OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — KMTV first told you Tuesday night about the repairs coming to the 16th Street sinkhole.
- The lengthy process will start on September 8.
- While neighbors want to see this hole gone, one Regis resident says part of the plan was not approved by their building.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Repairs will take about 3 to 4 months.
"I was really excited to know that repairs were going to be made until I read more about what kind of repairs were going to be made," said Lisa Kilker, a Regis resident.
The city told reporter Molly Hudson Tuesday that infrastructure stability is a concern now. They can't wait for the Regis building to waterproof and make repairs, so they will apply a concrete mix on the building's foundation, creating a temporary seal, before they are able to repair the city sewer and fill the hole.
"When we backfill that back, it won't be completely waterproof, but we believe we can keep that soil from migrating again from the alley into the building," said Austin Rowser, with Omaha Public Works.
But that concrete element was a surprise to Regis residents like Lisa Kilker.
"I don't understand why this is so confusing for them. They need to do the excavation; we are not allowed to do it ourselves. We need to do the tuck pointing; we do not approve anything in regards to them putting concrete on the outside of our brick," Kilker said.
This is what reporter Molly Hudson saw in the Regis basement in January: layers of thick mud that residents say made its way in months before the sinkhole opened up.
"We have a building that frankly has some holes in it, so there was soil that was lost under the alley, went into the building, which is what created the void underneath the alley pavement, which caused it to collapse," Rowser said.
"There is no structural issues, whatsoever, with our building. They have all of our engineering reports," Kilker said.
Condo owners filed a claim with the city in the spring, related to the water and mud intrusion and the ongoing damages.
Both Kilker and the city say there is no update on where that stands.
