Relief plan for Cedar Hills

CEDAR HILLS — Cedar Hills residents pushed out of their townhouses by a landslide will not be stuck paying for the damage.

On Tuesday, representatives from Highland Homes, Cedar Hills, and AMEC Earth and Environmental presented a relief plan to the displaced residents.

It includes four elements:

• Temporary housing will be provided for the displaced families at no cost.

• The four displaced families will receive full refunds for the purchase price and closing costs of their units. Highland Homes will also offer a $15,000 discount if the families choose to purchase another townhouse in the development.

• An investigation of the slide area will be performed by geotechnical engineers and necessary mitigation measures will be taken.

• The existing landslide area will be restored and serve a beneficial purpose, possibly as a park.

Gordy Jones of Highland Homes said in formulating the plan, the group avoided placing blame.

"We've been meeting together to address the problem at hand, not to decide who is responsible," Jones said. "The second we do that, it ties the hands of everyone to help."

Jones said this plan is the first step in addressing the issues raised by the landslide, and that the group of city and business officials, which began meeting Friday, has not discussed anything but how to aid the displaced residents.

Those residents met with the group privately to discuss the plan — and say they're pleased with the results.

"I'm happy with it," said Valarie Sorenson. "I think they're doing everything they can."

Other residents of the development were still concerned about future problems.

"My question, and probably everyone's question is, are we safe here?" said resident Shirlene Jensen "Before we bought our home, (the developer) said the soil report was fine. But you can see now that there never should have been homes built there, period."

Engineers from AMEC, the firm that conducted one review of the landslide area, assured residents that the area would undergo a thorough study. Any danger areas would be addressed.