The sudden one North Salt Lake
The 2014 slide on the North Salt Lake bench
The Parkway Drive landslide, and what it means for a bench buyer today
Early on August 5, 2014, a slope above Parkway Drive gave way, a mass about 500 feet across with a scarp near 60 feet high. It destroyed one home, damaged a swim and tennis club, and put 27 households out of their houses for a time. No one was hurt. The slope had been mined and reclaimed back in the 1990s, which is the fact the rest of the story rests on. Here is what happened, what was repaired, and what a hillside purchase on this bench now runs through.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
In 2014 an engineered slope above Parkway Drive failed and destroyed a house. The slope had been an aggregate mine in the 1990s, reclaimed and then partly built over, and a clay layer beneath old lake gravels gave way. A 2015 repair regraded the slope and added drainage, though a lower section was left alone during a legal dispute and moved again, twice, in 2016. For anyone weighing a hillside lot here, the takeaway is straightforward: this is a mapped geologic hazard area, the city requires a site-specific geologic study before building on it, and that study, the seller disclosures, and the hazard mapping for the exact parcel are what answer the safety question. Thousands of households live on this bench without incident. It is a more specific purchase than a flats lot, not a worse one.
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That morning
What happened above Parkway Drive, in plain numbers
The slope above Parkway Drive failed at about six in the morning on August 5, 2014. The Utah Geological Survey measured the landslide mass at roughly 500 feet wide by 500 feet long, with a main scarp about 60 feet high, and put the volume at a preliminary 300,000 to 400,000 cubic yards. Before it failed, the slope rose about 200 feet at an average grade near 45 percent, which is to say the ground climbed about 45 feet for every 100 feet you walked in toward it.
The home at 739 Parkway Drive was pushed off its foundation and destroyed. The Eagle Ridge Tennis and Swim Club was damaged, a neighboring yard and a stretch of trail were carried off, and 27 homes were evacuated. No one was hurt, which for a failure that size at that hour is the part of the story that matters most.
You will see the damaged club called a few different things across the coverage, the Eagle Ridge Tennis and Swim Club, the Eagle Ridge tennis facility, the Eagleridge Tennis Club. They are the same place.
Parkway Drive, in numbers
5 Aug 2014
the morning the slope failed
500 by 500 ft
the landslide mass, with a 60 foot main scarp
27
homes evacuated; one home destroyed
45 percent
the slope's average grade before it failed
The cause
This was a mined slope, not a natural hillside
The most important fact about Parkway Drive is what the slope was. It had been part of an aggregate mining operation in the 1990s and was later reclaimed, so what failed that morning was an engineered slope, graded to a design and accepted as reclaimed before homes went in around it. That is a different thing from a mountain deciding to move, and everything after 2014 rests on it.
The geology explains why the design did not hold. The upper part of the slope sits at the old Lake Bonneville shoreline, and the ground there is lake sand and gravel over older volcanic ash sediment. That ash sediment weathers into clay, and the clay became the surface the mass slid on. Cut a 45 percent slope into that layering and you have made a hazard whether or not anyone meant to.
Two miles north, the Springhill landslide formed in an abandoned gravel quarry that exposed the same weak clay under the same lake gravels. Same recipe, two very different failures. The Springhill page covers that one, which is the rare slide you can actually walk.
The slope had been part of an aggregate mining operation in the 1990s, and was subsequently reclaimed. That one line from the state's geologists is the key to everything that followed.
The repair, and after
A 2015 repair, and two smaller moves in 2016
The repair went in through 2015, from April to December, regrading the slope and adding drainage. It cost about 1.9 million dollars, split four ways with no party admitting fault: 625,000 dollars each from the City of North Salt Lake and Eaglepointe Development, 375,000 from Questar Gas, and 312,500 from Kern River Gas Transmission. Two gas companies on that list tells you buried pipelines were at stake on the slope, not only houses.
One part of the job did not get done. A lower portion of the slide was left unrepaired while legal claims over who was at fault were still open, and that is the section that moved again in 2016. Both movements were small next to 2014, and both stayed in that lower ground. The dispute over responsibility ran for years, and while it ran, the lower section waited.
| The two 2016 movements | Western | Eastern |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Behind 745 Parkway Drive | Above the tennis court parking lot |
| First recorded | March 9, 2016 | April 6, 2016 |
| Size | About 70 feet wide by mid-May, roughly 90 feet from scarp to toe | A scarp that reached an estimated 6 to 7 feet, with a ground crack about 10 feet deep |
| Ground | The unrepaired lower section | The unrepaired lower section |
Dimensions as recorded by the Utah Geological Survey. After 2016 the survey checked the site more often. None of this describes the current condition of any property, which is a question for the survey and a geotechnical engineer.
What a hillside purchase checks
The paperwork a bench lot now runs through
The lasting effect of 2014 for a buyer is a reading list, not a warning. North Salt Lake's code, title 10, chapter 12, is its Sensitive Area District and Geologic Hazards chapter, and in a mapped hazard area it calls for a geologic study specific to the site.
Section 10-12-10 requires that study to identify all known or suspected geologic hazards, whether they begin on the lot or off it, which means the report cannot stop at the mapped line. The chapter's appendices set the standards for fault-rupture and liquefaction work, and every study has to follow the current Utah Geological Survey guidelines. The survey publishes those geologic-hazard guidelines itself, which is the fastest way to understand what a report in your file is and is not claiming.
