Mending a Wall to Help Cement Neighbors’ Vote

One part of the crumbling Rossmoor Wall will be fixed within the next few weeks in a move that attorney Richard H. Oftedal and other homeowners hope will help cement community support for repairing other portions of the controversial red brick structure.

The wall, which straddles parts of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and unincorporated Rossmoor, needs an estimated $100,000 worth of repairs. The wall was damaged in the Landers and Northridge earthquakes.

Oftedal is paying about $1,600 to repair about 55 feet of the wall after it was damaged about two years ago by the roots of his yucca tree--not by a temblor.

But the question of who should pay for repairing and maintaining the entire wall remains in dispute.

The controversy even prompted the Los Alamitos City Council in November to seek county permission to move the city limits 18 inches to the east. This action would effectively boot the Rossmoor Wall, and its problems, out of the city.

The ownership issue of the wall may be resolved in less dramatic fashion by Rossmoor voters in November when they will be asked if they should assume financial responsibility for repairing and maintaining the wall, which was was built in 1959 by Rossmoor developer Ross Cortese.

A similar measure was narrowly defeated by Rossmoor voters in 1994. But the coming election will likely turn out differently, predicts Milt Petersen, a director with the Rossmoor Homeowners Assn.

“It would appear to us in the association that the best way is to take over responsibility for the wall,” Petersen said, rather than face the possibility of Seal Beach and Los Alamitos taking costly legal action.

Petersen said the county, the two cities and the Rossmoor Homeowners Assn. are cooperating to work out details regarding the wall’s fate. “I’m convinced that we’ll be able to hammer out an agreement that is in everybody’s best interest,” he said.

As for Oftedal, he hopes his portion of the wall, which faces Los Alamitos Boulevard near Farquhar Avenue, will serve as a model for future repair work. The wall on his property will stand 7 feet high--2 feet higher than the original--and will have the same brick pattern as the other sections of the structure.

“I want to do [the repair work] before the election, so the residents will be more likely to vote for it,” Oftedal said. He said a renovated wall will increase property values and improve safety in the 3,500-residence community.