We spoke with Conshohocken Borough Council member Bob Stokley last week and he gave us an update on the pothole situation in the alley that runs along Conshohocken Elementary School. The issue was first brought up to Borough Council in January and was still unfixed in May (partially due to the snowy winter and partially due to it being a bigger problem than what was initially anticipated). In January Stokely had promised to use private funds from his foundation to make the repair. Due to the scope of the issue, he is now working with the school board, and has spoken to the property owner, to make the repairs once school is out for summer. This work will include patching all of the potholes that line the alley, plus the one that is the major issue.

The alleys are owned by the property owners, not the Borough, and not intended for public traffic, so when a pothole or other issue pops up, it is the responsibility of the property owner to fix the problem. The Borough is concerned that if it fixes the issue, it could be argued that it should maintian all the alleys throughout the Borough.

Obviously in this case, there is a large amount of traffic in an alley that was never intended to handle it, so it is unfair to ask the property owners to maintain what has become a de facto public street at least twice a day.  The Colonial School Board could fix the pothole if it was directly in front of the school’s property, but it is a few feet down.

So expect an improve alley when the kids return to school from summer break.