The news for some South Harrisburg residents was not good last night, as an engineering firm provided its initial assessment of sinkhole activity along S. 14th Street.
Speaking before the Public Works Committee of City Council, engineers with Camp Hill-based Gannett Fleming said that a seismic study of the area revealed five fractures in the ground, some 40 to 50 feet deep.
“Despite backfilling of past sinkholes, areas of subsidence continue to develop, and the potential for future sinkhole activity is high,” said the Gannett Fleming study.
City Council will consider resolutions at its Tuesday meeting to fund two follow-up projects. The first is an extension of the seismic study to surrounding areas; the other is a report that will provide the city with options and cost estimates.
The cost to fully remediate the sinkhole problem along the street easily could exceed $1 million, said Richard Lee, principal geophysicist with Quantum Geophysics, a division of Gannett Fleming.
Council members and the administration both stated that the cash-strapped city does not have that kind of money available.
“This will take millions of dollars, and the city doesn’t have that,” said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.
Securing funds will require a fight for state and federal grants, an uncertain process that could take a long time.
“There are funding sources out there, but they are not easy to get,” said Papenfuse. “We’re going to go to work.”
Nine homes have been condemned on the 1400-block of S. 14th Street since March, when a water main broke, loosening ground and causing sinkholes to appear. The area long has been prone to sinkhole formation.
Numerous residents attended the meeting last night, and several shared heartbreaking stories of having their houses condemned or, if not, living under the threat of sinkholes forming. Sheena Mosley said she is struggling to pay rent after her house, which has a sinkhole beneath it, was deemed unfit for habitation.
Nikole Stewart recently moved out of the area to Georgia. However, she still owns her S. 14th Street house.
“What are we supposed to tell the mortgage company?” she said, urging the city to buy out homeowners along the street. “What are we supposed to tell our creditors?”
While sympathetic to the plight of residents, council members admitted there was little they could do to permanently fix the situation.
“The answers that you need, we cannot provide you with right now,” said Councilwoman Sandra Reid, chairwoman of the Public Works Committee.
To download a copy of the Gannett Fleming sinkhole study, click here.
