Morning Call: February 3, 2004

A group of Palmer Township residents living near a sinkhole- prone area are pressing for a joint meeting of federal, state and local officials to find the source of the problem and prevent future sinkholes.

"We need all the parties to come together and find and curb the cause," said Linda Iudicello, speaking to township supervisors Monday night on behalf of 20 homeowners in the Brookwood development along the Tatamy and Stockertown border. "You can't fix anything until you pinpoint the trigger of the sinkholes."

She said the group has been gathering data daily as the state Department of Transportation continues its work to try to stabilize sinkholes that forced the closing of a bridge in the northbound lanes of Route 33 between Route 248 in Lower Nazareth Township and Route 191 in Stockertown.

Iudicello said state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, is making efforts to set up a joint public meeting of officials to give an updated report to residents. She urged supervisors to support such a meeting as she gave them an update on residents' concerns.

Supervisor Chairman Dave Colver and Public Works Director Ted Sales said the township has been meeting with PennDOT officials at the new sinkhole sites to stay informed of the state's efforts.

Colver said the township would continue to be involved in meetings on the issue. "We have a lot at stake there."

She said that at the urging of the Army Corps of Engineers, PennDOT is doing additional probes along the Route 33 corridor, including the southbound lanes, because new sinkholes have been forming as workers tried to stabilize the bridge pillars, which settled about 21 inches in the northbound lanes. She said it appears the sinkholes are spreading to Bushkill Creek.

"It's not going to go away," Iudicello said. "If we wait longer it's going to get worse. Our e-mail address has gone haywire the past week. Somebody is worried."

She said the problem was first found about three years ago, when about 150 feet of a back yard in one of the Brookwood properties fell into a sinkhole and caused the closing of a bridge between Tatamy and Stockertown.

Iudicello said residents feel a study is needed to determine factors that contribute to the formation of sinkholes. She said the study should include the quarry operations of nearby cement plants that continue to dig deeper to extract underground limestone for cement production.

Fred Walter