‘Feels so good’: Residents in Prospect thankful homes saved after landslide
By Addie Meiners
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PROSPECT, Kentucky (WLKY) — It’s been almost one year since four homes in the Ken Carla neighborhood started to slowly slide down a hillside into Harrods Creek.
Since then, construction crews have been working nonstop to secure the cliff, adding a retaining wall.
Jody Meiman from Metro Emergency Management explained that the project has required significant effort and almost $3 million, but the hill is now secure.
“The first thing that they wanted to do was come in and actually shore up the houses to make sure that there wasn’t any more sloughing off underneath the houses. So that was phase one of the project. Then they started working on this wall. And then this bench that, you see, is the third phase of the project,” said Meiman.
The wall is structurally complete, reinforced with large nails and a layer of concrete. Meiman noted that the next phase involves cleaning up the “bench,” or the flat part of the hill, which is secured by a seawall.
“Cosmetically, you know, the hope is that it just looks normal. You know, as normal as it can be,” Meiman said.
The project is being funded primarily through the federal government, through the Department of Agriculture. They’ll cover $2,121,000 of the $2,818,000 project. The city of Louisville is responsible for the remaining $697,000, which Meiman believes will have a majority paid for with a state grant of $503,738. So the city will only need to cover $193,262.
Tim Voigt, whose home was initially condemned but later re-secured by the support wall, expressed how relieved he is.
“The whole house shakes when they’re drilling in the seawall, or drilling in the horizontal supports to support the hillside, and I’m happy every time I feel the house shake because it means progress is happening and things were getting more secure and stabilized,” Voigt said.
While the once-quiet neighborhood has had to deal with lots of construction traffic and heavy machinery over the past 11 months, both Voigt and Ruff believe it will all be worth it soon.
“I think it’s going to be a good long-term solution for sure. For all of us, I feel safer having that there,” Ruff said.
“I’ve been told that there’s a guarantee on the project for 80 to 100 years. I don’t intend to be there in 80 years, so my goal is 60 years. As long as it’s there for 60 years, I’m going to be very happy,” said Voigt.
The hope is to have the work completed before summer.
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