CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) — For months, people who work near a short road in Cheektowaga have been trying to get deep potholes there fixed. But the problem is some people aren’t sure who actually owns the road and who should repair it — and they’re calling for action.
If you drive on Leo Place in Cheektowaga, you may regret that you did.
“Most of them are potholes, but that’s a crater, and that’s a crater down there too,” said Corina Czerniejewski, the manager of the Cambridge Building.
We took a look at Google Maps and found images from two years ago that show potholes all over Leo Place, and they’ve only gotten worse. Some potholes are three feet wide. We found one that’s six inches deep and another that’s nine inches deep.
When WIVB News 4 stopped by Leo Place, near Union Road, we found some drivers going on the other side of the street to avoid the potholes — an obvious safety hazard.
People work in this area, and we found at least one person who lives on Leo Place.
“I’m worried about damage to my car, No. 1, but also I’m worried about people possibly riding their bicycle or their motorcycle down the street and getting seriously injured,” said Victor Mole, a tenant of the Cambridge Building.
Mole works just off of Leo Place and for months has been on the winding road to figure out who owns the street.
“We happen to have the DOT (Department of Transportation) in the building; I went right over, knocked on the door, questioned him. And he said, ‘It is not us, it’s either the town or it’s Life Storage.’ So I went back to the town; the town once again said, ‘He’s lying to you, it is not our responsibility, it’s DOT,'” Mole said.
“Pretty much everybody says it’s not theirs, so at this point, we really don’t know whose it is,” Czerniejewski said.
We took a look at town records, which show that Extra Space Storage, previously Life Storage, which has a location at the end of Leo Place, owns the road.
“The hundreds and hundreds of roads we have here, the many roads we have in the Town of Cheektowaga, the vast majority of them are owned by the town. You have some owned by (the) state, you have some owned by the county, this one’s just a rare exception to where it’s essentially a private access road,” said Brian Nowak, supervisor of the Town of Cheektowaga.
And, because of this, town leaders say they can’t fix the road themselves.
In response to our story, the Town of Cheektowaga has issued a citation to Extra Space Storage, requesting that the company fix Leo Place by the end of the month or be subject to fines — or possibly be taken to court.
Rick Rusiniak, highway superintendent of the Town of Cheektowaga, said: “I’m hoping the owner steps up, takes care of the problem. It should happen very quickly if they care about what they’re doing, which we hope that’s the kind of company they are.”
In a statement, Extra Space Storage says the company, which acquired this property two years ago, has “a full repave of the road planned and budgeted for next year. In the meantime, we are getting bids to fill the potholes this year.”
On Friday, a spokesperson updated News 4, saying that the potholes will be filled within the next two weeks.
In response, Czerniejewski said, “Oh, well that would be great if they can get the potholes taken care of.”
“I just want somebody to take accountability for it. Again, I don’t like finger-pointing,” Mole said.
That citation from the town to Extra Space Storage says code enforcement will revisit Leo Place on Aug. 1, roughly four weeks from now, to make sure these potholes are filled.
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Jeff Preval is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
