If no cars block the way behind Schoolhouse Apartments, then fire trucks can find a way to maneuver through the tight spot behind the building.
But if cars are parked in position to make the turn too tight, Waterville Fire Department Chief John Salvaggio said the trucks would not make it around the apartment house.
At last week’s Village of Waterville Board meeting, Salvaggio and village officials discussed possibilities to respond in an emergency to the Stafford Avenue building.
At issue are a few factors: The narrow lane that serves as the only entrance/exit to the building, the tight corner to execute at the end to get behind the building and the cars that park in spots not designated for parking that would block the way.
That has been the status of the facility since a 2019 Halloween night flood caused a sinkhole at what was the entrance. The sinkhole still exists and vehicles no longer can use that entrance.
Village Attorney Bill Getman said the Schoolhouse owners could be cited for codes violations on the sinkhole as a way to push forward on repairing it.
Bechy said prior to the pandemic starting last March, the solution by the state called for the Schoolhouse owners to put $40,000 towards the repair. Since the coronavirus hit, progress on repairs has stopped.
Also discussed during the board’s hour and 15-minute meeting was a water leak on a private line on Route 12 north of the village. The line connects to the village’s water system to allow those houses to access village water.
DPW Superintendent Jamie Bechy said his department detected a leak in the system and found it on the private line. The four residences on the line were notified, he said.
“We told them it is out of our hands to fix,’’ Bechy said.
When the line was installed in 1976, two of the four homeowners lived there and signed an agreement to take care of maintenance outside of the village’s responsibility. Although the other two homeowners joined in on the line afterwards, they did not sign the agreement.
That, Bechy said, leads to the dilemma that two of the four homeowners do not want…