Answer Man: Sinkhole on Sardis Road causing flooding? What's being done about it?

ASHEVILLE - For today's column, reader asks about flooding on Sardis Road and a sinkhole in a business parking lot.

Do you have a question you want a Citizen Times reporter to answer? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at kchavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: What's going on with flooding on Sardis Road? There has been a large hole in the parking lot and it looks like they've been working on it, but it's just gotten bigger. Is there any update on what might be going on?

Answer: It seems due to rainfall over the weekend, Sardis Road may have well become a swimming pool. At least, that's what local business owners are saying.

Unfortunately, this problem can be summarized in one terrible word: sinkhole.

A small sinkhole appeared in the parking lot at a 24 Sardis Road shopping center on July 19, according to local business owner Ryan Fenton. Much like the Grinch's heart, the once small pothole has grown multiple times the size.

The sinkhole is even visible on Google Maps, where a recent trip caught the sinkhole in October. By this time, the pit already took up half of the shopping center parking lot.

Over the weekend, the flooded sinkhole overflowed onto Sardis Road. Fenton heard there was a crash due to hydroplaning on Sunday.

Highway Patrol spokesperson Brian Anthony confirmed there was a crash on Dec. 10 registered with the address from across the street at 22 Sardis Road.

Business owners frustrated

The shopping center the sinkhole calls home includes local bakery Crust Never Sleeps, Pinnacle Apothecary and 1 on 1 Physical Therapy, among others.

Jonathan Snipes, the owner of Pinnacle Apothecary pharmacy, said the contractors who've worked on the sinkhole have not seemed to have done much — except to maybe make it bigger.

"All they've pretty much done is dug the hole bigger and larger and hardly ever worked on it," Snipes said. "I think part of the issue is that it fills up with water and then they can't work on it while it's full of water."

Moreover, the sinkhole has knocked out more than half of the parking lot, making it harder for customers to visit.

"It definitely made a substantial impact, especially on the busier days when you can't find a parking spot at all," he said.

Snipes said they "do everything they can to help accommodate" the situation, including offering free delivery. Despite this, some customers have said they might stop coming to the location due to the poor, sinkhole-induced parking situation.

Fenton, physical therapy doctor and owner of 1 on 1 Physical Therapy, has had a similar experience with the sinkhole, noting the difficulty for patients to maneuver around the sinkhole — especially those who are in a wheelchair or on crutches.

"I mean, you know, it's like the dozers sit there for a couple weeks, then they come back and hang out a little bit and maybe chat and look at the hole," he said. "Maybe they'll dig a little bit and then maybe they'll take a couple of weeks off, and really there's not a whole lot being done.

Although contractors were working on the sinkhole the morning of Dec. 11, Fenton is still worried about what could come.

"I'm worried that the place is going to flood or we're going to fall into the depths of hell," Fenton said of the crater. "I don't know what's under us. I think that's where hell is."

Both Snipes and Fenton noted the lack of communication from the property owner, who hired the contractor to do work on the sinkhole.

While the sinkhole is on private property, city of Asheville spokesperson Kim Miller said the city has been investigating the sinkhole since Dec. 8.

"Our field crews (Public works/ street division) went out to confirm no utility work had been carried out by us (in connection with NCDOT, Dominion Gas and/or Duke)" Miller wrote in an email to the Citizen Times.

"We can confirm the sinkhole is in a parking lot - so not property maintained or controlled by the City of Asheville.  The water department also confirmed today they have no current role in this."

"Having spoken to our crews and departments, I can say, to our knowledge, we have not been approached to assist," Miller said.

Broken culvert?

North Carolina Department of Transportation spokesperson David Uchiyama also provided a statement regarding the sinkhole, noting that "businesses are responsible to maintain drainage as it enters a state-owned drainage system."

Uchiyama also supplied images that indicate the location of the sinkhole is where a culvert connected to an NCDOT storm pipe drain used to be located.

"NCDOT issued an encroachment agreement to allow property owners to connect a junction box to the end of an NCDOT drainage pipe under Sardis Road," he said.

The property owner is listed as Thira LLC. I reached out to the property owners several times but have not yet received a response.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: Sardis Road sinkhole affecting local business owners?