Homes evacuated in San Antonio as hill crumbles

[Blue_Tires]

Source: AP

SAN ANTONIO – Construction crews moved dirt to shore up a group of houses precariously perched on a crumbling hill in San Antonio on Monday as engineers tried to determine why the land below was shifting, causing dozens of homes to evacuate.

Gaping crevices, some 15 feet deep, cut across several yards as dirt cascaded into a towering stone retaining wall that nearly split in half. Fences crumpled like accordions as crews packed dirt under one home and around its exterior after part of its foundation was exposed.

One soil expert said the cause of the landslide appeared to be the result of poor retaining wall design, and a city official said the nearly 1,000-foot-long wall in the upper-middle class neighborhood of sprawling two-story homes was built without a permit.

No one has been injured, but about 80 homes were evacuated on Sunday after a resident in the northwest side subdivision reported that his backyard was sliding down hill. By Monday afternoon, residents in about 55 of those homes were allowed to return after inspections and soil monitoring found them to be safe, said Valerie Dolenga, a spokeswoman for Pulte Homes Inc., the parent company of the neighborhood's builder, Centex Homes.

One neighbor who was among the first homebuyers in the subdivision set among rolling hills on the outskirts of San Antonio said he was initially told no homes would be built on the crumbling ridge because it was too steep.

Romeo Peart, 32, said one retaining wall failed several years ago before the current one was built and homes were constructed above it.

"They can keep the view now," Peart said, shaking his head as heavy equipment stuffed dirt beneath an exposed foundation. "And they paid an extra $10,000 for those lots."

The development, which was started in 2004, has nearly 750 homes with others under construction. The neighborhood, with houses selling for $250,000, is one dozens that have sprung up on hilly former ranch land as San Antonio grew to be the nation's seventh largest city.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_soil_shift_evacuation

[MineralMan]

1. Build your house on an unstable hill and what happens is

inevitable. I feel bad for the people whose homes are at risk, but the developers should never have been allowed to build on this property. Greed.

[Blue_Tires]

2. yeah, i've seen and lived in too many communities

and local governments that the commercial developers have ruled by fiat (Atlanta, D.C., Virginia)

[sonias]

3. This is what happens in Texas when developers get their way

Home builders in Texas pretty much control the Lege and they get to do anything they want. I bet with the alleged "tort reform laws" that home builders pushed for, these homeowners will not get real justice. They'll be lucky just to walk away with some of their equity.

A lot of these high volume developments are built very quickly so it's no surprise to me they did shoddy work.

The home owners learned a very hard lesson. I'm just glad no one was killed.

Now if the homeowners would really get behind getting real home building reform and protection, they would make good spokespeople for the cause. They could start by working with their Texas Representatives and Senators. I'm not sure where this area is in San Antonio but I think it might be Senator Jeff Wentworth's district. He's an R who of course voted that tort reform law in.


Sonia

[WolverineDG]

4. Reminds me of the floods about a decade ago

that washed out an earthen dam & wiped out several homes. Part of the spill way of the dam was in the SA city limits. One homeowner in particular got very vocal about how stupid the county was for letting people build in such a "dangerous" spot without "warning" people of the danger. You know, I'd think it would be pretty much self-evident that if you are downstream of a dam & in its direct path, you just might one day see your house floating down the street, but hey.

Several years prior to that, when I was living in SA going to law school, there had been a big fight between the city, county, & either a developer or several property owners over building homes in the spill way of the dam. You know & I know & eventually the city knew that this was stupid stupid stupid. The City refused to allow homes or anything to be built on the part of the spill way that was in the city limits. The county, however, did allow them to build. I remember one homeowner crowing over this, saying how much more progressive the county was in letting people "do what they want with their property."

Flash forward to the flood of a decade ago, & I can't swear to it, but I just bet that the homeowner who berated the county for allowing people to build their homes in the flood way was the same asshat who berated the city for not allowing any building. :eyes:

Now both the SA City Council & the County are both in the back pockets of the developers, because of all the idiots who've bought into "property owners' rights."

dg

[Javaman]

5. sounds like a simple case of greedy builders not getting a proper civil engineering report.

oh, this will be very interesting.

[sonias]

6. Landslide evacuees told to stay away for 10 days

AAS 1/27/2010
Landslide evacuees told to stay away for 10 days
(snip)
The developer, Centex Homes, worked Monday and Tuesday to stabilize the homes and the hillside. The land was still moving slightly Tuesday, but engineers believed it was nearly stable, said Lauren Darnell, a Centex vice president.

(snip)
Pulte's engineers continue to investigate the cause of the landslide, but San Antonio Planning and Development Services Director Roderick Sanchez said improper construction of the 30-foot tall, 1,000-foot long retaining wall and improper compacting of the fill dirt on the home sites caused the slide.

(snip)
City officials released a statement Tuesday saying they would have an inspector monitor construction in the development and hire an independent structural engineer to evaluate whether the homes are safe. The city also plans to check permits for all other retaining walls Pulte built in the city.

Texas has a Residential Construction Commission with the power to perform inspections, determine fault and suggest remedies in incidents like this, but the Legislature did not reauthorize the commission during the last session, so it can't take on this case.

Actually the home owners are better off not having this case go to the worthless captured agency TRCC. They would have forced arbitration of the complaints and sided with the builder and the homeowners would have been screwed. They may still be screwed but they might have a better chance with the A.G.'s office.

We'll see how this develops.

Sonia