State environmental officials intend next week to canvass the section of North Belle Vernon targeted for a major mine subsidence prevention project next year.
They aim to get property owners who have yet to register to participate in the project meant to stabilize the mined ground underneath their homes.
The Department of Environmental Protection, which is overseeing the mine subsidence prevention project for 223 properties, will go door-to-door to get signed consent forms to conduct the drilling and pouring grout underneath homes in the target area, said Lauren Camarda, a DEP spokeswoman in Pittsburgh.
The state already has 107 of the 223 property owners in the target area register for the project, which is designed to stabilize the mine void by pumping thousands of cubic yards of cement-like grout into ground. There will be no cost for the property owners.
DEP representatives were in North Belle Vernon for two days last month, getting homeowners to register for the project, and they also phoned them to encourage them to register, Camarda said.
The state has been designing the project and expects to advertise for bids early next year. Drilling is expected to begin sometime later in the year, Camarda said.
If the state were to get all of the property owners to register for the project, the DEP has estimated it would cost about $10.5 million. If fewer homeowners register, the cost estimate would be revised, she said.
North Belle Vernon Mayor Craig Ambrose, who lives outside the current mine subsidence project area, encouraged those who have yet to register for the project to do so.
“I have not seen any reason not to sign (to participate). They (DEP) will restore their property,” Ambrose said. “I don’t want to take a chance of mine subsidence.”
The project area covers about 50 blocks south of Broad Avenue, which is the main street in North Belle Vernon.
Ambrose, who lives north of Broad Avenue, said he would not hesitate to register for the mine subsidence work when the state begins the project in his neighborhood.
Ambrose said he hopes that the tragedy that occurred in Unity, where Elizabeth Pollard fell last week into a mine sinkhole in Marguerite and died from the fall, would make those residents who have yet to register think about having the mine void underneath their home filled in.
Ambrose said he has personal experience with a mine subsidence incident, one that luckily did not end in tragedy.
Ambrose said he was visiting his parents at their Bluff Street home in North Belle Vernon when his then 5-year-old daughter fell into a sinkhole.
“She was walking and the ground gave away,” Ambrose said. “She fell about 3 feet or so.”
