North Salt Lake City officials updated residents Thursday evening about the plan to mitigate the effects of the landslide that occurred a month ago.
North Salt Lake Mayor Len Arave says the city has contracted with the geotechnical firm GeoStrata to start putting together a plan to prevent the landslide from moving any further. He says they hope the plan is finalized by Oct. 16 and that work on the scarp at the top of the landslide is completed by the end of the year. But even with the update, several residents remained concerned about their own properties and long-term issues they could face.
Steve Peterson lives across the street from the home that was destroyed. He says he’s concerned the city is more worried about protecting itself against litigation than helping residents.
“That is our plea here this evening, to have you help us identify how the city can be our ally and help us determine what our problems are, so that if we need to individually hire somebody to help shore up a foundation, I don’t even know what we need to do, but we need help and cooperation,” Peterson says.
Arave says at this point they’d like to be able to say more, they just don’t have the information yet. He says ultimately the city has the same goal as the residents.
“I don’t want to drag this stuff out and you guys have problems for years and years and years," Arave says. "This fix that we have, I’m assuming, we’re going to fix the neighborhood. If we can’t, you know, we’ll have to let you know and see what’s going on, but I think we’re very hopeful right now that for the most part we can come up with a fix.”
GeoStrata’s senior geologists added to Arave’s point by saying their study will include the whole neighborhood and not just the immediate area of the slide.
Arave says they still aren’t sure who is going to pay for the work, but they are in discussions with the city’s insurance provider.
