Cedar Heights and Landslide Risks (Colorado Springs: for sale, houses, neighborhood)

[tford]

What are your opinions of Cedar Heights? We're looking at a home up there, but we were recently advised by a different realtor to look elsewhere because of landslides. He said that more than 50% of the good realtors would not even show Cedar Heights. We don't know if he is being honest or trying to steer our business elsewhere?

[Piblokto]

Hmmm. My realtor told me the same thing.

[bashep]

Here is the only information I could find.. The roads have been the only concern and it was said that the Schuck Company didn't do quality work on those roads. Which the Cedar Heights Community was awarded millions for. However, I believe many people that live in Rockrimmon area susceptible to land slides aswell. So, my opinion is to just to make sure you have an indepedent engineer come in and take a good hard look at the lot or house you are interested in and have them give their opinion. I think it does boil down to the particular lot you are looking at. However, keep in mind that if many of the realtors in the Springs have a poor opinion of the area, it may be hard for re-sale. (this forum was the first I had heard about it)
(article)
Cedar Heights, a gated community of expensive homes with spectacular views above Garden of the Gods, saw only a 54.1 percent increase in appreciation during the past 10 years.

At issue for Cedar Heights: The Colorado Geological Survey has identified it as susceptible to landslides, and a sign in the neighborhood even mentions the conditions — although the sign refers to one section of a road, not the entire area. In addition, Cedar Heights homeowners and a local developer wrangled in court for years over the area’s road conditions.

Cedar Heights and Eastborough also point out how percentage increases in appreciation don’t always tell the whole story.

In Cedar Heights, the median sales price for homes sold in the area in 1996 was a whopping $366,342.50. Ten years later, the median sales price for homes sold was $565,000. Even though Cedar Heights’ appreciation rate was 54.1 percent, prices rose by nearly $200,000.
(end of article)

Just my two cents.... bashep

[tford]

We decided not to buy the house but not do to Landslides. I think that may be exaggerated by many. Many who should get the whole or at least the real story first. Cedar Heights is a beautiful area and I don't want this forum to deter anyone from the area.

[bashep]

Ok, I stand corrected... In Rockrimmon it was coal mines. Just an fyi.. I will be talking to a person that actually lives in Cedar Heights on Friday or Monday and can get the real scoop. Then I will post when I have the information... bashep

[COflower]

Originally Posted by bashep

Ok, I stand corrected... In Rockrimmon it was coal mines. Just an fyi.. I will be talking to a person that actually lives in Cedar Heights on Friday or Monday and can get the real scoop. Then I will post when I have the information... bashep

bashep - you may have been thinking about the Holland Park area. There's an entire neighborhood that after they built up on top of the Mesa area (Fillmore and Centennial) houses in Holland Park on the hill started moving with mass slides.

Geologists couldn't come to agreement as to the cause of the slides but the neighborhood was pretty stable until development on the mesa started. Holland Park have homes built in the 70s and it wasn't until about the mid 90s when things started going wrong.

As for Cedar Heights. My father owned land up there when it was first introduced. He scrapped plans to build up there as he wasn't hip with the people (weird I know) the rest of the development was bringing in. He sold that and waited another 15 or so years before buying property near The Colorado Springs Country Club.

Their next door neighbors had to move out for about a year because of slide issues there too. Something about the ground water in the area.

Anyhow, any property is a potential for slide issues and coal mine issues in this city. I think there's a geo map of coal mines around the 'net for C Springs. It's kind of a crap-shoot that even some geologists are confounded by with property here in the city.

[Mike from back east]

Hope this isn't off topic. Having been to Scranton, PA, it was pointed out to us that because of the extensive underground mining in that area, even under the city itself, that the issue of 'subsidence' was a possibility there. As the walls of the underground mines deteriorate over time and collapse, the earth above them collapses down to fill the old mine shafts and the rooms from where they removed coal and/or rock. It's a problem anywhere mining occurs.

There are homes in Scranton that sink down, lean to one side or sag due to this. They told us about a contractor who was working a sewer pipe project in a local river. Seems his equipment operator who was poking a piling or post into the river bed actually punched right through the roof of an abandoned mine. The local river dried up for a while as the river flowed down the hole until they were able to patch it somehow.

That could be what's going on in that neighborhood, we sure don't get the sort of torrential rains that should cause slides.


For More:
- See p34 for a map of COL SPGS mining)
https://mining.state.co.us/SiteColle...rch=subsidence
- General info: http://geosurvey.ohiodnr.gov/portals...cts/geof12.pdf
- Gallery of horror pix Damaged Homes Photo Gallery

[rcrystal78]

I live in Cedar Heights and actually have 2 lots for sale there. My parents also built their retirement home in the community. It really is a great place to live! As long as you are willing to have a few engineers go over the site carefully, you have nothing to worry about. Despite the bad taste between the Shuck Company and Nichols & Commido, we really haven't had any trouble in the development...

[Mike from back east]

Article in today's paper about how they plan to search for old coal mine tunnels and fill them with grout so they don't collapse and cause street level surfaces to subside, sink or shift.

https://gazette.com/news/geophone-ca...38df78bb0.html

[supergman]

I have a lot of friends in the Heights.