Geo-hazards list readied

A list of ideas for state and local governments to protect homes and developments from geologic hazards is about ready to go to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

The governor's Geologic Hazards Working Group met Wednesday to finalize its recommendations on preventing damage from landslides, earthquakes and other dangers. The group was empaneled in response to flooding and landslides that have damaged homes and injured people in communities across Utah, as well as the constant threat of earthquakes along the Wasatch Front.

"We didn't really get any comments saying, 'Trash this recommendation' or, 'You forgot this; add another one,"' Utah Geologic Survey geologic-hazards program manager Gary Christenson, who chairs the working group, said Wednesday.

The recommendations include creation of a model geologic-hazards ordinance for cities and counties to consider, updating and increasing availability of state and local hazards maps and finding ways to increase the pool of trained geotechnical engineers in the state.

The newest draft of the group's report, which is final except for a few remaining tweaks, takes into account previous complaints from private engineers that earlier versions failed to take into account the role their firms could play.

The recommendations now include using private consultants to help cities and counties adopt geologic-hazards ordinances, to participate in workshops and seminars and to expand engineering training at Utah's universities.

But working group members worried that too much reliance on private consultants could make things tough for local governments since there is a limited number of such firms available and even fewer that are willing to do review work on existing hazards reports because of liability and other issues.

Provo city engineer Nick Jones and Jodi Hoffman of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, both of whom serve on the working group, pushed for the recommendations to include language backing more resources for the UGS, which has recently scaled back its review work because of a heavy workload. Other group members agreed the UGS needs to be available for reviews.

The group also considered ideas for an appeals process to be used when developers and governments disagree on implementation of hazards ordinances. Christenson said a specific appeals process was needed "so you don't have to go through litigation to get things resolved."

Hoffman said that process needs to involve a panel of professionals with geotechnical know-how rather than local boards of adjustment, which typically hear appeals on city decisions but "just don't have the expertise" on complex geological issues.<