Big hole open in private parking lot, solution in progress

A deep, narrow hole in a parking lot on 93rd Avenue has citizens who frequent the area concerned for their safety.

Responsibility for fixing the hole has been passed by the owner of the lot to the company who caused the damage that exposed the hole while clearing snow. 

The hole is not a standard pothole. Instead, it is a pit with structured brick walls that looks like an abandoned manhole. It leads to pipes running underground and is partially filled with water nearly three feet below the surface of the parking lot.

This spring, Kimberly Sorin noticed the hole after it opened up during snow removal.

“The hole is big enough for a child to fall into and be lost, really,” Sorin explained. “I have a granddaughter who’s 11 months old. I could just imagine getting out of the vehicle, getting her out of her car seat, her running out ahead of me and never seeing her again.”

The hole is large enough for a small child to fall into, and the depth of the water at its bottom is unknown. 

Tenants in the building that the parking lot services can do little about it. As the hole is on private property, it is not an issue that the city is responsible for, though Sorin brought it to the attention of city officials.

Russel Daneluk, the owner of the parking lot in question, said that the process to fix and fill the hole is underway at last. 

The company paid to remove snow from the parking lot caused the damage that exposed the hole, he said.

“Apparently, when they were removing the snow, somebody hit it and broke a bunch of stuff.”

The snow removal company, according to Daneluk, is examining the hole.

“He’s looking after getting it fixed because he’s the one that ruined it,” Daneluk said.

He says a crew is supposed to come by and fix the hole at some point this week.