Steep slope bill a hot topic
House bill would require counties to adopt regulations


By DWIGHT OTWELL
dotwell@cherokeescout.com

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 8:05 PM CDT

SCOTT WALLACE/Cherokee Scout
The N.C. General Assembly will consider a law regulating building on steep slopes. Houses such as these in Marble may not be constructed on the sides of mountains like this if the law passes. The Legislature will take up the measure in May.
One side pictures houses sliding off high slopes, crushing those inside. The other foresees economic doldrums, with most construction on mountains forbidden.

The Safe Artificial Slope Construction Act (HB 1756) will be unthawed when the N.C. General Assembly convenes for its short session in May. State Rep. Roger West (R-Marble) is on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, where the bill may become one of the first orders of business.

“This will be one of the hotter pieces of legislation,” West said. “I hope they don’t cram it down our throats.”

West also is a developer.

The bill would require local governments to adopt ordinances to regulate site planning, design and construction of artificial slopes in mountainous areas in order to promote safe and stable slopes for development and reduce the likelihood of slope failures on developed or disturbed land. The law would require disclosure of landslide hazards to purchasers of properties in areas vulnerable to landslides as indicated on maps prepared by the N.C. Geological Survey.

Southwestern Commission Director Bill Gibson said anecdotal evidence indicates a steep slope law has been needed in the mountains for a long time to eliminate possible dangers. Slope failure and the difficulty of some emergency vehicles reaching homes on steep inclines are the primary reasons regulations are needed.

‘Tipping point’

Gibson said professionals talk about a slope exceeding 30 percent as “the tipping point” that should be regulated, but soil composition is important. A 30 percent slope is three feet out and one foot up, Assistant County Fire Marshal Steve Baumgartner said. That is about the point at which a person using a lawn tractor will feel uncomfortable riding it horizontal to the slope, he said.

A house with good support on a solid rock foundation may be safe. However, if the soil is poor it could be very unstable.

A woman was killed in Maggie Valley in 2003, when the mountain beneath her house collapsed because of a leaking water pipe. In 2004, 140 landslides occurred in western North Carolina, claiming five lives and destroying 27 homes, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

The landslides occurred on both natural and developed slopes, according to the Geological Survey.

West said the slopes of 25 percent or greater would be regulated under the legislation. Areas that are in moderate or high-slide hazard areas would be targeted.

In 2004 in Peeks Creek in Macon County, rains from hurricanes Ivan and Frances started slides that destroyed more than a dozen homes and killed five people. As a result, a landslide risk analysis was started in western North Carolina by the Geological Survey.

Economic fears

While many environmentalists embrace steep slope regulations, real estate and homebuilder associations often criticize efforts to regulate mountainside construction for fear of losing business and jobs.

West said the steep slope bill came into the environmental committee last year, and they “fought it back.” The bill would limit construction and road building on slopes and create another layer of bureaucracy.

The regulations would require a lot more work and money by those building homes, he added. Loggers wouldn’t be allowed to build roads.

“[The bill] would do some good in some cases, and it would be bad in other cases,” West said. “We don’t need statewide legislation. Counties should be able to do that.

“[The bill] needs to be in a study bill and looked at by mountain legislators, and not people from the coast. It will put a damper on counties like Cherokee, Clay and Graham. It could be called the ‘vacate western North Carolina’ bill.”

West said regulating slopes isn’t a completely bad idea. In some cases, builders have constructed on slopes too steep and with improper soil to support a structure. But too often when regulations are passed without much study, there are unintended consequences.

State Sen. John Snow (D-Murphy) referred all questions to West.

Cherokee County Manager David Badger said Jackson County has been the leading county in western North Carolina concerning steep slope regulations. The county placed a moratorium on building, then lifted it after a steep slope ordinance was approved.

Badger wouldn’t speculate on the dangers of building on steep slopes. There are a lot of reputable builders, he said, although accessibility to houses by fire and emergency vehicles is an issue.

“The question is how do you determine if it is a slide-prone area,” he said. “You have to go on a case-by-case basis.”

Emergency concerns

The only regulation affecting slopes in Cherokee County was adopted from the N.C. Fire Code. The ordinance requires that an access road be provided for every new building in the county.

