SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - 13 homes along Springhill Drive and Springhill Circle in North Salt Lake are on the move. Those homes are sitting on top of a slow moving landslide that is picking up speed. The movement of tons of mountainside is tearing apart their homes, inch by inch.
In the decade since the slide began, it has claimed three homes. Two have already been demolished. One was just declared “uninhabitable” a couple weeks ago. “All 13 homes are in jeopardy of loss of value or catastrophic loss,” said Lisa Watts Baskin, a North Salt Lake City Councilwoman.
She sees two options to save the people of the neighborhood from this slow-moving disaster:
1) Experts with the Utah Geological Survey suggest that the base of the slide could be reinforced – contained – like a dam holding back water. It would cost up to 1 ½ million dollars and would be only a temporary fix. At best, the containment would give the neighborhood another 50 years.
2) Buyout the neighbors and then level the neighborhood. This would probably cost 2 million and involve negotiating with banks that hold mortgages on the property. Watts Baskin said, “I’d like to hire at the city a full time employee who mediates until we get them through the crisis.” She suggests that money from the Stimulus Bill earmarked to help those in danger of foreclosure might be put to good use in this situation.
Either option will cost money. The problem is where to get it. There are options here as well, still they are far from easy. The state of Utah has $15 million set aside in a disaster fund. The first step to tapping that money would be for the city to declare the neighborhood a disaster area. Then it would be up to the Governor to decide whether to go along with the disaster declaration and allocate the money. But with thousands of slides around the state and several in developed areas, the state has been understandably reluctant to start giving out money to any of the victims. Slippery slope.
Another option is to set up a private, non-profit and try to raise the money. But coming up with 1 to 2 million dollars from bake sales and fund raisers would be daunting in good economic time. And this days, it could approach the impossible.
Watts Baskin recognizes that whatever is done has to be fiscally responsible. “But there’s also the ethical responsibility,” she said. “And that is, how do we help our own.” No matter the hurdle, she believes these people deserve help. Many have lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, and for the last 10 have been fighting a solitary battle to save their homes with dry wall patch and 2 by 4’s. They’re outgunned.
