Santa Cruz Sinkhole Makes Waves in Neighborhood

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.– Richard Marlais walks his dog down West Cliff Drive every day for the beautiful coastal views. Since Saturday his walks have a lot more action, because of a sinkhole that appeared on Woodrow Avenue and West Cliff Drive.

” I saw it on you tube and I was like hey that’s Santa Cruz that’s where I live,” said Marlais.

The YouTube video he is referring too was shot by Archer Koch.
Koch is a Santa Cruz photographer that shot Ariel video of the 40 feet deep and 27 feet wide sinkhole with a Multi rotor device into the air with a go pro camera.

Marlais lives about a block away from West Cliff Drive and he says for good reason.

“In 75 years West Cliff Drive will be gone. So that’s why we bought our House back a block,” said Marlais.

The sinkhole is fenced off for residents’ safety, but it’s not something the residents haven’t seen before this sinkhole has occurred a a few times in the last forty years. It’s been repaired in 1987, 1999, 2008.

Mark Fox is one of the geologists researching this massive sinkhole and took Central Coast News behind the caution tape to see the sinkhole first hand. He says in the past the have filled it with rock. It’s a temporary fix that lasts anywhere from six to twelve years. There are methods that can be used to permanently fix the sinkhole, but may not be cost-effective for the city.

Mark Dettle, public works director of Santa Cruz says filling it won’t cost more than $20,000 dollars.

“We will fill that with large rock and smaller rock on top of that,” said Dettle.

Meanwhile residents like Mark don’t mind the dangers of sinkholes in their neighborhood.

“It’s one of the prices you pay to live here but it’s worth it,” said Marlais.

As long as they can still take in the view.