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LAYTON - Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. says the recommendations of a task force on geologic hazards are a good first step toward ensuring homes are not built where they may be destroyed by landslides.

"It is a long-term proposition to find a fix," Huntsman said during a news conference after being briefed on the recommendations of a task force he appointed after costly landslides in 2005 and 2006.

"It's going to be a delicate balance between private property rights and land use and security and protection for the consumer," Huntsman said.

The governor also took a tour of a neighborhood in east Layton where a landslide destroyed one home and forced the condemnation of another.

Residents of a nearby neighborhood asked the governor to consider the risks to existing homeowners when new projects are proposed on hillsides near previous landslides. Several homes were destroyed by a landslide there in 2001.

The governor said he likely will recommend the Legislature approve $184,000 in new funding so the Utah Geological Survey can update and share maps of geologic hazards with cities and counties.

That is one of a series of recommendations designed to improve the process used by cities and counties to consider developers' proposals to build where land, mud or debris slides may occur.

A key recommendation of the group is that a model ordinance be written and used by cities and counties, and that they include a geologic-hazards element to their general plans.

The ordinance will also spell out standards of practice expected of geologic engineers and geotechnical experts.

The governor referred to the current approaches of cities as "haphazard and random."

Huntsman said the task force will continue working and a second "adjunct" group will consider how Utah might change its disclosure rules so homebuyers are aware of landslide risks before they buy homes.

Utah's shortage of engineering geologists and geotechnical engineers must be addressed, the governor said.

"We can count on one hand the experts or firms that can actually be engaged for this work," said Huntsman. "We need the kind of intellectual firepower coming out of our . . . schools we don't have today."

Among the recommendations of the task force is that Utah's universities amp up their training of engineering geologists.