Planning commission weighs requiring slope‑stability assessments in geotechnical reports

The Springdale Planning Commission reviewed draft ordinance language on July 2 that would require geotechnical reports to include slope‑stability assessments for certain excavations, and directed staff to refine the text before forwarding it to a public hearing.

Town staff presented the draft, saying the language is intended to address two scenarios: excavations whose distance to a property line is less than twice the excavation depth, and excavations whose distance to a 30% or steeper slope is less than twice the excavation depth. "The draft ordinance language ... seeks to address those 2 things," Town staff said. Commissioners pressed staff to clarify whether the requirement should also explicitly cover excavations near the Virgin River floodway and protected washes.

Commissioners asked staff to broaden the examples set out in the ordinance so the rule would capture other failure modes beyond slope collapse — for example, an isolated excavation for a swimming pool that causes localized collapse. One commissioner warned that referring only to "slope failure" could leave other failure types unaddressed. Staff and commissioners noted existing regulations (erosion‑hazard analyses and floodplain development permits) can overlap with this proposal; those existing permits address some, but not all, risks that arise when deep excavations occur near washes or steep slopes.

Several commissioners emphasized the intended standard: the geotechnical report should identify risks and provide mitigation recommendations (temporary shoring, drainage controls, temporary retaining structures or other measures) rather than the ordinance attempting to enumerate every possible failure mode. "I would rather leave it open so that the engineer is responsible to think through all the possible ... issues rather than us calling them out and forgetting to include something," one commissioner said during the discussion.

Outcome and next steps: Commissioners asked staff to add explicit reference to protected washes and to the Virgin River floodway in the criteria that trigger an expanded geotechnical assessment. Staff said they will revise the draft accordingly and will either take it to a public hearing or return it for another work session depending on how extensive the changes become. No formal vote on the ordinance language was taken at this meeting.

Speakers quoted in this article are identified from the meeting record.