The slow-moving landslide that began creeping through her neighborhood in early 2023 hasn’t stopped, she said. The slope behind her home remains soggy even in the middle of summer, and every new crack in the soil brings a reminder that the ground could give way again.
“There’s a lot of underground water that’s not being managed well by the city, the golf course, or the Coast Association,” Nelson said. “When it rains, this whole area could get activated again — and now there are golfers right below it every weekend.”
“They told us the piers might last a couple of years,” neighbor Nicole Taglione said. “Well, it’s been a couple of years, and they’re starting to buckle.”
A preliminary engineering report prepared this summer for legal mediation helps explain why the ground gave way.
According to SPC Engineering’s July 2025 assessment, the landslide was caused by years of rising groundwater beneath the slope, worsened by poor drainage and neglected maintenance by multiple parties — including the Coast Homeowners Association (HOA), the City of San Clemente and the Shorecliffs Golf Club.
Investigators found that the underground water table had climbed dozens of feet above safe limits before the slide reactivated in 2023. Dewatering wells managed by the HOA were either turned off or ineffective. Meanwhile, a city-owned desilting basin on the golf course — which collects runoff from surrounding neighborhoods — had become clogged with vegetation and debris and was not cleaned until after the landslide occurred.
Engineers also noted cracks in the course’s drainage channels and evidence of ponding water across the fairway, conditions that may have eroded the toe of the slope. Possible leaking utility lines along Calle Vallarta could have compounded the problem.
“The rise of the groundwater table caused the destabilization of the Nelson Landslide,” the report concluded, calling the slope’s safety margin “critical.”
For Nelson and Taglione, those findings only confirm what they have watched happen in real time. They say water still seeps beneath their properties year-round. Even after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to shore up their foundations, the threat remains.
Nelson’s house is now uninhabitable, but because homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover landslides, she’s still paying both rent and a mortgage.
The women have pleaded for help from former Mayor Chris Duncan, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley and representatives from a coastal agency, but say the responses have been limited to sympathy — not solutions.
“Everyone says the same thing — that they can’t help,” Nelson said. “If they can’t help, then at least make sure people don’t get hurt.”
Their biggest worry now is public safety. The landslide has already breached the edge of the Shorecliffs Golf Club, where hundreds of players walk the fairway each weekend.
“It’s a massive piece of land that could easily move again,” Taglione said. “It’s already reached the golf course, and people are out there playing like nothing’s wrong.”
Since the golf course reclassified the area from the back nine to the front nine, Nelson said, the number of casual players has only grown — and some even wander onto the unstable slope searching for golf balls.
“They have no idea they’re standing on an active landslide,” she said.
For now, the neighbors say the city, the HOA and the golf course are stuck in a blame cycle — each pointing at the others for failing to maintain the water-management systems that run beneath the hillside.
“The HOA turned off their wells during the drought, the golf course isn’t graded right, and the city let the drainage basin fill with plants,” Nelson said. “Now, everyone’s pointing fingers while our homes slide off the hill.”
Despite their frustration, both women insist they are not seeking compensation — just action.
“We’re not asking for new homes,” Nelson said. “We’re asking for this landslide to be dealt with so we know it’s stopped. Engineers know how to fix these things. We just need the city and HOA to care enough to do it.”
Until that happens, they say, they’ll keep speaking out — not just for their own safety, but for anyone walking the fairway below.
“If somebody gets hurt, at least I’ll know I did my civic part,” Nelson said. “This is still very much here.”
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