Two District of North Vancouver homeowners may have to come up with $200,000 to secure the slopes on two Merlynn Crescent homes following a unanimous vote by council Monday.
The slope needs immediate attention as a landslide could block Carmaria Court and affect nine homes, according to a staff report.
If the slope isn't stable by April 30, 2014, the district could complete the work at the homeowners' expense.
Speaking on behalf of of one of the homeowners, Edward Bickford said Mostafa Madaninejad and Fatemeh Khosravi-Amiri are an elderly couple living on fixed incomes.
"They bought this place, they didn't do anything to it, and now they could be on the hook for two hundred grand," he said.
After buying the homes in 1997, no significant changes were made to the building or landscaping, according to Bickford. "It doesn't seem right to my way of thinking that the district doesn't take responsibility for initially approving construction," he said.
The district asked that a tarp be put over the area to prevent further erosion. However, the homeowner refused to allow the stopgap measure after being asked to sign a waiver that indemnified the district from past and future erosion or slope stability issues, Bickford said.
The district has allowed the homeowner to truck fill to a municipal site, according to engineering manager Gavin Joyce.
Joyce stressed the urgency of remediation. "This is a deteriorating condition," he said. "It's simply a matter of time on this slope."
Because it's a public safety issue, council is obligated to make an unpleasant decision, according to Coun. Roger Bassam.
Couns. Mike Little and Doug MacKay-Dunn did not attend the meeting.
Madaninejad is currently seeking legal counsel.
The situation is similar to the quandary faced by Peter Twist earlier this year. The district resident was ordered to demolish his garage and remediate a badly eroded slope - despite 95 per cent of the eroded area falling on district land. The district knew about the condition of the land for 30 years, according to Twist.
Twist promised to seek a lawyer following council's decision in July.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Mostafa Madaninejad and Fatemeh Khosravi-Amiriwould be on the hook for all of the remediation bill.
