a regional project outside RPV that the city’s report flags, Caltrans will close the Vincent Thomas Bridge (State Route 47) in San Pedro for 16 months starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, to replace the bridge deck in a $750 million project. Detours will run mainly along the 710 and 110 freeways, State Route 103 and Harry Bridges Boulevard, and the bridge is targeted to reopen in early March 2028.
In finance news, RPV’s sales tax receipts for the second quarter of 2026 (April through June) were 12.8% higher than a year earlier, with restaurants and hotels up 21%. The city is also seeking consultants for its next state-required Housing Element, covering 2029–2037, with proposals due Dec. 14, and it continues to offer residents reimbursement for half the cost of a doorbell camera (up to $100) or a neighborhood camera system (up to $2,500 for HOAs).
City’s weekly administrative report, rpvca.gov ↗
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