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WOODS CROSS — One house in the Farm Meadows subdivision once appraised for $307,000. The latest appraisal was for $105,000.
Another home was once valued at $265,000 and another at $222,000. The Davis County Assessor's Office recently reappraised those houses at $100,000 and $89,000 respectively — sliced by more than half their values because of a chilling phenomenon that's leaving many homeowners feeling helpless.
Slanted, sagging floors. Shifting and sinking foundations. Cracking in the ceilings and walls. Bowing patios.
At least 20 homes in the Woods Cross subdivision have reported moderate to severe damage to the city, while 20 more report more minor damage like cracked driveways. But the problem may be spreading, said Woods Cross City Manager Gary Uresk.
"It appears to be getting worse," Uresk said, with more residents within the 200-home subdivision reporting warning signs and symptoms to the city over the past year. "It's not stopping."
Karen and Richard Bennett, living off of retirement, were supposed to pay off their home in 2013. But that winter, they took out a $133,000 home equity loan to help pay for repairs after half of their home sank more than 2 inches to the east.
Drywall began separating on their ceiling. Inside the walls, trusses were twisting, their edges pulling apart.
"We had no choice. It was either that or give up what we've already put into our home," Karen Bennett said. "The city had said if the trusses had pulled completely away, they would have condemned the home. We would have had to move out."
The Bennetts know they were lucky, able to afford the new 15-year loan to install more than 51 piles to literally jack their home up and support it in its proper place. But they worry about their neighbors.
"To give it all up is a hard thing to do, and some of them might have to do that," she said. "I can just see the hurt."
Bennett said some of her neighbors may have to file for bankruptcy if they won't be able to sell their homes or pay for improvements.
A street over from the Bennetts, Stephen Lamb's problem is most noticeable in the basement. The floor slants to the south. Doors don't close. Cracks spider around windows.
Lamb said he's waiting on word from the city on the cause and whether or not the neighborhood will be eligible for some state or federal financial assistance.
"I just want to wait and see. Let's define the whole scope of the problem first," he said Wednesday.
While Lamb has decided to bide his time, he said several within the neighborhood have sold and moved away, fearful that as the problem worsens it would have an impact on their home value, even if their houses didn't have any damage.
Simply living in the area or near a home that has experienced damage could be seen as a risk — and Lamb worries whether some may have sold their homes without properly disclosing the issue to their buyers.
Lamb said many of his neighbors are reluctant to discuss the issue publicly out of fear of how their homes' values will be impacted. Several homeowners in the neighborhood declined to talk with the Deseret News Wednesday.
"I think some people are in real trouble, and others are in denial," he said. "I'm most concerned for those who have bought not knowing what they've got."
Whatever's causing the sinking and shifting of homes is still under study. Uresk said city officials have been conducting research, boring into the soil for the past several months to determine the cause.
The answer is not yet crystal clear, but Ursek said it could have something to do with a sinking water table and the concentration of clay in the soil.
"What we've pieced together so far is that as the table drops and pulls water out of the clay, that soil tends to collapse," he said.
When the subdivision was first developed in the 1990s, Uresk said, the water table sat about 5 feet under the surface, while now it's about 20 to 30 feet deep.
Uresk also said the Farm Meadows development was approved based off of soil reports that indicated the land would be conducive for homes. According to a 1986 geological study, none of the site's soils were "determined to be moisture sensitive, expansive or collapsible."
The city is expected to compile a new report in January, from which city officials will be able to determine if they can apply for emergency funding to address the problem.
Ursek said city officials have already pursued funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but so far the problem isn't widespread enough to be eligible for federal help. Now, the city manager said, the city is continuing discussions with the state's emergency management team.
In the meantime, homeowners are left waiting.
"I feel really bad," Ursek said. "I wish I could do more. Their lives are turned upside down. It's heartbreaking."
