Old Well Covered With Brush Found In Middle Of Residential Development

PHOTOS: A well which officials say could be over 100 years old, was discovered in a residential development on Friday, covered by just a thin layer of brush. An official tells TLS the property manger was cleaning up the new development when they noticed a large hole in the ground under some branches and grass. 

After removing the thin layer, they discovered a well approximately 30 feet below.

The property manager summoned the Police and DPW.

Mayor Miller also responded to ensure the issue is corrected before Shabbos, and that no danger is posed to any area children.

The DPW temporarily covered the deep hole and plans to permanently fill it this week. TLS-MK/TLS-CCP.

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16 COMMENTS

  1. Anyone else think it odd that it was covered over with grass? Seems to me that the prior owner and/or current owner should have known of the well’s existence? It should have turned up if the owner did his due diligence or if the seller did what was legally mandated to do? Amd why the prompt response… Of course chil welfare is paramount but this seems too prompt. Someone should look into this especially since the dpw is doing the work on PRIVATE property.

  2. Let the property owner take care of his own property and not use tax money to do free repairs for private property. DPW did the right thing temp fix to make the area safe, but that should be it.

  3. The developer left us high and dry with an unfinished development. We have appealed to the township for them to pull the builder’s bond and finish off the project. No tax payer dollars will be spent on fixing up this dangerous situation. The repairs will be paid with the builder’s bond money.

  4. The management mayor dpw and police did a magnificent job. They really averted a tragic accident waiting to happen. I was there and it was scary. It is dpw job because it is still an area bonded and the twp is billing expenses to the bond company. Thank everyone involved as not just a child could fell 30 feet to their death even an adult it tractor would have been swallowed up!

  5. Wow what a story?! Thank God everyone is ok. Why was this well not realized until now? Also how do they know what that hole was, was there water down there? As a well professional I can say that a 100 year old well is likely now worthless especially when it want maintained.

  6. The Management had a company send a robotic camera down within minutes of the finding. They saw a brick well which has not been used by well diggers since the turn of last century. According to dpw it was likely a farm and these hand dug wells were not recorded in the township.

  7. What an amazing story! Truly a miracle that no child fell in or got injured. Kudos to dpw, the management company, the Mayor and the police for their cooperative efforts in averting a potential tragedy.

  8. J why do people have to be so negative and bitter? As you can see in the hole there is actually a pipe or wire going through which means that there was likely something covering the area which simply caved in. This is not uncommon at all. It is also not uncommon for the DPW to correct some massive safety hazards which they then bill to the homeowner. As half the commenters who seem to be privy of the details said…the placement of these boards will be billed to the bond company. Why the prompt response? Well lets see possibly to prevent people who wouldnt realize (or curious kids or people walking at night) from falling to their death, just like that poor toddler on Spruce Street who had a horrific death by wandering out of his parents eyes in their own backyard for 2 minutes. I am glad that government is doing what they should do which is to save lives.

    Not everything seems suspicious when you aren’t by nature suspicious. Lakewood likely has hundreds of such wells and many of them may not yet be recognized by anyone since there ARE NO RECORDS of them as David pointed out.
    Lets just hope they are not found too late!
    Mayor, PD, and DPW, thank you for your prompt response and thank you for caring. I don’t live there but if I did I would be very appreciative for your wooden boards.

  9. Where can I get a robot that takes pictures from? That is one big hole! I used to live in a house when a 65 year old well caved in, on my front yard. The bill I got from the Clifton NJ twshp when I got back from England (2 weeks later) was NOT pretty. I ended up fighting the fines since I proved that there was no way for me to have known about it prior (and no, most these old wells have no records i twshp files since they were not mandated to register them) but the cost of their repair wasn’t cheap.

    What was the story on Spruce Street?

  10. Everyone just relax:
    .1 The well was no where n ear where anyone walks anyhow.
    .2 This has nothing to do with the builder and what kind of job he did. This could happened anywhere.
    Just relax

  11. There is no one better then this developer! He is the nicest, kindest builder & goes 100% out of his way for his customers every step of the way. Even things that he doesn’t have to do, he makes sure to do for the benefit & convenience of those who will be living in his developments…my heartfelt thanks!

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