Pinole Sinkhole Not a Threat To Public Safety, City Reports

PINOLE, CA —A massive sinkhole at a retirement community in Pinole does not pose a threat to public safety, according to the city's director of public works.

City officials first responded to Bay Park, a residential facility operated by Holiday Retirement at 2621 Appian Way, to inspect a small crack in a roadway on Feb. 23. The city red-tagged a number of cantilevered parking spaces at that time that have since been removed, according to Public Works director Tamara Miller, but the building itself was not red-tagged.

"The city of Pinole is responsible from a building safety perspective, so we're monitoring what the private property owner is working on," Miller said. "We're helping them address their problem by asking some
focused questions that they then need to respond to."

The property owner's team has been expanded to include a geotechnical engineer based on a request from the city, and crews are installing sensors to measure stability and monitor movement in the slope of
the sinkhole, according to Miller. Their immediate goal is to stabilize the area, Miller said, but she was uncertain about the property owner's intended timeline for doing so.

The sinkhole has affected utility lines, including ones of PG&E and East Bay Municipal Utility District, as well as a private sewer line and the drainage for the property, according to Miller.Holiday Retirement and Bay Park did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock