Engineers for the city of Vicksburg and Warren County are expected to meet soon and develop a plan to alleviate a slide area on the south end of Riverfront Park by removing a section of dirt from the top of the slide and to reduce pressure on the soil and stabilize the area.

The decision for the joint effort came at a meeting Friday of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Warren County Board of Supervisors to discuss a report on the slide by consulting engineers Burns Cooley Dennis Inc., which was hired by the city and county to perform tests on the area and recommend solutions.

The excavation was suggested as a possible economically feasible solution to the problem

“You take some of the weight off the top, we’re probably talking about an area 10 or 12 feet wide, to stabilize it,” A.R. “Eddie” Templeton, an engineer with Burns Cooley Dennis, said after the meeting.

The engineers recommended the officials consider extending the excavation to the north end of the park where a minor slide is located.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and the aldermen instructed city Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman to meet with representatives from Stantec, the county’s engineers, to develop the plan.

The cost of the project was undetermined, pending the development of the plans and specifications.

Riverfront Park, one of the most used parks in the county, is located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River off South Washington Street, south of Ameristar Casino. It is owned jointly by the city and the county, which share the cost of maintenance and repair.

A section of the bluff on the south end of the park began slowly sliding off the bank in April 2015, taking part of the park’s perimeter fence and walking trail, and threatening a playground area and its equipment. The slide forced officials to close off the area.

Templeton said water flowing from a broken, leaking 3-inch water line was the cause of the slide. The slide on the northern end of the park, he said, was caused by erosion from a storm drainpipe.

City officials repaired the line; a move Templeton said stopped the slide.

“During the time that we monitored the (southern) slide and just visually examined it out there, we haven’t seen any movement of the ground,” he said. “So most likely it was almost certainly triggered by the waterline leak that occurred there, and repair of that leak and preventing any additional water from entering the ground there has improved the stability of the slope.

“It’s stable as it sits today. You may not have another slide if you don’t have another water leak.”

He said the city and county could go into the park and do the work in-house, but officials with both boards said they would hire a contractor to do the work.

Templeton told the officials the excavation would force them to lose the park’s walking trail and the chain link fence that blocks the edge of the bluff. The playground area could stay where it is.

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said the officials needed to get the repairs made as soon as possible.

“We can’t wait. That’s the one thing about it,” he said. “It’s got to be done soon. That’s the most popular park we have. Come April when it gets warm, people will be out there.”