Merry Christmas !

Demolition of the Knights Inn building began this week

It's been a long and difficult six months since the last posting but finally we have something positive to report.  Who would have thought it would take a year and a half of negotiations and legal work to bring people and their money together to try to save their property.  As I reviewed the many blog entries since the emergency owners meeting held in June 2011 we all expected things to happen much more quickly than they have.   A couple of months ago we were close to despair!  Thanks to the hard work of the GSC board (particularly Jason Schall), attorneys Bruce Jenkins and Joe Hood, and with the help of the City of St. George, cost sharing agreements have now been signed between GSC and the owners (and lenders) of Knights Inn Hotel and the Dairy Queen properties.   The owner of the Claim Jumper restaurant has refused to financially participate or allow cooperative access across a small corner of his parking lot which added to the delay as negotiations continued to drag on among the affected property owners.  The owner of Monster Storage, Dennis Lyman, has agreed to let us take dirt from his site which is located nearby for which we are grateful.

Construction on the toe berm began this week as equipment arrived and the west section of hotel building is demolished.  The east side of GSC building L (the four units now owned by the HOA) is next to disappear.  The trucks will be rolling to haul off the debris and begin hauling in dirt which will be placed in 24" high layers with geo-grid fabric installed between each layer and wrapped up the leading edge of the berm.  Dirt will continue to be imported until the height of the berm reaches approximately 23 ft.  There will be a drainage pipe installed vertically through the berm to capture water from the roofs and area surrounding GSC buildings L and M.  This pipe will be tied into an existing 12" line that protrudes through the base of the hotel retaining wall and will be extended under the berm to flow, as it currently does, onto the parking lot which slopes to Bluff Street.

The expenditures relating to the landslide mitigation efforts now exceed $300,000 with Garden South eventually contributing nearly $240,000 including the money spent on past geotechnical studies and legal fees.  The City of St. George is lending $70,000 towards the project which is to be repaid over the next few years by the participating owners.   The increased insurance costs to owners continues to be a burden as insurance companies consider the higher risks of insuring the problem properties.  Insurance premiums have doubled in the past year.   Garden South has enough in reserves to fund it's share of the current known costs.   The future is still uncertain as we have yet to address the costs of restoration of the condemned buildings and some of the deferred maintenance throughout the community.

23 ft. of compacted dirt will replace the building.

Will it work ??? ... that is the big question.  The science and math says that the berm is designed with a 20% safety factor which is less than the 50% typically required by code for new construction.  The safety factor is like an airplane which is required to have enough fuel on board to reach its destination, PLUS extra fuel in case there is a need to reach an alternate airport.   In theory, there will be enough dirt placed at the toe of the slide to counterbalance the slippery ice cream scoop effect of the slide with an extra 20% to spare.   However, no one can or will guarantee that this design will permanently fix the problem.  For the slope to be declared safe by the engineers and city, it will need to be monitored and demonstrated that there has been no more movement.  This will take some time.  It will still be months before owners who are willing to invest in repairing the damage to existing buildings can begin restoration.

We will take this one step at a time, within the current budget that all owners have agreed on.  We looked at many options.   Quotes for proven landslide stabilization methods used by the DOT on mountain roads ranged from $3.500,000 to more than $6,000,000.  At that price, the owners group decided that it did not make economic sense to use the more expensive stabilization methods.  Attempts to secure government funding proved fruitless.  The only option was for private owners to band together using private funds to do what they can to save their properties.    The toe berm design has proven successful in some instances and we determined it was worth the investment to try and save the homes and business properties affected by this slow moving natural disaster given the limited financial resources available.

One Step Forward, Two Back...

Since the last posting there has been some progress and some regression.
    
A meeting with the EDG Group, owners of the land on which the Dairy Queen sits, is scheduled the first of next week to review the cost sharing agreement and seek to resolve their demands and concerns.   If EDG and the hotel both agree to contribute the amounts budgeted, along with the loan from the city, there is a good chance the berm can still be constructed by simplifying the design and reducing some of the costs even though we now have a budget shortfall of nearly $50K from what we originally had hoped to raise.  
To date, Gardens South has funded 100% of the engineering studies and legal efforts related to the landslide.   Even if Gardens South homeowners could come up with all of the money necessary to construct the berm, without signed easements granted by the hotel and EDG to use a portion of their land for the berm, it will not be possible to construct the berm .   Even if the two neighboring property owners agree to participate,  Gardens South will still shoulder nearly two thirds of the total cost.   I'm still hopeful that we can work through the legal issues but it has been more than a year since the first meetings were held among the various owners and we have yet to see signed agreements or actual funds to pay for the construction of the berm.    

Another hurdle...

