SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

1999 SESSION

999491728
SENATE BILL NO. 856
Offered January 13, 1999
A BILL for the relief of Henry Stophel.
----------
Patrons-- Reynolds; Delegate: Armstrong
----------
Referred to Committee on Finance
----------

Whereas, in 1986 Henry Stophel purchased a parcel of land located on a plateau on a wooded hillside above Route 609 near Collinsville in Henry County; and

Whereas, Route 609 had been cut into the toe of the slope of the hill; and

Whereas, the plateau was created near the bottom of the hill, approximately twenty feet above the toe of the slope, to accommodate housing development; and

Whereas, the plateau was constructed by cutting into the hillside and pushing the cut material down the slope; and

Whereas, Mr. Stophel lived in a mobile home on his property from 1986 to 1990; and

Whereas, Mr. Stophel was not informed of any problems relating to the stability of the soil or previous erosion of the hillside, and in 1990 constructed a house on the plateau; and

Whereas, Mr. Stophel has continuously resided in his house since its completion; and

Whereas, in September 1996, the remnants of Hurricane Fran dumped as much as ten inches of rain on Henry County and other areas of the Commonwealth; and

Whereas, the severe rains caused extensive erosion to Mr. Stophel's property, especially to the hillside below the plateau where his house is located; and

Whereas, erosion cut off access to Mr. Stophel's property, formed large chasms in the hillside, and deposited large amounts of mud and debris from his property onto State Route 609; and

Whereas, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) responded to the erosion of soil from Mr. Stophel's property onto the public road by removing the soil, and in the course of doing so cut a line of trees along the right-of-way of State Route 609; and

Whereas, in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran, Mr. Stophel repaired his driveway using Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster assistance funds; and

Whereas, other rainstorms in 1996 and 1997 resulted in additional severe soil erosion and mud slides upon Mr. Stophel's property, again washing out his driveway and washing soil away from his house's foundation; and

Whereas, the mass of soil that failed in 1996 has dropped several feet since then; and

Whereas, in response to the additional erosion, Mr. Stophel hauled in dirt to rebuild his driveway and re-fill around his house, but subsequent rainstorms have washed away the replacement fill; and

Whereas, Mr. Stophel has been advised by his homeowner's insurance carrier that his policy does not cover the mud slides and erosion problems; and

Whereas, following a meeting with representatives from the Virginia Department of Emergency Services (VDES) in December 1996, Mr. Stophel was advised that an engineering study would be conducted; and

Whereas, on December 31, 1998, Schnabel Engineering of Blacksburg reported its opinions to Adams Heath Engineering of Galax, who had been retained by VDES; and

Whereas, the engineering report indicates that (i) the instability of the hillside is not limited to the area below the plateau on which the house sits, but also affects the uphill side of the property; (ii) the instability of the hill almost certainly predates the construction of the plateau and Mr. Stophel's house; (iii) the construction of the road and plateau has decreased the stability of the slope, causing at least two significant slides in the past twenty or thirty years; and (iv) VDOT's excavation of the toe of the soil mass on Route 609 following the slide in September 1996 decreased the stability of the soil mass, and slope stability is further decreased each time VDOT clears debris from road; and

Whereas, the engineering report concludes that the plateau and Mr. Stophel's house are constructed on colluvial soil, which is inherently weak and unstable, and that excavation of the toe of the colluvial soil mass decreases its stability; and

Whereas, although it may be possible to stabilize the slide below the plateau by constructing a retaining structure, such action would not improve the stability of the slope above the plateau; and

Whereas, the construction of improvements to stabilize the hillside is not cost effective because the assessed value of Mr. Stophel's property is $65,000, while the cost of constructing improvements to address both the up-slope and down-slope erosion and eliminate the threat of further slides has been estimated at approximately one million dollars; and

Whereas, the ground upon which Mr. Stophel's house was built was inherently unstable and unsuitable for construction, and the combination of soil saturation from heavy rainfall and the presence of the road cut at the toe of the slope caused the failure of the soil; and

Whereas, Mr. Stophel has been advised that continued erosion of the soil around the foundation of his house will eventually make it uninhabitable and cause its collapse; and

Whereas, there does not currently exist any federal or state program of mitigating problems such as Mr. Stophel's; and

Whereas, Mr. Stophel has no other means to obtain relief except by action of this body; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. That there is hereby appropriated from the general fund of the state treasury the amount of $65,000 to be paid by check issued by the State Treasurer on warrant of the Comptroller to Henry Stophel, upon the execution and delivery by him of a general warranty deed and such ancillary instruments as shall be appropriate to convey his real property located adjacent to State Route 609 in Henry County to the Commonwealth, in form approved by the Attorney General, and further by the release by him of all claims against the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions, agencies, instrumentalities, officers, or employees arising out of the aforesaid occurrence.