Niagara man challenges Town of Pelham over damage caused from potholes

We’re coming up to that time of year when vehicles are hitting potholes on the streets, shocking drivers.

But after driving on these roads in Pelham last November, Jeff VanWely got a different kind of shock, a bill from his mechanic.

He says there were 40 to 50 potholes along this stretch of Pihach Street in November, some of them five inches deep.

Enough for his mechanic to say he had that 35-hundred-dollar problem.

VanWely told CHCH that “everything needed to be replaced. All the control arms, struts, everything needed to be done.”

He says this is the Town of Pelham’s fault, these were their potholes and they should pay for the damage.

The Town says no, even though the damage was caused by their potholes.

It says they found out about the potholes on October 24th and the law gives them 30 days to fix them.

VanWely’s damage happened before the 30 days were up.

He says he got a letter saying he’s on his own for the bill.

Further in the letter he also states the roadway could have had issues prior to the inspection date of October 24th 2020, but the municipality did not have any prior knowledge in that regard.

The Town of Pelham declined our request for an interview but sent a statement saying it meets the requirements of the Municipal Act.

VenWely says that after he told the town CHCH was coming, they filled in potholes all along the road.

Yesterday afternoon they went up and down this whole road, they filled all the potholes.

He also wonders about a law that allows potentially-dangerous potholes to legally go unfilled for 30 days.