Iowa homeowners, BNSF work on mudslide solution

  It has been about five months since mudslides pushed trees and soil down the bluffs along the Blackhawk Heights and High Points subdivisions in eastern Iowa, and residents are still trying to find a way to stabilize their properties, The Hawk Eye reports.

Land along the bluffs over
the Mississippi River continues to decrease in size. One homeowner has had to
put a barrier in his backyard. Preferring not to be identified, he pointed out
along the far side of his property where another portion of his yard had sunk.

"This will be the next
part that goes down the hill. Every time they clean off the tracks, we lose
more land."

The property owner said
people in the Blackhawk Subdivision agreed not to talk to anyone about the
issue until it was resolved.

Amy McBeth, director of
public affairs at BNSF, said BNSF and the property owners are working together
on the problem.

"We’ve had
conversations with the Blackhawk Heights landowners," McBeth said.
"We’re working with them. We’ve been sharing engineering analysis and
right now we’re considering our options. There are a variety of things based on
what the engineering office tells us. I wouldn’t want to get into any of them
at this point because we’re still considering it.

"Part of it is a
financial decision," she continued. "We need to evaluate what we can
do. We’re evaluating what makes sense to do."

City Manager Byron Smith
said the mudslides are a new development in Fort Madison.

"With all the rain we
got this year, the property owners up there have started seeing a lot of
problems," he said.

Since a major mudslide in
the spring that blocked BNSF’s tracks, Smith said railroad personnel have been
dispatched to the area almost daily to clean the tracks.

Fort Madison’s old water
treatment plant could be affected. And while the city’s new treatment plant
recently came online, the city is keeping a wary eye on the bluffs.

"Even though we are
planning to close the old water treatment plant, there is a water line that
needs to be completed with the new plant before the old one is closed,"
Smith said. "We might be running the old plant a day or two a week before
we close it. Because of that, we are going to watch the issue."

Smith hopes property owners
will work out their dispute with BNSF.

"I haven’t been
involved with any of the meetings of the property owners," he said,
"but I think they are going to BNSF to tell them that they think the
problem is that of BNSF. My understanding is that BNSF owns quite a bit of
property up the hill, and it is their property that has eaten away into the
other property. Unfortunately it might have to get settled in the courts."