A rule might prevent slides, planners say.

A homesite on a mountainside above Jonathan Valley Elementary could become the poster child for the potentially deadly consequences of unregulated hillside development in Haywood County.

In building a driveway and preparing a homesite on Late September Way in Campbell Mountain Estates, a developer modified an existing 40-foot vertical cut into a mountainside. But before the project could be finished, the mountain moved.

In the yard of a home at 31 January Heights, which is adjacent to and directly above the slope work, 2-inch wide fissures appeared like veins in the landscaping just off the home’s back porch.

The slide appears to have been stopped — for now — thanks to quick work and an innovative engineering technique that injects a concrete-like substance into the hillside using iron piping. The hillside was then draped in fabric grids and coated in a geotextile material.

But the 40-foot cut, and the landslide it could have caused, spotlights clearly the effects of building homes where nature didn’t intend them to be built.

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Original article in The Mountaineer...