On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 12:18 PM, Dan Steurer wrote:

I just met with Barco Excavation this morning at the site to review the latest changes to the design.  They will need to cross the corner of the restaurant parking lot property with the trucks to
build the berm.  The city is requiring the property owner sign an easement.  If he refuses to sign the easement for truck access and the install drainage system I don't know what our options are.  His parking lot is already destroyed because the storm water from the hill has been sheet flowing
across the asphalt for years.  With the new drainage system, his parking asphalt will have a much longer life expectancy once repaired. 
The free dirt at Monster Storage is quickly disappearing and if we need to pull dirt from elsewhere it will cost more.  I'm getting a bid for the storm drainage system ... just sent a bill for another $2K for the cost of the engineer who designed it.  I will then revise the construction budget and determine the latest total cost estimates to make sure we have enough money committed.

 I think only the following items must be accomplished to get started:
1.  Signed easement from the restaurant owner (and his financial participation agreement)
2.  Signed cost sharing and budget/escrow agreement by all parties... draft agreements have been sent.
3.  All parties must deposit money into escrow account prior to construction.    If we don't have the signatures and money, then the deal may fall apart.

I haven't given up, but I didn't count on the long legal delays and short-sightedness of certain property owners.  This has been a very frustrating week...we're so close.    We'll know what happens in the next couple of weeks.

More Delays... But Still Making Progress

Attorneys for the various parties are still working on finalizing the cost sharing agreement but we have yet to see monies from other property owners deposited to the trust account.   An agreement with the city regarding the use and repayment of funds contributed by the city is also being included in the cost sharing agreement.   The drainage design is complete but has yet to be approved by the city.   Draining water properly will increase the probability of the berm's success and is something that was not included in the AGEC berm design.  The city is also now requesting that the owner of the restaurant grant an access easement and storm drain easement.  This particular owner has yet to commit to participate in the landslide mitigation efforts despite the fact that the back of the restaurant is now caving in due to the slide.  We will need to work through these challenges in the coming days.   I am having to revise the budget for the berm construction to include the added drainage system costs once we have a final bid submitted.   I still think we will be within the total budget originally estimated but there will no longer be any cushion for unforeseen expenses.   This is a two steps forward, one step back process that has been frustrating for all concerned but we must continue to work through the issues if we have any hope of reducing the damages caused by this tragic slide.

Getting Closer

A meeting was held recently at the city offices to iron out any remaining issues regarding the construction of the berm.  All consents, easements, and releases from property owners and lenders have yet to be signed and collected.   The issue of drainage was discussed and the city wants to see a drainage plan included in the berm design specifications.  I met with a local civil engineer this week who submitted a quote for the design and has begun working on the project.  We should have something to submit to the city for approval within ten business days.   The attorneys are drafting an escrow agreement and requesting that all property owners contribute their share of the costs to a trust account prior to construction.  Gardens South has collected most of the special assessment that was approved by the homeowners and is ready to pay its share.   As soon as the money is collected from the other owners we should finally be ready to begin construction on the berm.

What's Happening???

Multiple bids have been solicited during the past two months from several contractors to construct a "toe berm" as designed by AGEC.   Costs are somewhat higher than originally projected but it appears that there will be sufficient funds if all property owners, including the commercial property owners who have agreed to participate, pay the pro-rata share.  A meeting is now scheduled for March 1, 2012 with the City attorney, representatives of each participating property and attorneys to finalize the cost sharing agreement, collect the necessary funds and deposit to a trust account, and work out any other issues.  We are still waiting for HUD to sign a consent/release form to allow the demolition of the condo unit they own in building L, but even if the consent is delayed we plan to continue forward with the demolition of the hotel and the construction of the berm.  All other required consents appear to be signed.  No work will begin until all funds are deposited by the participating parties (Garden South Condos, Knights Inn Hotel, Dairy Queen (EDG Group), and Claim Jumper) so that we have the assurance of being able to pay the contractors and geotech engineers.  If money is funded this month, construction can be expected to start within a week or two.
This project is the least expensive ($250K) of the possible remedies to attempt to halt the landslide and preserve property.  The engineer's math estimates that the berm should halt the slide with at 20% fudge factor of certainty.   Ideally, a 50% safety margin is desired but to achieve that the cost would be possibly more than $3 million to stabilize both slide planes down to the 40 ft. depth.  We met with two other contractors last month who specialize in stabilizing landslides across the country to obtain rough estimates.   The berm is designed as a temporary solution but given the limited resources of property owners, it may be the only economically feasible solution.
Property owners are wondering how long after the berm in completed repairs can be made on the affected buildings.   That will be determined after a period of monitoring the movement of the buildings to determine if in fact the berm is successful in achieving the desired result.  The buildings will need to be inspected and a list of repairs will need to be made to assure that they can be made safe.  If all appears to be safe and stable then it may be possible to make the buildings habitable again.   The utilities will need to be reconnected and sidewalks and gangways will need to be replaced or repaired along with any other cosmetic repairs.   All costs of repairs to the condos will need to be born by the homeowners of Garden South which may require additional assessments to raise the funds necessary.