PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigates has uncovered surprising and concerning new developments in an ongoing investigating into a landslide impacting a local business for the second time in three years.
The hillside is owned by the city of Pittsburgh. It’s considered a Greenway.
Chief Investigator Rick Earle first told us last month about this landslide happening again behind a convenience store and gas station in the Spring Garden neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh.
Earle has now learned work that was supposed to be done of the site was never completed.
>> 11 Investigates: City-owned hillside sliding toward business again
A former city employee who worked on that landslide said the city dropped the ball on it.
“Disgusting, it should have never happened,” said Tom Joyce, a former operations manager in the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, as he surveyed the dirt and debris that has once again piled up on the back wall of the convenience store.
Joyce said he couldn’t believe it.
Just a couple years ago, when the landslide took out the back wall of the convenience store and gas station in Spring Garden, Joyce responded to the landslide and oversaw the massive clean-up effort.
“This was all cleaned out. The hillside was all cleaned,” said Joyce, who was shocked by the amount of dirt that has come down the hillside recently.
>> Hillside collapses onto gas station in Pittsburgh, first responders say
Joyce, who left the city after the first landslide, said the plan was to install heavy netting to keep the hillside from ever moving again.
Earle asked him about that process.
Earle: Do you lay the mesh down, the fence down, on top of the soil?
Joyce: Right, correct, exposed soil and once you do that, you drill them into the ground, and after that you hydro seed it.
Earle: That prevents the hillside from moving?
Joyce: Right.
Joyce recently surveyed the site with Earle, and he said the work was never done.
Earle: Did they drop the ball here?
Joyce: Yes they did, yes they did. It’s a simple fix and the money was there. Why they didn’t do it, I don’t know?
And now the hillside is sliding again toward the store.
Joyce said he suspects stormwater runoff from above is causing the land to slide.
Dirt and debris are now pushing up against the back of the store again.
“I knew if they didn’t jump on it right away it would happen again and now it’s happening again,” said Joyce.
“We’re extremely disappointed you see the hillside is coming back down again,” said Bob Spehar, who owns the convenience store.
Spehar, who rebuilt the store with a $100,000 of his own money after the first landslide, had no idea that the project was never completed.
Insurance would not cover any of the damages, and the city didn’t help Spehar either.
The city did pay for the cost of removing the dirt and debris.
>> Pittsburgh councilman takes action after 11 Investigates report on landslide threatening business
“They had it all cleaned out, all they had to do is what Tom said and be done. Now, we’re back where we started from,” said Spehar.
Joyce told Earle it’s a waste of taxpayer money as the city will now have to pay to clean up the dirt again.
It cost the city $75,000 after the first slide.
“This is our taxpayer money that they’re throwing away. They don’t care,” said Joyce.
Earle reached out to the city to see why the project was never completed.
They didn’t answer that question in an email response, but said money has now been allocated in next year’s budget to address the slide.
Councilman Bobby Wilson, who represents Spring Garden, told Earle he put money in the budget for design, but more money will have to be allocated for the repairs. He didn’t know how much it would cost or when it would be completed.
Wilson also said he would look into why the project was never finished in the first place.
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