Easton Residents Battle Sinkholes

It was just over a week ago that Jamie Rosas noticed her grill, sitting on the backyard deck of her High Point Lane home, was listing.

"Last Thursday, that's when we found it...I happened to notice the grill was leaning," she said.

When her husband Samue investigated, he found a large sinkhole, which not only encompassed nearly the entire area under the deck, but ran under the foundation of his home as well. At this point, no one knows how deep it goes.

And with five other attached condominiums, more than just Rosas' home is at stake.

Sinkholes are nothing new to Easton or the surrounding area. has dealt with them for years. In 2004, a massive sinkhole opened on Easton's South Side, forcing several people from a St. John Street apartment building and closing off the road for several months.

And this isn't the first sinkhole the Rosas' tiny parcel has experienced. In July, a opened up just a few steps away from the latest one, under the back door. That hole, which Samuel Rosas filled himself, was about half the size of the new one.

Just a few yards away, Rosas' young son played in another area, which records show was the site of another sinkhole back in 2003. That hole had to be filled twice, says next-door-neighbor Timothy Burt.

Burt knows the problem well, as he's been documenting it since 2003, when two successive sinkholes opened up on his property, one under his shed which took more than 20 cubic yards of cement to fill.

"We didn't have sinkhole problems until the homes (on Vista Drive) were built," he said. "The first sinkhole opened up in July 2003."

An engineer's report contracted by the Highlands Homeowners' Association in 2004 concludes sinkholes, a total of five at the time, were triggered by the new development failing to properly direct or provide for water runoff from the new development on Vista Drive. Those homes lie just uphill of the condominiums on Highpoint Way.

"The engineer made it clear that the storm runoff is most likely the trigger," Burt said.

In 2005, after Burt contacted the builder of the Vista Drive homes, Chesapeake Homes in Allentown, the company offered in a letter to pay half of cost of remediating the problem, then estimated at $18,891.

But Chesapeake says the issues predate the new construction, and that the company was not involved in the land development plan and is therefore not responsible.

Burt approached then-mayor Phil Mitman about footing the other half of the bill, claiming the city shouldn't have signed off on an inadequate storm water management plan, but the city declined to pay.

The city did, however, write a letter in 2005 to the developer, stating its position that Chesapeake Homes was responsible for the problem.

No other action has been taken since then, Burt said. After a few years of trying to get someone to deal with the issue and with no more sinkholes at the time, he grew tired of the fight.

"It's frustrating to have to deal with this,” he said. "It's the builder's fault, and it's the city's fault...Why should we be penalized when we didn't do anything wrong?"

Jamie Rosas said the situation is a stressful one.

"And when you have kids...and everyone tells you 'just take care of it.' I'm not a millionaire," she said. "If I was, I wouldn't live here."

Rosas and Burt brought the issue before city council Wednesday evening and asked the city to address the issue.

Mayor Sal Panto told WFMZ the city will pull the plans for the homes and reach out to the builders.

But Samuel Rosas said city officials -- who visited the site Friday --  maintain the matter is essentially a private one and the homeowners should deal with repairs themselves.

"He told me I need to fix it," Rosas said of his conversation with Panto.

The city did send PEMA and FEMA officials to determine if the Rosas' sinkhole, which opened up after the heavy rains of storms Irene and Lee, qualifies for state or federal assistance. But it will be some time before a decision is made, Rosas said.

The Rosas' homeowners' insurance doesn't cover the problem, and getting sinkhole insurance for the future is going to take a year, he said.

Likely, he'll have to rely on help and loans from family members to get the problem fixed.

"The mayor says it's a private matter," Burt said. "Not if the city screwed up, it isn't."

He's not the only one who thinks so.

Just a few doors down, fellow homeowner George Walker is worried about the amount of excess water that pools in his and other adjacent neighbors' yards whenever it rains. Walker said the problem began in 2001 just after he bought his property and the houses on Vista Drive were being built.

The amount of water lessened somewhat, after the yards uphill were planted with sod, but has never abated.

"It's got to get fixed," Walker said. “They're concentrating on those homes now, but what about the rest of them?”

Rosas also worries about his neighbors.

"We told the mayor it may be the one house, but it could affect the whole Highlands,” he said, noting sinkhole and drainage issues can seriously affect real estate prices. "In this market, who needs this?"

For now, no one is planning on suing the city though it hasn't been ruled out either.

"We have enough evidence to sink both the builder and the city," Burt said. "They just need to do what's right."