Date: Fri 26-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

excavation-liability-Borst

Full Text:

Excavation Gives Town Officials Worries About Liability

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Workers from the state's Department of Transportation (DOT) continue to remove

earth from a hillside at the corner of Oak View and Mile Hill roads, creating

what some town officials believe could be a major liability for the town.

The hillside has been excavated to the point where Legislative Council member

Joe Borst sees a potential accident.

"The hill is very steep now. I'm very concerned about this, especially since

that hill is so close to (high school) school property," Mr Borst said Monday.

"Kids could jump from the top of that and the dirt could come down behind them

like an avalanche."

The state is removing the dirt from the area in an effort to improve the sight

line for the bypass road, which will connect Interstate 84 with Route 25. The

DOT recently received an easement from the town, allowing it to remove the

dirt.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal last week asked the DOT to grade the slopes,

but Mr Borst believes the hill is still unstable as evidenced by the pebbles

that continue to roll down the hill.

"I don't want to have what happened in Sandy Hook years ago happen again," Mr

Borst said.

In that incident, two boys died when they were playing at the bottom of an

ungraded, excavated hillside near what is now Treadwell Park. A bulldozer

operator, unaware of the boys' whereabouts, pushed a load of dirt down the

hillside, burying them.

"This is similar in the sense that the bank was unstable," Mr Borst said.

"They may have to recontour that whole thing before they're done. The town has

certainly got a very strong liability situation."