Thursday, October 13, 2011

Agreement Hopeful

The City of St. George has agreed to assist in reducing the cost of demolishing the west hotel building and half of bldg. "L" of the condos by waiving the landfill fees (nearly $20k).   We are now into the third month of trying to obtain a consensus among the various property owners as to how to fairly split the costs of constructing a large berm where the hotel now stands and behind the Dairy Queen.   The total cost of demolition, berm construction, engineering fees and asphalt repair is estimated to be about $200,000. Using the assessed valuations of each parcel, Gardens South would be responsible for about 54% and the balance would be divided among the other four property owners according to their pro-rata share.   Numerous meetings with the owners and their attorneys have been held since July with little progress.  Another meeting was held on Monday, Oct. 10th and we think we are closer to an agreement.  The city has imposed a deadline of another week to see if all parties can agree.    Once all owners are in agreement, the plan forward is to demolish the buildings and construct the berm.  The theory behind the berm design is that by adding weight and mass to the bottom of the the slide area, it will help to stabilize and slow the movement. With a little luck it may even halt the movement entirely.  There has been continued movement during the last 90 days and there is more damage to "M" building that did not exist 120 days ago.   If the berm is successful in halting the slide, it may be feasible to eventually repair the damages to "M" and possibly the west half of "L".  Funding the cost of the berm for Gardens South will be a matter of discussion at the annual meeting of homeowners scheduled for November 19th.