Two homes located in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, collapsed and slid down a trail over the weekend after having their certificates of occupancy revoked last October.
The collapses occurred in the early morning of April 22 due to sliding, according to a press release provided to NBC News from Draper City officials. Draper Fire Department confirmed to NBC News that no one was injured during the event. Draper, Utah, is located 20 miles outside of Salt Lake City.
On-site engineers, building officials and public safety personnel determined that an additional pair of adjacent homes must be evacuated. The residents of these two homes — which are located one on each side of the previously evacuated homes — are clearing out, officials confirmed in the press release.
“With the snowpack melting and creating changes in conditions, other homes in the neighborhood will be evaluated for safety concerns. At this time, only the two adjacent homes are being evacuated,” explained the release.
The release also noted that Draper City’s building official issued a notice on Oct. 25, 2022, which revoked the Certificates of Occupancy of the two homes that collapsed over the weekend due to dangerous conditions.
The conditions are said to be related to earth shifting, which “resulted in sliding and breaks in the foundations of the homes” that were built by housing developer Edge Homes in 2021.
The release states that for months, Draper City followed up with Edge Homes in regard to the developer’s engineering studies on the stability of the houses’ locations.
In a response issued to TODAY.com via email on April 25, Edge Homes remarked that it have never experienced such “devastating events” with its homes before and that it was “committed to finding the underlying cause of the problems to ensure they do not happen again.”
In the statement, the developer noted that it had initially disagreed with Draper City's decision to “unilaterally” revoke the occupancy permits for the two homes that collapsed this past weekend but eventually changed its position on the matter.
“As we continued to monitor the situation and collect additional data, however, it became evident in December 2022 that the homes were continuing to move and that evacuation of the homeowners was the correct decision,” said the statement.
According to the statement, the developer bought back one of the homes that collapsed this past weekend this past January and paid the house's owners for additional expenses related to their relocation.
“We expect to achieve a similar, mutually-acceptable resolution with the owners of the other home in the near future,” the statement explained before adding that it is currently in contact with the owners of the homes on each side of the slide area and is paying their relocation, storage, and temporary housing expenses.
“We do know that stability issues and structural concerns with these two homes existed even before this past winter began, with its record snowpack and deep soil saturation,” the statement continued. “These winter conditions amplified the problems and prevented us from stabilizing the homes. We had hoped to perform a controlled demolition of the two homes in the near future, but that is no longer possible. The remediation, hillside stabilization, and beautification will now be our focus. We will see this situation through to the end in order to protect our homeowners, their families, and the community. ”
