ROCK SPRINGS -- Wyoming officials are close to signing an agreement that will allow state engineers to reinspect more than a dozen downtown homes that were damaged here two years ago in a controversial ground-pounding subsidence project.

Residents of the "Tree Street" neighborhood have been battling the state's Abandoned Mine Lands Division over the ill-fated mine subsidence project, and the state's first settlement offers to repair the damage.

AML officials were hesitant to talk about the ongoing negotiations with attorneys for the homeowners during a meeting here Tuesday night.

The meeting centered on the preliminary findings from an investigative drilling project in the neighborhood that resumed last month. Engineers are trying to determine the extent and cause of subsidence under the Tree Street area.

The study showed continued movement in the old mine workings beneath the neighborhood and that the subsidence risk in the area remains high.

AML administrator Rick Chancellor said the agency hopes to have a negotiated agreement soon with the homeowners, which should lead the way to new inspections.

"The (state) attorney general is working with the (homeowners') attorneys to put down in writing ... how that process would proceed," Chancellor told residents. "So we're waiting on that to happen ... but I think we're close, I really do."

See Saturday's Star-Tribune for more on this story.