Update on Valley View homes in danger of sliding
Published 9:32 am Friday, October 28, 2011
Neighbors in the Valley View neighborhood are still dealing with the nightmare situation of figuring out what to do with homes in danger — or already destroyed — by a sliding hillside.
In a nutshell, a steep sl
ope is giving way beneath a line of homes. One has fallen down the slope. Two others have been declared off-limits by the city. Other people in the neighborhood have lost a good portion of their yards and presumably substantial value in their homes.
In an Oct. 19 letter to the city, the homeowners say they’ve spent the last four months trying to figure out what to do next. “As you might expect, all of our choices contain emotional and financial hardships,” they write.
They contend that a 2004 city project that nearly doubled the size of a pipe emptying water from the neighborhood into a creek and other changes to the drainage system have increased “water flow rate potential.” They explain that as, “when it rains really hard the creek flows really hard.” That, they say, contributed to the deep-seated slide event that’s occurring now.
The neighbors go on to outline other points and requests for action from the city. I’ve attached their letter so you can read it for yourself. I’ve also attached the city’s earlier response. The city contends it did everything it was supposed to and its actions aren’t responsible for what happened.
City engineer Ryan Sass said city crews continue to monitor the area. The hillside movement slowed in the drier months, but it probably will begin moving more dramatically as rain fall increases.
