When is a road not a road? More questions than answers surface on Forest Lakes pothole

When is a road not a road? In Forest Lakes, the answer is: when it’s time to fix some giant potholes. Residents of the 400-home community have been using what’s known as Forest Lakes Drive North since the development’s inception in the late 1950s, and now that some very large potholes are taking up the majority of the pavement south of the Forest Lakes sign, residents are wondering, who is responsible for fixing them?

Perhaps it’s Byram Township’s job. The lake community sits, for the majority, within Byram, and Byram has an agreement with Andover Township to handle all snowplowing on Forest Lakes roads. But according to Byram Township mayor Alex Rubenstein, that’s all the maintenance Byram is contracted for, although they do plow the disputed stretch of pavement.

“It’s common sense and courtesy,” Rubenstein said. “But no one pays us to plow that section. It just wouldn’t make any sense to turn the truck around 400 feet before 206.”

So what about the potholes, the largest of which is six feet long, four feet wide, and about four inches deep?

“They aren’t ours," the mayor said. "We just can’t go spending time and resources to fix things that don’t belong to us."

If Byram handles the snowplowing, then what does Andover Township do on the few roads that lie in their jurisdiction? They maintain them, and promptly, it would seem.

An anonymous resident who lives on one of Andover Township’s streets in Forest Lakes said there was an erosion issue with the road in front of their house; just a single phone call to the municipal building yielded quick results.

“I called town hall, and the DPW guys came out and fixed the problem right away,” the resident said. “They were really great.”

If the potholes on Forest Lakes Drive aren’t the responsibility of Byram or Andover Township, then the obvious answer would seem to be Andover Borough. The pavement lies geographically within the borough’s limits. Standing at the intersection with Rt. 206, the ‘Now Leaving Andover Borough’ sign is clearly visible just past the white building which was originally the office for the Westby Corp., who built the Forest Lakes community, and which currently houses the Andover Children’s Academy.

But Andover Borough doesn’t own the road. In fact, according to records on file with both the borough and the county, the ‘road’ is actually a private driveway and parking lot. And who exactly does it belong to?

Andover Borough clerk Beth Brothman confirmed that the property, which on a map is shown including the ‘road’ as not being subdivided out, belongs to IAT Reinsurance, a group that holds many undeveloped and underdeveloped properties around the area. There’s also no recorded evidence, with either the borough or the county, that an easement or right-of-way agreement exists. Does that mean that Forest Lakes residents have been trespassing on private property to access their homes for the last several decades?

“Yes, technically,” said John Ursin, the local attorney who represents IAT. “But no one has ever done anything about it. The oversight was made in the 50s, when the road was never actually dedicated as such. People have just used it for years.”

That begs the next question, will IAT be fixing the potholes plaguing the edge of the pavement?

“No,” Ursin said. “IAT isn’t using the property regularly, and so they won’t be fixing it. But there are three towns and the Forest Lakes Club that use that ‘road’, one of them is more than welcome to take ownership or to fix the potholes. They can just get in touch with me and we’ll talk.”

‘Adopting’ the potholes and fixing the issue will be easier said than done. According to one area paving professional, the repairs would have to be more than cosmetic, and would likely require full milling and repaving to properly address the problem. Given the size of the area needing attention, that would likely cost between $3,000 and $4,000.

“Any quick fix could just pop back out,” said J.L., who has three decades experience in paving estimates and asphalt maintenance, and who preferred his full name not be used. “There’s just too much water and moisture in there.”

Jason Scott of nearby Vaughan Sealcoating and Paving in Andover agrees that the moisture is an issue, and thinks that hot asphalt might work in the short-term.

“Drying the holes out and filling them with hot plant-mixed asphalt would be a temporary fix,” he said, “The holes are deep, so at least with filling them, the asphalt would have something to bind to. But to properly fix the issue, it should be milled out and replaced, which would be about $4,000.”

Scott also said the time of year impacts the results and costs of these types of repairs, given that all the local asphalt plants shut down in the winter, and conditions make it difficult to pave during the colder months.

“With the weather and temperatures,” Scott said, “areas like this are hard to fix now.”

Forest Lakes resident and Byram Township Councilman Harvey Roseff isn’t satisfied with any of these answers, and he doesn’t think most of his neighbors will be, either. Roseff took some time on Monday to assess the potholes and their continued growth. He mused on the decades-old omission that allowed the pavement to have never been dedicated as a public roadway.

“I can’t believe there isn’t something in the Andover Borough code that could have prevented this mess,” Roseff said. “Who laid the pavement we’re standing on right now? You’re telling me that people have been using this for sixty-seventy years and it was never a road?”

As Roseff spoke, several vehicles turned in, each taking a different path around the maze of inches-deep, water-filled holes, some of which are marked with traffic cones. The main concern is evident, as some choose to turn north of the Forest Lakes sign, which is the natural egress on the unmarked pavement. What if someone were to turn in as someone else, obscured by the sign, was preparing to turn out? It’s a safety hazard with multiple factors, also given the natural curvature of Rt. 206 as it approaches the narrow tunnel ahead.

Looking at the potholes and their proximity to the highway, Roseff then asked the one question that could deepen the mystery even as the potholes themselves deepen.

“They are awfully close to 206,” he said. “What if it’s actually the state that needs to fix them?”

Like endless scarves pulled out of a magician's hat, endless questions arise out of residents' pothole predicament.