Documents to ask for
- The site-specific geologic hazard study for the parcel, not just the subdivision
- The seller property condition disclosures, read alongside the study
- The city's hazard mapping for the exact lot
- Any retaining-wall approvals on file
- The drainage design, since water is what makes this clay layer behave badly
Questions worth asking
- Does the study address off-site hazards, as section 10-12-10 requires
- Which edition of the Utah Geological Survey guidelines it followed
- The current monitoring status of any mapped landslide nearby, asked of the survey
- How a homeowners policy would treat earth movement, asked of an insurance professional
- What slope irrigation looks like on the street in midsummer
What this is not
- A reason to write off the bench, where thousands of homes sit without trouble
- A substitute for a licensed geotechnical engineer reading a specific lot
- Legal, engineering, or insurance advice, from this page or from me
- A statement about the current condition of any parcel or the slide area
If you are weighing a hillside lot here, budget for a site-specific geologic hazard study and read it with a geotechnical engineer. In North Salt Lake's mapped hazard areas the city code requires one, and it answers the safety question for a given parcel far better than any headline or web page can. That is normal homework for a bench address on the Wasatch Front, not a reason to walk away.
The bench, in perspective
Eleven years on, this is a document set, not a drama
A search for this city still turns up a 2014 headline and not much of what followed, and a headline is a poor basis for a decision in either direction. The fuller version is ordinary: a mined slope failed, an ordinance followed, and buying on this bench now comes with a reading list the way any purchase comes with an inspection. The same Wasatch Front produced several more landslides across the county in a single stretch of April 2023, so a hillside address anywhere here rewards a little homework.
What a bench home is like to actually live on, the golf course, the view streets, the seasonal fireworks line the city draws through the neighborhoods, is a separate subject from what it asks on paper, and it lives on the Eaglewood page. For the money half, prices, taxes, and what the market is doing, the North Salt Lake city guide is the place to start.
None of this is legal, engineering, or insurance advice. For a specific parcel, a licensed geotechnical engineer and the Utah Geological Survey are the right sources, and the survey lists its contacts on its Parkway Drive hazard page.
Quick answers
Parkway Drive, answered
On the morning of August 5, 2014, the slope above Parkway Drive gave way. The Utah Geological Survey put the landslide mass at roughly 500 feet wide by 500 feet long, with a main scarp about 60 feet high and a preliminary volume of 300,000 to 400,000 cubic yards. One home, at 739 Parkway Drive, was pushed off its foundation and destroyed, the Eagle Ridge Tennis and Swim Club was damaged, and 27 homes were evacuated. No one was hurt.
The slope was not a natural hillside. It had been part of an aggregate mining operation in the 1990s and was later reclaimed, so what failed was an engineered slope. The ground there is Lake Bonneville sand and gravel sitting on older volcanic ash sediment that weathers into clay, and that clay layer became the surface the mass slid on. Before it failed, the slope rose about 200 feet at an average grade near 45 percent.
Yes, twice in 2016, both in a lower section that had not been regraded in the 2015 repair. The western movement, behind 745 Parkway Drive, was recorded on March 9, 2016 and had grown to about 70 feet wide by mid-May. The eastern movement, above the tennis court parking lot, was seen on April 6, 2016, with a scarp that reached an estimated 6 to 7 feet. The Utah Geological Survey increased how often it checked the site afterward.
The 2015 repair cost about 1.9 million dollars and was split four ways with no party admitting fault: 625,000 dollars each from the City of North Salt Lake and Eaglepointe Development, 375,000 from Questar Gas, and 312,500 from Kern River Gas Transmission. The slope was regraded and drainage was installed between April and December 2015. A lower portion was left unrepaired while legal claims were unresolved, and that is where the 2016 movement happened.
North Salt Lake sits on a bench with a real geologic hazard history, and the city treats it that way. Its code requires a site-specific geologic hazard study before building in mapped hazard areas, and thousands of households live on the bench without incident. Safety is a parcel-by-parcel question rather than a citywide one, which is why the study, the seller disclosures, and the hazard mapping for a specific lot matter more than any general answer.
It is the city's Sensitive Area District and Geologic Hazards chapter. It assigns who is responsible for geologic hazard studies and, in section 10-12-10, requires each study to be specific to the site and to identify all known or suspected geologic hazards, whether they start on the property or off it. Its appendices set minimum standards for fault-rupture and liquefaction work, and studies must follow the current Utah Geological Survey guidelines.
In the mapped hazard areas the city code calls for a site-specific geologic hazard study, so for a bench lot that document belongs in your file alongside the seller disclosures, the parcel's hazard mapping, any retaining-wall approvals, and the drainage design. A licensed geotechnical engineer reads those for a specific address. It is a normal amount of homework for a hillside purchase on the Wasatch Front.
Standard homeowners policies commonly exclude earth movement, which covers landslides, so coverage is not something to assume. How a given policy treats it is a question for an insurance professional rather than a real estate agent, and it is worth asking early when you are weighing a hillside lot. This is general information, not insurance advice.
Yes. The Utah Geological Survey has tracked the site with GPS monitoring since 2014 and stepped up the frequency after the 2016 movement. For the current status of the slide or of anything mapped near a specific parcel, the survey itself is the right source, and it lists contacts on its Parkway Drive hazard page.
Weighing a street on the bench? Let's get the right eyes on it
A bench address here can be a good buy, and a more specific decision than a flats address, because the ordinance asks for documents most buyers have never read. Tell me the streets you are considering and I will connect you with a Davis County partner agent who knows which parcels fall inside the mapped hazard areas and reads these studies as a matter of routine. I will stay on the file for the financing side.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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