Residents of Pine Court Village addressed the Stanley City Council at the July 1st meeting expressing concern and frustration over the neglected state of Pine Court.
Randy Karlen, one of the first residents of Pine Court Village, informed the Council of the large potholes and disrepair. “The potholes are so bad in there I busted the strut on my truck, I think, from in there.”
Referring to his photos of Pine Court, Alderperson Aaron Dickson of Ward 4-7,9 echoed his concern regarding the potholes. “Yeah, they look like they’d take a car out if you hit it at just the right angle. It’s bad in there,” he stated.
“The whole street’s bad pretty much,” Randy agreed.
“It’s like a big lake down there,” said resident Nancy Karlen explaining that lack of drainage on the road makes the heavy rains and thaw from the snow a nuisance. “It’s wrong to have to walk through this water to get into a vehicle down there. It’s been so ignored all those years. I don’t know why people feel this way against the Court.”
She mentioned that water flows down from Pine Street and fills up on Pine Court and added that there needs to be a solution. “It needs definite attention. It’s not getting any better. Each year it’s getting worse.”
Nancy invited the Council to drive down Pine Court to see what the residents contend with. “It’s very bad. It’s gotten where that you can’t just go and fill the potholes anymore because they just come right back out as soon as they plow,” she said referring to the City employees responsible for snow plowing the road in the winter months.
Pine Court Village resident Dennis Greene explained how he took it upon himself to fill the large potholes with a shovel. “They get so bad. Every time it rains, it comes back out.”
Nancy added that when the road fills with water it’s harder to see how deep the holes are. “You have to be so careful. Somebody’s gotta do something. It’s an accident waiting to happen. Someone is going to trip and get hurt really bad.”
When asked who owns the Pine Court street, City Administrator Nicole Pilgrim said that as per the work detailed in the title, “the City does not own the C-shaped portion of the trailer park road.” When contacted, Jim Melvin of Melvin Companies and owner of the trailer park, responded with “no comment,” as this is an ongoing discussion with the City of Stanley.