North Salt Lake home in slow landslide area set to be demolished | Environment

A North Salt Lake house is set to be demolished because the city says it sits on what is considered a slow moving landslide. The house is at 418 Springhill Circle and has been vacant for months.

“It’s been stressful knowing that the whole neighborhood  is sliding down the hill and that people that have mortgages are going to have to continue paying them,” said resident Toby Sausedo.

Built in the 70’s, at least a dozen homes in the Springhill neighborhood sit in a slow moving landslide. The problem started in the 1990’s. Since then, 5 homes have been declared unsafe, and two homes have been demolished.        

Stefanie Christiansen, a resident said, “We've had some homes down here that have had to be abandoned. We have at least 2 homes that are abandoned that people aren't living in them anymore and we're in a position where they need to be destroyed right now.” Residents fear the loss of the home on Springhill Circle will put their homes at risk. ‘’There's a lot of weight on that house from the slide and our concern is what is going to happen when there's no house holding that weight,” said Christiansen.

But North Salt Lake Mayor Len Arave says, “In talking to our engineers they don't think that tearing down the house will affect the actual landslide itself.” 

Some residents are concerned that the slide starting to move faster. In the past several weeks, residents say there have been a number of water main breaks and their walls and sidewalks are cracking. Each month, the Utah Geological Survey tracks the landslide with GPS markers. 

“Some months it moves less than an inch, but one of the last readings 14 inches that it moved in the month,” said Sausedo. According to the Utah Geological Survey,  it all depends on if Utah has a wet spring.