Crevice’s Danger to Residences Discounted : Camarillo: A rock formation is thought to pose a more immediate threat to motor homes parked below.

A cracked and jutting rock formation looming above a Camarillo neighborhood poses only a slight threat to homes nestled against the steep hillside, a geologist told a homeowners official Tuesday.

But scores of unoccupied motor homes parked between the houses and the abandoned rock quarry face a far more immediate danger, said Bill Torrence of the Camarillo Springs Common Area Assn.

Torrence said an analyst from Geolab of Westlake Village visited the site Tuesday morning to give a preliminary opinion and to determine how much a formal geological survey would cost homeowners in the Camarillo Springs Village mobile home park and The Springs housing tract.

“If it fell right now, it would never reach anything other than the RV lot because there’s so much flat area in the parking lot,” Torrence said. “That put my mind at ease for the time being.”

Ventura County firefighters extinguishing a hillside blaze Saturday discovered a gaping crevice in the rocks, and officials worry that stones could tumble onto the motor homes or residences.

“It could very well be absolutely nothing to worry about,” Torrence said. “Or it could be something minor to worry about, or it could be something major to worry about.”

The Geolab survey will “tell me what the problem is and what the cure is,” he said. Officials at Geolab were not available Tuesday afternoon.

Torrence said Geolab would submit a bid for the geological survey today, at which time he would make a recommendation to the association’s board of directors about how to proceed. The survey was initially estimated to cost between $2,500 and $4,000, he said.

If it is commissioned, the survey will probably be completed before Friday, Torrence said.

More than 500 houses and mobile homes lie at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains hillside, while scores of recreational vehicles owned by the residents are stored in a lot between the mountainside and the houses.

Torrence said homeowners will probably pick up the tab for the survey, but added that if the Geolab analysis concludes that excavation work must be done, other money will be needed. He was uncertain Tuesday where such money would come from.

“I’ve already got a contractor lined up that’s capable of doing the work, including blasting if necessary,” Torrence said. “If it’s something very expensive we’re going to go to the city and see what they can do about it.”

Camarillo’s director of engineering services, Daniel J.V. Greeley, said the city has been monitoring the situation but is not responsible for repairs on private land.

“I’m interested that whatever is done up there be done correctly,” he said Tuesday. “Yet the city is not in a position, nor should we be, to move in and take over.

“If something’s going to be done up there we want to know about it,” the city engineer said. “We take a great deal of interest in any geo-technical issues as they occur in the city.”

But “at this point it’s a civil matter between the two property owners,” he said.

George Longo, whose family owns the hillside where the 5- to 6-foot-wide crack was found over the weekend, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

On Sunday, however, he said he would have to consult family members before making a decision about funding any excavation.