Emergency Property Owners Meeting, June 28, 2011

About 60 people, including property owners or their representatives, attended an emergency meeting held at 393 E. Riverside Dr. 3A at 12 noon.   The properties represented at the meeting included:  Gardens South Condominiums, EDG (Dairy Queen and Pier 49 buildings), Knights Inn Motel, and the Claim Jumper Restaurant.
Mr. Jim Nordquist, President of AGEC, presented scientific evidence describing the slide and his recommendations for abatement.
Mr. Bruce Jenkins, Attorney, then presented information about the proposed formation of a Special Assessment District among affected property owners to raise the required funds to stop the slide and repair the damages to property.

Summary of Mr. Nordquist's presentation:

1.  The slide is part of a much larger ancient landslide that has been moving for a long, long time.
2.  Multiple slide planes were found to be moving, one 6.5 ft. below the DQ parking lot and other at 35 ft. below ground.  The soils are naturally saturated and the natural water table is high (within several feet of the surface).   These soil characteristics are true for most of the southern part of the airport hill.
3.  The structural strength of the soil is very weak.  Once it begins to move, it continues to weaken and move at a faster rate.
4.  The rate of movement has been slow over the last 20 years (about 1 inch per year), however, within the past year the rate of movement on the surface is increasing.   Nearly five inches of movement has occurred within the past 6 months.  One inch in less than a week.
5.  The slide is caused by the shear weight of the saturated soils.  By comparison, the weight of the buildings represents less than 1% of the total mass weight.   Hence, removing buildings will not stop the slide.
6.  The slide is causing the properties (Motel, DQ, and Restaurant) located at the "toe", or bottom, to lift and heave as dirt is pushed up along the slide planes.   Buildings "L" and "M" of the condo project are experiencing lateral movement as well as some heaving.
7.  The slide, if not stopped, will continue to migrate up the hill affecting properties higher on the hill and causing the lower properties to heave.
8.  Recommendations:
         a)  Immediately place approx. 6000 yds. of soil at the base of the slide to add weight.  This should dramatically slow the rate of movement.
         b)  a more permanent fix would be to drill and install large diameter (4 ft.?) concrete piers below the slide plane (60 ft?) and also drill laterally into the slope several hundred feet to install tie-back piers to hold back the slide.  Cost estimates are being compiled for both recommendations.

You may view segments of the video-taped presentation by clicking on the following links:

Geotechnical Presentation, part 1

Geotechnical Presentation, part 2

Mr. Bruce Jenkins then explained the proposed creation of a Special Assessment District so that bonds could be sold to finance the construction and property repairs.  Property owners would vote to tax themselves and repay the obligation over time rather than having to each come up with the money immediately.   It is estimated that about $2 million will be required, however, owners will have an opportunity to vote on the exact amount once the costs are actually determined.  The following steps need to occur:

1.  The property owners must sign a petition and formally serve the City of St. George requesting the city to accept or deny the petition to create a Special District.  We expect the city to deny the petition.
2.  Each property owner must then be given a opportunity to vote (sign a petition) to form the SSD.  If 67% or more of the owners sign, then a formal election can be avoided and the process is accelerated.
3.  Once the costs to fix the problem are known, property owners will then vote to approve the assessment amount and if approved, the funding process is initiated by creating and selling bonds to raise the money.
4.  The bonds become a tax obligation and owners will receive a separate tax bill in addition to the regular property tax from the county.


A meeting with city officials was held at 2:30 pm during which Mr. Nordquist presented an abbreviated version of his findings. The city expressed a desire to help the property owners within the scope of its powers  and to help expedite the process to minimize further damage.   Concern was expressed for the safety of residents of Bldg. M of GSC and the hotel patrons and DQ customers and steps will be taken to minimize bodily harm until the slide can be stabilized.   Residents of "M" will be asked to find temporary housing until such time as the buildings are approved for occupancy once again.

Rate of Movement Increasing

From: Jim Nordquist [mailto:nord@agecinc.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 6:14 AM
To: Dan Steurer
Subject: RE: schedule

Good morning Dan -

Based on our measurements yesterday -

• Building "L"

• The east side of the buliding appears to have moved 0.8" in the last three months.  It had moved about 0.7" in the prior 3 years.
• The west side of the building appears to have not moved.

• Bulding "M"

• The only good reading we have in the area of Builidng "M" is on the south end.   It appears to be moving at only a slight increase (during the last 3 months) from what it has been doing over the past 2.8 years.
• The other inclinometers by building "M" and "L" have sheared off, so that we are not able to measure the actual movement

My suggestion is still to place soil (or something else really heavy like concrete blocks, rocks, etc.) east of the retaining wall behind DQ and also east of the wall in the area of the motel.  This would be the fastest way to help improve the situation.  The more that can be placed the better.  I will try and do some analysis to see the relative impact of placing 5, 10 and 15 feet of soil.

Good luck today!

