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A bureaucratic black hole

Friday, December 11, 2009

The Record

IT'S BEEN more than three years since the earth gave way and left gaping sinkholes next to three homes in Upper Ringwood.

Governor Corzine arrived with a check. State and federal lawmakers toured the neighborhood. Geologists studied the land, which includes long-abandoned mines whose collapse may be spurred by activity above ground. Local officials scrambled to fix a collapsed road and figure out how best to spend nearly $1 million in state funds.

This flurry of activity has yet to fix the problem. The sinkholes haven't been filled.

Two of the affected families are still in temporary housing, which so far has cost $160,000. A third still lives on their property — next to a fenced-off sinkhole that appeared in July 2005, Staff Writer Barbara Williams reported.

This is the sort of bureaucracy-without-end story that would make anyone leery of help from the government. But there are plenty of parties contributing to this never-ending tangle.

Williams reported that Ringwood officials held off on spending any money for 18 months — and no one can explain why. That is absurd. When an SUV-sized hole appears in someone's yard, that's an emergency. And the only way to respond is quickly.

The money was intended to help the families, yet local officials' understanding of the state's red tape apparently directed them to spend a good deal of the cash on road repairs and the study. Through the years, aid has arrived courtesy of neighborhood preservation, economic revitalization and/or transportation grants, each of which has its own limits on proper use.

Some good came of those efforts. Dangerous sinkholes in the road were repaired. The study of the area is a valuable tool in assessing any future risk of sinkholes.

But now, as the state faces down a $1 billion budget shortfall, the borough says it needs more money to buy out the homeowners and thoroughly repair the sinkholes. Too bad no one came to that conclusion during better times.

The families' insurance companies haven't helped matters. They denied initial claims and are fighting to keep from paying. Meanwhile, the borough is trying to purchase and demolish two of the homes, both of which still have outstanding mortgages based on their pre-sinkhole values. Officials are locked in a fight with the lenders to have some of those costs forgiven.

Complicating matters, at least one of the families does not wish to move. Robert and Courtney DeGroat have refused the borough's offer to partially repair the property.

We hesitate to ask the state to spend more in this economic crisis, especially if Ringwood will again be put in charge of the funds. Perhaps the state could lend its expertise to challenging insurers or negotiating with lenders to free up private funds.

It's time for an end game. Someone — anyone — needs to take the lead and solve the sinkhole problem once and for all. The safety of a neighborhood is at stake.