Neighborhood on edge as other Draper homes may slide off cliff
By Lucy Nelson
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DRAPER, Utah (KSTU) — After two homes collapsed over a cliff in a Draper neighborhood early Saturday morning, others are still hanging on by a thread.
“All our kids hung out at that house almost daily,” said Matt Lambourne, who lives across the street, “It’s where the Kimbells lived. And They were quite literally like a cornerstone of the neighborhood and community.”
Since Saturday, the only parts of the home left are its master bedroom and part of the entryway. The rest, along with the entire neighboring home to its left, are in shambles at the bottom of the cliffside.
Draper City announced Tuesday night that the remaining portion of that home will be demolished Wednesday morning. Springtime Road will be closed to the public from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with local traffic as the only exception.
“We have two down, one that we’re really concerned about, and the fourth one that we’ve condemned,” said Draper City Mayor Troy Walker, “But that’s not as big a concern as this other house.”
Mayor Walker said he is remaining cautiously optimistic that the third home can be saved.
“You know, Edge Homes has now stepped up and they’re getting involved, and so I think there is probably a way to prevent that third house hopefully,” he said.
He said he issued a declaration of local emergency Monday night for more authority over the area.
The mayor also mentioned that crews will be closely monitoring the closed-off trails, mainly Ann’s Trail and Clark’s Trail, as well as Springtime Road where the collapsed homes were, citing a number of trespassers and fear for their safety.
“All we’re trying to do now is keep people out,” said Walker. “Down below we have people down there taking stuff out of the debris, like hiking down and getting stuff… It’s bizarre with the house sitting up there potentially, you know, [falling].”
He said there will be citations for any trespassers without warning.
“There’s nothing down there valuable enough to risk your life for,” said Walker.
With a slippery future ahead, Lambourne hopes attention stays on the safety of the neighborhood.
“We need to really make sure that the focus is kept on making sure that our neighbors, that their homes can still be saved,” he said, “And that resources are allocated appropriately by both the city and the builder it’s like to go ahead and make that whole.”
The mayor said if anyone in the Suncrest neighborhood is worried, they can call the building department and a building inspector will look at their home.
He added that homeowners would have to be very close to the area for there to be concern.
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