Jim


    

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From: Dan Steurer [Dan@sunwestdev.com]
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 4:59 PM
To: Jim Nordquist
Cc: Bruce C. Jenkins; Jason Schall; Karen Hatch; Terry R. Brotherson; Chip Bair; Kimberly Graff - Community Association Mgmt.
Subject: RE: schedule

Ok… we’ll get started on the legal petitions with group A.   I assume that group B “static and seismic conductions” means that they are impacted only in the event of a seismic event?   Shoring up the 400 ft. that is actively moving and damaging group A property wouldn’t benefit B properties unless the shoring efforts extended eastward, correct?

It sounds like placing soil behind the retaining wall is something that probably should have been done when it was built.  It will involve the neighbors below.   The city agreed to let us run a temporary power line to restore power to “M” today and do the repair next week.  This will allow the residents to get through the weekend (several are elderly and not able to easily make other arrangements).   The water line should be repaired by tonight.  

From: Jim Nordquist [mailto:nord@agecinc.com]
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 3:34 PM
To: Dan Steurer
Subject: RE: schedule

Dan –

A.   The areas of immediate impact appear to be (as you listed) the following:

·         Garden South

·         Soon Wilmette Trust

·         EDG Group LC

·         Park Dae Won

·         Richard Ringwood

This group would be impacted if the area of current movement were to continue.

B.   The next level of potential impact includes:

·         Family Circle Limited Partnership

·         The Bluffs, Phase 1

·         Black Ridge Terrace A, Commercial Condominiums

·         Black Ridge Commercial Center Condominiums, Phase 2

·         Jenkins Oil Co., Inc.

·         South Bluff Plaza Condominiums

This group would likely “fight” inclusion into the SSD.  Their risk is under static and seismic conductions.

C.            The next level of potential impact includes:

·         The areas developed on the geologically mapped landslide.

·         Their risk is likely tied to seismic activity at a level required by current code.

·         This group would definitely “fight” inclusion into the SSD.

I hope that this will help you – in such an eventful time.

If you need to quickly reduce the potential for movement, soil could be placed in front of the retaining wall west of the DQ.  The more soil, the better.  An option would be to place jersey barriers to maintain some access, and then placing soil between the retaining wall and the jersey barriers.    This may not help a lot, but some help or assistance would be beneficial.

Thanks,

Jim

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From: Dan Steurer [mailto:Dan@sunwestdev.com]
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 3:15 PM
To: Jim Nordquist
Cc: Jason Schall; Karen Hatch; Terry R. Brotherson; Chip Bair; Bruce C. Jenkins
Subject: RE: schedule

  

There is increased urgency and a need to really expedite the process.   We had another lateral main water line to Building M break (yesterday?) and it wasn’t discovered until the sidewalk collapsed this morning and water began surfacing below at the DQ.   The M building has moved about four inches more in the last month, more than in the past 15 years.   The sewer lines on the west end of M are back-draining because the building has dropped.  This morning the electric lines were pulled away from the transformer and the 600 amp panel on the building was fried.  We have 8 units without power and water.  

I tried reaching both you and Arnold this morning but couldn’t, so I called Dave Black from Rosenberg to take a look and see if there is immediate danger.   I haven’t heard back from him yet but he said he would grab Walt Jones and have a look today.   We don’t want anyone to get hurt.  The west 8 units of Bldg M are moving intact with the foundation secure and the building does not appear to be leaning as much or coming off the foundation like building L.   The east end four units of M have moved less and therefore there is a widening split occurring at the fire wall where the 8 units are separating from the 4 unit section.   It’s been a busy day.   We’ve got a plumber trying to find the leak and an electrician trying to restore power as I write this  The city repaired the transformer and will need to reinspect the service panel repair  before they will allow power back on which means we will have 8 more owners displaced if they decide to condemn the building.   Is mother nature going to win this one before we can get manpower and money together?  

Are we safe to assume that only the GSC, DQ, Hotel, Steak House, and tax strip properties are involved?   If so, we’ll start the legal process and petition the city and owners to form an SSD.   I think we should also notify formally the owners of M building how serious the problems are and prepare them for the fact that they may possibly be evicted if the units are judged unsafe.    We’re trying to be proactive and keep the communication lines open to avoid stupid lawsuits.

Steps Required to Form a Services District for Funding

We are still waiting on AGEC to finalize their analysis of the landslide and provide us with a description of the properties affected and the estimated cost to stabilize the hillside.   Once we have this report, a meeting of all affected property owners will be held to evaluate the recommendations and formulate a plan for halting the continuing damage to property caused by the landslide.  
Meanwhile we did receive from attorney Mark Anderson information as to the steps required to form a Special Assessment District so that the affected property owners can vote whether or not to sell a type of municipal bond to raise the funds required to pay for the landslide abatement and property repairs.  The bonds would be repaid over time by a separate property tax collected by the Special District of property owners.   The amount assessed to each property owner would be based on the assessed value of each parcel as a percentage of the total assessed value of the combined properties forming the Special Assessment District.  This appears to be the least costly and fairest way to apportion the costs of stabilizing the hillside and repairing the damaged properties among the various property owners.

Here is a link to the Memorandum from Mark Anderson that details the steps required.
Funding Memorandum Link