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VOL. 24, NO. 130
NANAIMO
Slope c halt to Steep slopees increasingly built upon as developablee land becomes more scarrce BY CHRIS HAMLLYN THE NEWS BULLETIN
A
prime examplee of special challenges in developing steep-sloped land in Nanaimo has put a halt to work on a lot in a Dee parture Bay neighbourhood. Excavation had begu un at 2519 Battersea Rd. when a concrete block retaining wall partially collapsed Feb. 22. The steep lot fronts Departure Ba ay Beach and backs onto Seascap pe Manor condominium propertty. John Hessels, site project w kowich manager with Lew Engineering Associates, said an unanticipated zonee of seepage caused the probllem once excavating began. “There’s no safety y issues with neighbouring properties. oblem for It’s not an unusual pro All banks Nanaimo,” he said. “A have seepage, but thiss particular site, for whateverr reason, the excavation uncoverred a fair heavy seepage zone an nd that’s what caused the probleems.” Dale Lindsay, city manager building inspections, said there is not going to be any y further construction on the property until such time as thee bank is stabilized and engineeers figure he house out a plan as to how th is going to be accommodated on the property. “There are specific requirements that if you’re building uilding a
single-family home on a lo ot in in a steep slope area, you neeed to have a geotechnical engin neeerr produce a report,” he sa aid. “That was done on this p pro rro op p-erty to ultimately determ min mine mi nee that the site is safe and suittab ble le for the use intended. “Our immediate concern rn n is bank stability, safety of neeig ghhbouring property owners an nd safety of workers so we assked ked for a revision to that origi giin na al assessment.” Hessels said they are in n th hee process of altering the deesign gn of the home. “We are at a stage of redesi siign gn. We are suggesting to raisee th hee main floor height of the hou use se,” se, ,” he said. “We are too far int nto nt to the cut so we want to bring g th he house up to create a much sa afe fer fer situation.” But Charles Thirkill, a fish sh her eries biologist with years of ex xpe perience with water erosion, sa aiid it’s no surprise the lower half of the slope collapsed and mo orre re care than just the city’s stteep eee p slope development permit areea guidelines are needed in ca ases as es like this. “This area is part of the hishishi storic Cilaire bluffs. The sub sub b-strate is hard pan or sand so o it it’s ’ss inherently unstable and subj bjjec b ect to erosion,” he said. “Thi hiirt r ty trees and the vegetation has as been removed from the slo opee,, op which destabilizes it.” ◆ See ‘STEEP STEEP P’ /4 /4
The Feb. 22 collapse of a retaining wall on a steep-sloped lot on Battersea Road has forced engineers to revise plans for a house. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
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