Montford sinkhole keeps growing. Is a fix in sight? Who's responsible?

MONTFORD – This sinkhole has been around so long it's gotten to enjoy the dog days of summer and celebrate Halloween. And it probably has an eye on Thanksgiving.

"We added some Halloween decorations to it," said neighbor Nat Dickinson, who noted the monster sinkhole at 271 Montford Ave. first emerged July 22. "Let me know if you want some pictures."

He wasn't kidding — he made a Papier-mâché clown head inspired by Stephen King's "It" character Pennywise, a horrifying clown who lives in the sewers. For Halloween, some residents of the property installed it in the monster hole.

Sure, it was funny, but the sinkhole next door has become a serious problem in this quaint North Asheville neighborhood, and Dickinson and others are not happy with the languishing response to it. He's spent months in contact with various city officials, neighborhood association members and others trying to get some kind of movement on a fix, as the sinkhole grows every time it rains hard and is close to his property line.

“The main thing I’ve been looking at from the city is better oversight on these things,” said Dickinson, an artist. “They very much relinquished all stormwater responsibility for three months. There’s no attempt to divert stormwater. There’s no attempt to do anything at all, except for waiting for the homeowners to do this (repair). That’s just intensely bad.”

The culvert failed on private property, at 271 Montford Ave., next door to Dickinson's home. But the hole is now over 20 feet wide, has undermined the city sidewalk and threatens to start gobbling up some of Dickinson's lawn.

City: 'It is the property owner’s responsibility'

City spokeswoman Polly McDaniel said via email the sinkhole "is a result of the collapse or blockage of the existing century-old stone culvert that was most likely installed by the developer or property owner building the house at 271 Montford Avenue when they needed to build the driveway for the residence."

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"When the drainage infrastructure is on private property, it is the property owner’s responsibility to maintain this infrastructure on their property," McDaniel said. "The city of Asheville is responsible for maintaining the storm water infrastructure within the right-of-way on city maintained-streets."

A city sidewalk runs near the sinkhole, and the city has closed it off and put up a barricade to keep people out.

"Once the sinkhole developed, city’s Storm water Division personnel contacted the property owners to advise them this was on private property and would need to be fixed," McDaniel said.

Bruce and Cheryl MacPhail of Asheville own the home through a limited liability corporation. It's broken into apartments.

Bruce MacPhail said he knows apartment residents and neighbors are frustrated with the slow pace of repair work, but stresses they have been trying to find a solution. He said as soon as they noticed the problem in July they went to the city, and the city told them it was their responsibility to fix it, and they had to submit repair plans from a civil engineering firm for the city's approval.

"So, we spent July, August and September trying to get a civil engineer who would come and handle the project, but with all of the flooding that was going on, there was no one available,” MacPhail said, citing extensive regional flood damage from Tropical Storm Fred. “It wasn’t until late September we finally got an engineer to take it on.”

The engineering company, McGill Associates in Asheville, has met with the city and should have plans in by mid-November, MacPhail said. They’ll have to wait for the city to approve those plans before greenlighting the work.

“I believe with all the visibility it’s had, they’ll probably fast-track it,” MacPhail said, adding that he’s lined up a contractor to do the repair work.

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MacPhail said he understands the city's stance and requirements but wishes "they’d been a little more helpful, a little more supportive.”

"It was in their best interest and our best interest that we get it fixed, and they did nothing to help us secure an engineer to get this project fast-tracked,” MacPhail said. “They were not very helpful.”

The repair cost could approach "six figures," MacPhail said, "and there's no insurance for it."

"And it was basically the city dumping all its water into that low point on Montford Avenue, knowing that there’s a 1910 storm drain that’s just not built or equipped to handle that,” MacPhail said.

City storm drains in play

The city has four large storm drains on Montford Avenue near the sinkhole site. They drain water from the street into the culvert, and they handle water for much of Montford Avenue in that area, at least a 1/2 mile.

McDaniel acknowledged the "storm water runoff from this entire drainage basin does enter four large storm drains" on Montford Avenue at this location.

"However, the collapsed stone culvert on private property has prevented the normal flow of this storm water runoff," McDaniel said. "This has led to the water finding its own path underground, thus creating the sinkhole."

Dickinson says he's "just astounded that the city feels no responsibility for this at all."

“It’s like, ‘It’s your stormwater, do something,'" Dickinson said.

Workers from McGill Associates were surveying the site Nov. 4, and a worker told Dickinson work should begin in about a month.

MacPhail said the repair will involve installing a new storm drain on their property and reconnecting it to the city's system.

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Work can't come soon enough for Dickinson, who's concerned about the growing hole eroding his yard or even his home's foundation.

Charlie Mercer, who rents an apartment at 271 Montford, is also tired of the spectacle.

"Every time it rains, it gets bigger,” Mercer said in October. “We’re all worried the sewer line might break, and we definitely had a sewer problem to begin with.”

“It’s annoying as hell,” Mercer continued. “Everybody walks by and asks us questions about it. We’re an attraction at this point.”

MacPhail said they did have a plumbing company work on a sewer line issue in the summer, and that's when they first discovered the scope of the sinkhole problem.

Legally, the property owner is on the hook

Asheville attorney Mark Kurdys has worked on sinkhole issues in the past and notes that Asheville has a recurring problem with them because of aging infrastructure. In recent years, large sinkholes have emerged on Merrimon Avenue, in South Asheville, the Oakley neighborhood and elsewhere.

The law tends to back municipalities in these cases. Kurdys says the city is essentially saying in this case, "The courts have repeatedly decided in favor of the municipalities."

"Yes, the city streets are huge impervious sluices that can and do channel a tremendous volume of water to the storm drains along the curb, etc., and direct the torrent into underground culverts that flow under private property," Kurdys said via email. "But thus far the courts have looked only at who built the storm water structures that failed and whose property they are on."

But, like Dickinson and MacPhail, Kurdys has some questions for the city.

"From the standpoint of a citizen, one might ask why the city, which has a huge interest in reliable infrastructure, doesn’t take a proactive approach to an underground problem that they’ve known about for many decades and is only going to get worse?" Kurdys said.

Addressing a different failed culvert in March, Kurdys said, "If the city did not install and cover the culvert into the formerly open stream/ditch, and did not accept in writing the control or maintenance of that culvert, both of which are, I think, unlikely, then the city takes no responsibility for that buried culvert, and the North Carolina courts have consistently said they are correct in that position," Kurdys said.

When culverts are damaged in a way that significantly blocks water flow, or creates a tear or opening at a joint, they lose integrity, Kurdys said in March. When a large flow of water from a downpour encounters a blocked or damaged pipe, it can be catastrophic.

"That pressure blows water out through tears or open joints, the water quickly erodes away the soil and/or gravel supporting the culvert and a cavern develops around the damaged portion of the culvert," Kurdys said.

As Kurdys notes, these scenarios have created some whopper sinkholes in Asheville, including one off Merrimon Avenue "that could swallow a school bus."

McDaniel said regarding the Montford sinkhole the city will "make any necessary repairs to the roadway infrastructure such as the sidewalk once the private drainage system has been repaired and the sinkhole subsequently filled in."

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MacPhail said he and his wife talked to several attorneys about their situation but were told it's difficult if not impossible to win a case against the municipality in such a scenario. But he also thinks the city is turning a blind eye to a problem that's going to continue to recur.

"Our whole water infrastructure dates back to the early 1900s, and City Council after City Council just passes it on," MacPhail said.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Montford sinkhole: Is a fix in sight? Who's responsible?