Coachside Drive slide grows a few miles from Majestic Hill demo work
Chris Forman stood near the collapsing embankment behind the house he rents in North Strabane Township late Tuesday morning.
When the sinkhole first opened up behind the house on Coachside Drive more than two weeks ago, he said, “It just literally looked like a dropped piece of land.”
“Now it looks like a wasteland,” he added, surveying the muddy landslide he said is worsening by the day.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
The backyard of a home at 288 Coachside Drive in North Strabane Township is sliding down the hill.
He and his landlord, George Dodworth, said they’ve struggled to draw the same attention from officials that a series of slides a few miles away have garnered.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk for the Observer-Reporter
In this October photo, a pile of rubble is all that’s left of the home at 2019 Majestic Drive, the third home to be demolished in a week at Majestic Hills in North Strabane Township.
As they explained their plight, a team from contractor Gregg Inc. prepared to tear down a third house on Majestic Drive, which they did early that afternoon.
The township had condemned that house and two others – which were torn down Friday – amid a series of landslides township officials said have plagued the Majestic Hills housing plan since June.
Township manager Andy Walz said Sunday officials were developing plans to stabilize the now-closed Oakwood Drive, which is also threatened by crumbling ground.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Buddy Gregg with Gregg Inc. demolishes the home at 2019 Majestic Drive in North Strabane Township.
Township officials declared a state of emergency late last month because of the Majestic Hills slides and the one at Dodworth’s property.
Meanwhile, Forman said more of the ground behind his house crumbles down the hillside.
“Why not use (the state of emergency)?” he said. “My understanding was that the state of emergency was for the entire township, not just Majestic Drive.”
He initially noticed a hole yawning behind the property Sept. 23 when he was about to mow the lawn, and noticed the crumbling piece of property.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
A pile of rubble is all that’s left Tuesday of the home at 2019 Majestic Drive, the third home to be demolished in a week at Majestic Hills in North Strabane Township.
He called authorities. The house, which Forman shares with his wife and three children, was briefly condemned.
He and his family were soon allowed to return after a temporary line put the house back on the sewage system.
On Oct. 1, a crew from Stewart Contracting – a contractor for North Strabane Township Municipal Authority – repaired a main sewer line that runs under the crumbling hillside, but didn’t backfill the hole at the bottom.
“If you’re playing a game of Jenga, you took out the bottom blocks,” Forman said.
Dodworth and Forman said following the repairs to the main line, an excavator sat parked next to the house until Thursday night, when it was moved to the Majestic Hills site.
Joe Stewart, owner of Stewart Contracting, was at the site Tuesday afternoon. He acknowledged workers from his company did the work but didn’t have a definite answer for why the hole was left unfilled.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
The ground is shifting and cracking at a home at 288 Coachside Drive in North Strabane Township.
“I thought they put the sewer line back together,” he said.
Walz, municipal authority manager Matthew Marasco and the township engineer didn’t return messages Tuesday.
On Saturday night, Dodworth and some friends used a chainsaw to cut off parts of the back deck when the ground slid out from it, to stop it from pulling on the side of the house.
Forman and Dodworth said they’ve repeatedly called the township and authority, but with little to show for it.
“We begged for them to put up a fence,” Dodworth said.