Morgan ordinance stops construction

The Morgan County Council last week passed an ordinance aimed at ensuring more people won't hastily build houses in the Mountain Green area, where a slow-moving landslide has already claimed a home in the Highlands West subdivision.

"We really are just protecting people from themselves," said Morgan County Attorney Jann Farris.

The council recently passed what Farris called a "sensitive areas" ordinance that applies to the entire county. The goal with that ordinance, Farris added, is similar to the focus of the Mountain Green ordinance that is expected to take effect next week.

With both ordinances, the county wants people building homes to do their research before they begin construction on land that may be unstable or unable to support the kind of structure they want to build.

Farris said the new ordinance requires people wanting to build in Highlands West and two other subdivisions to get a geo-technical company or engineering firm to sign off on whether a home can safely be built where an "active," albeit slow-moving, landslide exists.

Some at the meeting said that if the new ordinance had been in place before people built in those subdivisions, "they would not be dealing with the issues now being faced," said county councilman Chad Hawkes.

The new ordinance replaces a six-month ban on building homes in the three subdivisions. Hawkes said the ordinance was the result of collaboration between Morgan County officials, the U.S. Geological Survey, a geotechnical firm hired by the county and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s task force on landslides.

People may be waiting to build on nine more lots in at least one subdivision, Farris added.

Over the past year, heavy soil on top of an old slide area has slid in some steeper terrain during wet periods, making one home uninhabitable and damaging at least two others in the same subdivision, according to Farris. The county condemned the uninhabitable home, which may end up costing the county about $90,000 to demolish.

The Utah Geological Survey has worked with some cities — including Layton, Ogden and Provo — in dealing with geologic hazards. In addition to sensitive-lands ordinances, some cities have turned to zoning to keep development away from certain areas. Requirements for geologic studies vary across the state, and the studies are sometimes done by cities, sometimes required of developers by city ordinance, and sometimes left up to individual builders or homeowners.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com