Fire apparatus access roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet. Fire access roads shall not exceed 10 percent in grade unless approved by the fire chief.

Baumgartner said the ordinance was passed in April 2007 because fire trucks couldn’t get up steep roads to many homes.

“This is meant to allow emergency vehicles to access subdivisions,” he said. “No excessive grades or switchbacks is what we’re hoping for.”

Randy Dockery, a real estate agent and land developer for Appalachian Land Co., said if people use reason there wouldn’t have to be a law. But he can see both sides.

“Until we have zoning laws, I don’t think it will make a lot of difference,” he said.

Dockery realizes the danger of houses built on a mountainside that fire trucks can’t reach. Those houses could burn down. At the same time, the law could be so strict that it unnecessarily inhibits business, he said.

Dockery doesn’t want to see sediment going down the mountains into streams. “I haven’t seen a house fall off the mountain yet,” he said. “It depends on how they write the law.”

Mapping hazards

Lisa Martin, director of regulatory affairs for the N.C. Homebuilders Association, said the association is not in favor of the proposed bill. However, the association is in full support of funding to map landslide hazards in the mountains.

Most county maps aren’t complete. One of the most important aspects of the maps is to have parcel level maps, which allow property owners to tell if their property is in the landslide areas.

“Slope is not an indicator of landslide potential,” she said. “There is a point at which engineering needs to be done.”

Jeff Howard, owner of Howard Construction Co., believes some situations [concerning steep slopes] should be addressed. For example, he said clear cutting on mountains is unacceptable.

Howard said the N.C. Homebuilders Association and Appalachian Homebuilders are trying to defeat the bill before the House because the slope they are trying to use would be a small hill.

“You might be able to build on the flat top of a mountain, but nothing on the side,” he said. “We are voting to send this bill back to the drawing board and get it right.”

Howard said there needs to be some control over slopes, but he doesn’t want to see a bill approved that would eliminate most construction on mountainsides.

“I understand the public outcry,” he said. “We need to be cautious on how we do this. There is a place in Blairsville, [Ga.], that looks like they stripped the entire mountain and left only about 10 trees.

“Quite a few developers do a very good job. Others cut all the trees off the mountain and throw up a few houses.”

Buyer’s warning

Bill Eaker, environmental services manager for Land of Sky Regional Council in Asheville, said his commission hasn’t taken a stand on the bill. The commission does have a draft of a report that recommends a number of strategies proposed in the bill.

“We recommend that home buyers be officially notified if they are buying land in an area prone to landslides,” he said.

The state maps of landslide prone areas being developed are critical, Eaker said.

“We recommend developments on steep slopes over 40 percent,” he said.

A geotechnical analysis should be done in a portion of developments with 40 percent or greater slope, he said. He hopes this provision would encourage developers to leave steep slopes alone.

The draft recommendation says that future developments not be clear cut with half of the development left with trees.

“There have been impacts from steep slope development,” Eaker said. “There have been significant soil erosion and sedimentation areas. Even if sediment erosion control measures are used, it doesn’t do the job on steep slopes. We have seen impacts from streams from runoff [overwhelming streams].

“Extraordinary measures need to be taken to minimize the amount of impervious areas. There is a lot of concern among natural resource professionals about impact on headwaters of streams and the long-term impact. But we are not anti-developments or growth. We are offering regulatory and non-regulatory strategies.”

Eaker said housing and the real estate industry are a concern in this area. However, a lot more thought should go into how subdivisions are planned and developed.

“Everyone needs a lot more information about how to do it right,” Eaker said. “Preserving high-priority areas is a significant strategy also.”

Eaker added that matching grants are available for communities or government entities to purchase, for example, a mountaintop, to preserve it. Reports from the Land of Sky Advisory Committee will be on its Web site, landofsky.org, in late April.

Under the proposed Safe Artificial Slope Construction Act, the Sedimentation Control Commission will identify the jurisdictions that are required to adopt ordinances by showing them a map or drawing.

The commission will assume responsibility for safe building programs in affected areas if the local government fails to adopt an ordinance that meets the program’s requirements.

Meanwhile, environmentalists, builders, Realtors and legislators are readying for a fight when the short session of the N.C. Legislature convenes at noon on Tuesday, May 13 .