Aging storm arch collapses
It’s unclear if recent heavy rainfall was a factor
POTTSTOWN » Yet another aging stormwater arch has collapsed in the borough.
This time, the sinkhole appeared in the rear of 1200 E. High St., an office building that was once Memorial Hospital and is opposite the intersection with Roland Street.
Interim Borough Manager Justin Keller, who confirmed its existence, was hesitant to speak about the problem, saying “it’s on private property.”
However, he would at least say that borough inspectors had taken a look at the collapse and he is awaiting a report from engineers on whether it poses any structural threat to the building.
Keller said the borough cannot allow a building that is structurally deficient to be occupied, “we
have to ensure everyone is safe,” but stressed “we’re still waiting for the engineer’s report.”
He suggested The Mercury contact the property owners for further information.
Montgomery County property records indicate the 2-acre property was purchased for $1.1 million in April 2017 from Elliott and Susan Menkowitz by John and Maria Jones of Rosedale Drive.
Calls to the Jones household Wednesday were not answered and there was no way to leave a message.
Keller also confirmed that borough crews had been called to the address to investigate street flooding in front of the building on Tuesday, July 17, after the borough was deluged with 2.3 inches of rain in a single day.
He said he does not know if the flooding on High Street was caused by problems with the arch, caused the arch collapse, or is unrelated. However, he said the borough did become aware of the collapse in the wake of that storm.
The exact date of the collapse is not entirely clear.
Keller also said the increased ferocity of thunderstorms of late, and the amount of rain they deposit in a short period of time causes water to rush more forcefully through the arches at volumes not previously seen. And that is not doing anything to improve the condition of the many brick and stone arches that crisscross the borough, some of them more than 100 years old.
A storm arch is essentially a giant bridge erected through the years over a small streams. In the case of the arch on East High Street, the stream it covers is labeled Wells Run on the borough’s storm system map and originates near North Hills Boulevard.
“There are five major arches in town and some of them have branches. A lot of them are brick or old fieldstone and the mortar in them is just disappearing,” Pottstown Public Works Director Doug Yerger warned borough council in 2009. “Some of them are 25-feet wide and some of them are only 15-feet wide.”
Many of the arches run beneath yards or even homes, or, in this most recent case, office buildings.
“A lot of people have no clue their house is sitting on top of one of these things,” Yerger said in 2009.
This most recent collapse follows an earlier one in May, behind the Walnut Street home of Marcia Levengood.
Like the Walnut Street collapse, because the one on East High Street is on private property, it is unclear what role, if any, the borough will play in its repair.
State grants did help pay for the $500,000 repair cost of an arch collapse in the middle of the first block of Walnut Street between York and Manatawny streets in 2003.
And State Rep. Tim Hennessey, R-26th Dist., has toured
“We’re still waiting for the engineer’s report.” Justin Keller, interim borough manager
the most recent collapse behind Walnut Street “as part of our effort to let the Legislature understand the extent of the problem,” Keller said.
The borough has also seen arch collapses on North Hanover Street, as the result of a sewer main project; as well as on Grant Street near The Hill School; and on the site of the former Frederick Brothers mill at North Hanover and East streets.
In 2013, the borough awarded a $389,000 bid, part of which was provided by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to allow the borough to install “access” manhole covers in arches on public property along the arch that covers the stream that enters the Manatawny Creek at Walnut Street.
The manholes are big enough to give the borough workers access to the tunnels, and get repair materials into them, at places other than their outfall.
But the borough’s repairs so far are exclusively limited to public property.
Given the extent to which these arches extend under private property, Yerger has warned repeatedly about setting a precedent of using public money to repair a problem on private property.