Expect 'Fewer Sinkholes' This Year

It's an issue not unique to , but one that officials say shouldn't be as much of an issue this year.

Last year, Forks Township dealt with , including one so devastating that it shut down stores in a Sullivan Trail strip center for about a month and anchor for almost three months.

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Township public works director Mark Roberts says don't expect that figure to repeat this time around.

"With the weather conditions, being such a dry winter and a lack of rain, we should have a lot fewer sinkholes," Roberts told a group of area chamber representatives during a "" meeting Tuesday.

Of those 43 sinkholes, Roberts said 18 were located on township land.

The main one around started out at 4 feet by 4 feet when Tropical Storm Irene arrived in August, he said, and grew to 15 feet by 18 feet.

Roberts said the township spent $23,000 last year, not including manpower hours, to fill sinkholes.

He sympathizes with residents regarding this unusual issue.

"It's in the region and right here along certain ridges," he said. " took a beating last year."

The got hammered by sinkholes after Tropical Storm Irene and it took a month before the condo association fixed them.

Forks has battled with residents over the past year with regard to the responsibility over fixing sinkholes.

In February, after months of debate with a resident of , the township took responsibility for and agreed to plug a sinkhole in the swale that runs through that development.

This came after Forks supervisors passed a in December that essentially states that if the sinkhole is on your property, it’s your problem. If it’s on township property, it’s the township’s problem.

In the past, the township has spent more than $1 million fixing swales on both private and public property. But with lots of housing developments, lots of water and lots of sinkholes, supervisors said it would be impossible for the township to pay for it all.