Homeowners facing sloping issue in Wedg

Wedgewood resident Ernie Sampson stands next to the pile holding up his shed in his backyard, which slopes down into Bear Creek, on Tuesday in the County of Grande Prairie. Four households, including Sampson have come to the county to ask for help after their backyards began to sink into the creek due to an underground spring. Sampson has lost about 80% of his yard to the underground water table. Svjetlana Mlinarevic/Daily Herald-Tribune

Homeowners facing sloping issue in Wedgewood

Svjetlana Mlinarevic

Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune

August 18, 2017

Four households are facing the possibility that their properties will fall into Bear Creek. This week, those residents came to the county for the third time demanding something be done to save their homes, but ultimately to no avail as the municipality has decided not to help them.

“How is this our responsibility? Municipalities and governments are formed to protect taxpayers,” said homeowner Kevin Dieckmann.

Reeve Leanne Beaupre, who is the ward’s councillor and voted to help the residents, said the majority of council voted not to do anything because the county has no legal obligation to fix the slope, that the slope is on private land, and the use of taxpayers dollars for the slopping issue couldn’t be justified.

“Council’s decision is to not move forward, but having said that, we are still working on their behalf looking for any grants for any type of remedial work that needs to be done,” she said.

Beaupre was asked if there were any environmental concerns regarding soil falling into the creek, which has reduced the size of the toe of the tributary. She said the county is consulting with Alberta Environment to determine what measures should be taken in regards to that issue.

During this week’s meeting, Coun. Brock Smith, the only council member who was part of the original approval process for the subdivision, challenged the residents’ claim they didn’t know there was a water table under slope when they bought their homes. Indignant residents disputed his claim from the galley leading Beaupre to try and calm tempers.

Smith later conceded he hadn’t visited the neighbourhood in two years to see the damage for himself.

Ernie Sampson, who bought his home with his wife for their retirement, is the only original homeowner on the disputed section of land as the other homeowners are either secondary or tertiary owners.

Dieckmann has been living in his house since 2011 and said the cracking bank is running straight down the middle of his home. The land where his deck sits has dropped at least three feet and is threatening to take his home with it as its attached to the house’s foundation. He said if he had known of the sloping problems in the neigbourhood, he wouldn’t have bought his home.

This is not the first time homeowners have come to the county for a help. They raised the issue in 2015 and in 2016 council approved funding half of a $70,000 survey by SNC-Lavalin, which was released this July.

The report found rainfall and precipitation are linked to slope instability, but that there has been no downward or upward trend of precipitation in Grande Prairie other than six episodes of heavy rainfall between 1983 and 2016. The report also noted there are seepage areas on the slope from groundwater.

SNC found the soil is made up of silt and sand sitting on clay with a bedrock base. The 11m to 19m deposits were measured to be moist-to-wet and soft-firm in consistency.

The report mentioned a study was conducted in 1993 for a nine-hole golf course that was being considered for the site. The consulting firm determined the risk of slope instability was too high and that it would be too expensive to mitigate the slope. Further, should the project be built, it would cost too much to remediate.

However, the report did indicate development was possible if nine requirements were first met: two of which were to build 10m away from the crest of the slope and to get the in-ground and above-ground water under control.

“The real issue (is) of them building these houses and allowing the permit when one of the caveats said that there needs to be a 10m setback from the crest of the bank...If these houses were built outside the 10m setback – a little over 30 feet from where they are now – we wouldn’t be faced with this issue and we wouldn’t be going to the county...

“This is clearly their responsibility and their negligence in rushing a subdivision and not making the developer adhere to the caveats that they put forward,” said Dieckmann.

Beaupre said the decision to allow the build was made based on the information the county had at the time the approval was given for the project.

SNC determined to stabilize the slope, weight would need to be removed (eg. houses); the water table lowered through a system of drains or pumps; adding weight to the toe of the slope through a rock berm/buttress; adding strength to the surface of the slope with rip-rap (course rock) and a retaining wall or isolated piling; or a combination of these methods.

Any work on the slope could cost between $1 million and $5 million.

The homeowners invested about $250,000 in 2015 to try and fix the slope.

Moving the houses is an option, but the ground would still need to be stabilized as it could work its way to the street, according to the SNC report. The county said its infrastructure is not threatened by the falling slope.

The residents were asked during the meeting if they would consider being bought out and they said they were open to that option if they received fair market value for their homes.

Residents have seen their property values cut in half since the slop started falling onto the creek. Dieckmann’s property was evaluated by the county at $560,000 in 2016; now its worth $277,000. Sampson’s property was evaluated at $680,000 and is currently worth about $300,000.

“Our houses are worthless,” said Dieckmann, who is still paying the mortgage on the original value of his home.

What action residents will take next is unknown.