Experts dig into school hill collapse

The Port Washington-Saukville School District has a team of experts investigating but it remains unclear what caused a section of the hill south of the high school to collapse last month, covering the city road below with tons of mud and trees and knocking down a part of the fence around the outdoor pool.

It also remains uncertain exactly how and when the hill will be permanently stabilized, school officials said this week.

“It’s a bit of a mystery, a Mother Nature mystery,” Director of Business Services Jim Froemming said.

The mud that covered a road leading to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department offices was cleared just days after the hill collapsed during flooding on May 18, but there are lasting implications for the pool.

City officials who decided not to open the pool this year because of the coronavirus pandemic said damage done to the fence also factored into their decision. The city didn’t want to fill the pool and replace the section of fence until the school district hill was stabilized. And even if the city proceeded immediately with the fence work it would take until at least Aug. 1 to complete it and train pool employees, officials said, noting the pool, which closes at the end of August, would have been open for less than a month.

Port resident Connie Schreiner asked the School Board during its June 8 meeting why the issue of the hill collapse was not on its agenda.

“It (the pool) is one of the amenities I depend on,” she said. “I feel cheated that I won’t be able to go this year.

“I’d like to see this get on the agenda so there’s follow through and people know what’s going on. I’m dismayed that I have to bring this to the board.”

School officials noted they cannot comment on topics that aren’t on the agenda.

Supt. Michael Weber said during an interview this week that the engineering, architectural and construction management firms that worked on the recent high school project are investigating the hill collapse and the district has hired Miller Engineering and Scientists, a Sheboygan company that specializes in bluff stabilization.

Initially there was concern that the high school project, which included the construction of a large gym on top of the hill on the south side of the school, had compromised the integrity of the hill, but that does not appear to be the case, administrators said. 

“When you have a new building, it makes you kind of point to that as a cause, but I don’t think we can do that in this case,” Froemming said. 

Experts also examined the drainage on the south side of the school, which hasn’t changed, administrators said, noting that a service road that runs along the top of the hill and is now closed is graded so that  rainwater flows away from the hillside. 

“It’s perplexing and something that we need to get fixed as soon as possible,” Weber said. 

According to engineers, the hill is currently stable, but to be “overly cautious” the district intends to have concrete barriers like the ones used to separate traffic lanes in highway construction zones put at the base in case of another mudslide, Weber said. 

Those, however, are difficult to find during construction season, Froemming said.

Meanwhile, engineers continue to work on a plan to permanently stabilize the hill. With little room between the hill and school, regrading it is probably not an option.

Instead, the solution may be a combination of a retaining wall and terraced hillside, Froemming said.

Whatever the solution, and it could be an expensive one, the school district will have to pay for it. Insurance won’t cover the hill work, although it may pay for some of the damage done when the hill collapsed, Froemming said. 

“I’m also going to fight to see if insurance can help out with the concrete barriers and some of the other safety measures we’re taking,” he said.