Eight months after sinkholes tore open Summit Avenue, only one of the eight displaced Phillipsburg families has been allowed back into a home — and even that house still has cracked walls. Now homeowners are preparing to sue the town's water supplier, while Phillipsburg officials say they're weighing their own legal action against the same company, Aqua New Jersey.
Homeowners Run Out of Patience
According to lehighvalleylive.com, seven of the eight Summit Avenue properties have sat uninhabitable since the sinkholes opened in February, and the eighth homeowner who was finally let back in is living with damaged walls. The holes first opened Feb. 16 in the first block of Summit Avenue, and a dump truck fell into another sinkhole the following day, the outlet reported. At least four sinkholes ultimately shut down the street and sent safety inspectors into neighboring homes. A related report from wfmz.com described multiple sinkholes opening near the intersection of Summit Avenue and Lewis Street on Feb. 17 and 18 — a discrepancy in exact dates that has not been resolved between the two accounts.
Nicole Allegar, who owns property on Summit Avenue, welcomed the possibility of litigation but pressed officials on how soon the town could actually move forward, per the same lehighvalleylive.com account. Phillipsburg Business Administrator Rich Wenner declined to discuss potential litigation in detail but said officials remain committed to supporting affected families. The town's council and administration expect thorough discussions on the matter before the end of the year, the outlet reported.
Mayor and Council Weigh Their Own Suit
Mayor Randy Piazza Jr. said the sinkhole situation has devastated several families and remains a pressing concern for his administration, adding that the town should pursue accountability against those believed responsible. He acknowledged, however, that legal requirements could complicate the timeline. “Whether or not the legal process allows us to move forward, that's another story,” Piazza said, according to lehighvalleylive.com.
Town Council President Keith Kennedy confirmed that litigation against Aqua New Jersey is under consideration, telling wfmz.com that the town is weighing legal action against the utility. Aqua New Jersey, for its part, disputes any connection between its infrastructure and the sinkholes. Company spokesperson Amanda Burge said the damage is related to naturally occurring geologic conditions, and that consultant findings and information provided by the town do not point to a different cause, per lehighvalleylive.com. Aqua has said it is committed to providing safe and reliable service to its customers and worked with Phillipsburg to restore water service to displaced residents.
A $200,000 Study That Answered Nothing
The uncertainty over blame traces back to a study the town commissioned to figure out what went wrong. Phillipsburg authorized a $167,000 contract with GZA GeoEnvironmental in March to investigate, and the firm's report became public in July. But according to lehighvalleylive.com, the town ultimately paid $200,000 for a study that didn't determine the sinkholes' cause. Residents believe the geotechnical testing concentrated around the Summit Avenue and Lewis Street intersection failed to establish a definitive explanation, leaving sinkhole responsibility and the safety of the properties unresolved.
Complicating matters further, engineers told lehighvalleylive.com it remains difficult to determine what came first — the water main break or the formation of the holes. A water main break occurred around the same time the sinkholes developed in February, but the sequence and relationship between the two events has not been established. The town declared a State of Local Emergency on Feb. 17, 2026, in response to sinkholes occurring in several areas, according to a Phillipsburg municipal press release, which said the town was working with contracted third-party experts, utility providers including Aqua New Jersey, and engineering professionals to evaluate the situation. Geotechnical engineers have said the sinkholes may ultimately need air-track drilling and grouting — a process that would bore holes roughly 30 to 40 feet into the ground and inject grout into underground voids, according to nj.com.
Residents Push for Tax Relief and Answers
Beyond the legal fight, displaced families say they're still paying for homes they can't live in. The eight residents have continued paying their mortgages, property taxes and utility bills on properties they can't occupy, lehighvalleylive.com reported in August. Terry Baker, advocating on behalf of his mother, Mary, questioned whether town officials had contacted the municipal tax assessor about adjustments and whether this year's property assessments had been addressed. He also asked the town to explore using unused municipal funds to help displaced families and property owners who lost rental income. Residents say they sought property tax relief information but received answers only after the applicable appeal deadline had passed.
Homeowners were also required to obtain video camera inspections before certain utilities could be restored, adding another expense for families already stretched thin. Laurie Ohlandt said someone arranged inspections at affected homes on short notice, and that the assistance helped residents move forward with costs that would otherwise have been difficult to afford.
Free Legal Help and a Push to Sue
State Sen. Doug Steinhardt, a partner at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli & Tipton LLC, arranged free legal services for the homeowners starting in March, according to lehighvalleylive.com's August report. Attorney David Fiori of the same firm, which has represented the affected homeowners pro bono since March, argued that Phillipsburg should pursue legal action after eight months without a resolution, urging the town to file suit against Aqua New Jersey before year's end. Fiori said investigations into underground conditions had not produced substantial findings to help residents move forward, and he argued the sinkhole damage extended to municipal infrastructure as well as private homes.
New Jersey has already committed $1.2 million toward permanent repairs to Summit Avenue, according to CBS News New York. As of the October 27 meeting, no lawsuit against Aqua New Jersey had been formally announced, and no return date has been established for the families still locked out of their homes.
The dispute echoes a separate case elsewhere in the state: in Woodbridge, the family of 36-year-old Shelly Malbranche filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in April after she drowned when a sinkhole opened in a roadway, with the complaint alleging that a leaking water main had undermined the road's foundation, as nj.com reported. That suit named Middlesex County, Woodbridge Township, Carteret Borough and Middlesex Water Company as defendants. Phillipsburg's situation has not resulted in any known injuries, but it underscores the stakes local officials are weighing as they consider their own path toward holding a utility accountable, per TAPinto.
