Sinkhole forces closure of Woodlands Legacy Park in Yorktown

Yorktown Town Supervisor Matt Slater tells News 12 that the sinkhole in Woodlands Legacy Park is about 30 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter.

News 12 Staff

Dec 27, 2022, 11:25 AM

Updated 656 days ago

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A popular park in Yorktown will be closed for the foreseeable future after a sinkhole formed there Christmas Eve.
Yorktown Town Supervisor Matt Slater tells News 12 that the sinkhole in Woodlands Legacy Park is about 30 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter. A 6-foot fence was built around the sinkhole.
"We received a phone call into the police department a little after noon on Christmas Eve... alerting us that there was a hole here in the ground at Legacy Field,” Slater says. “Thirty feet of it is completely unsuspended, all the soil eroded underneath it."
While officials say there is no threat to public safety, there is a gas pipeline that runs through the area. Since the park is an active construction site, it will remain closed until the spring.
"Making sure that we fix the short-term problem, which is filling the hole, and then address the long-term issues,” Slater says.
The pipes were placed in 2014. Enbridge, the pipeline and energy company that runs it, said in a statement to News 12 that the pipeline system is in safe operating condition.
"The pipe itself has not been compromised in any way, shape or form, according to Enbridge. It is not leaking, it's not on fire, it's just there,” Slater says.
In the meantime, town officials and Enbridge will work together to find out what caused the sinkhole.
"They are going to do a follow up…daily, weekly, monthly with geological findings,” says Yorktown Deputy Supervisor Tom Diana.
The town and Enbridge want to ensure this doesn't happen again once the park reopens to the public.
Preparations to start construction at the site have already begun and will continue throughout the season.