Developer Agrees to Remove Landslide Threat in Moon

Moon Township Engineer Malcolm Petroccia called it the community's "No. 1 environmental threat:" sediment creeping downward from the Autumn Woods development that could cause a landslide onto Flaugherty Run and Becks Run roads.

Petroccia said the township recently reached an agreement with Autumn Woods developer NewPointe Realty of Moon to remove the landslide threat.

Petroccia said NewPointe Realty installed a storm-water basin at the top of the steep embankment overlooking Flaugherty Run Road in 2007 during construction of the 34-house Autumn Woods development off Becks Run Road.

But the storm-water basin has pushed sediment on the embankment downward toward Flaugherty Run and Becks Run roads, uprooting trees, eroding land and raising concerns of a landslide  among township officials and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. NewPointe Realty owns the property on which a landslide poses a threat.

"It's a real risk," Petroccia said. "The landslide is still moving, but it's moving slowly. As long as it’s corrected in the next year to two, we think the threat will be eliminated."

Petroccia said chain-link fencing has been installed in the hillside as a temporary means to prevent a full landslide.

NewPointe Realty officials could not be reached for comment. Petroccia said the township first reached out to the developer about the landslide threat in early 2008. The Moon Board of Supervisors has since voted to withhold bond reductions and building permits from the developer.

"The developer didn't move rapidly until 2009, 2010," Petroccia said. "Then the [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection] got involved. An engineer from the Army Corps of Engineers actually drove past and saw it and reported it. We've had a whole enforcement team out there doing investigations."

Petroccia said negotiations with the developer and township resumed in May. He said NewPointe Realty was accepting bids for outside companies to begin work on the extensive project. The work is expected to begin this summer.

"What they will have to do is start at the top and remove the slope and build a stable slope on the hillside," Petroccia said. "They will have to construct a new storm-water basin. It's going to take more than a year to complete."