Jul 19, 2018 3 min read

Majestic Hills residents affected by a landslide last month attended North Strabane Township’s Tuesday meeting to ask about the status of their homes.

“It’s been about a month now. It’s not an easy situation,” said Doug Grimes, the only resident who addressed the supervisors.

Grimes is one of several residents displaced after the land behind four Majestic Hills townhomes slid about 30 feet onto Forest Lane Drive following extensive rain. The township closed Forest Lane, which was impassable due to trees and dirt from the slide.

Of the three homes that had to be evacuated, one was damaged. The township’s engineer, Joseph Sites, of Gateway Engineers, said last month the residents were staying in hotel rooms provided by the builder, Ryan Homes.

Grimes informed the supervisors that additional cracks in the drywall and the foundations of the homes have developed.

Sites said the township worked with the builder and developer to conduct a geotechnical investigation, which began June 25 and concluded July 12.

“They can identify the types of soils and rock and if there’s any water present,” Sites said. “They’ll take that back, evaluate it and try to find the cause of that slide. This is a very complex problem and to come up with a solution is going to take some intense investigation.”

Grimes expressed concern that this investigation won’t change the situation for residents whose homes are uninhabitable. He said he was there to “seek a quicker solution, rather than have our lives be put on hold for an extended period of time.”

“We’re anxious to get on with our lives and I can’t imagine this going on for months and months,” Grimes said.

Sites said that even when a solution presents itself, the builder, developer and the residents will have to figure out who will cover the cost. He said since the slide happened on private property, “generally, municipalities don’t go on private property to fix problems.”

“I feel for these people who have experienced this slide,” Sites said. “But once the cause is found and a solution is developed, someone’s going to have to figure out how it’s going to get paid for. The township needs to discuss what level of involvement do we have, and if we do get involved, does that open up a window for liability?”

The supervisors have discussed making changes to grading ordinances and the steepness of slopes on which developers are allowed to build. Supervisor Harold Close expressed his wish to see more conservative regulations put in place to prevent similar problems from happening.

“There seems to be little to no accountability within our development community,” he said. “We have no way of controlling what they’re doing up there and we have houses falling off hills.”