Old Town Cellars founder Stephen MacKay said an estimated 10 tons of dirt and thousands of gallons of water filled his business last week.
“It was just the failure of a city pipe,” MacKay said. “The pressure built up so much, from what I can tell, from what these guys [repairmen] have told me.”
He applauded city first responders for being on the scene in about 26 minutes at 2 a.m., but he hasn’t been satisfied with the rest of the city’s response.
He said the city has been mostly reactive to water main issues, rather than proactive. He likened it to a game of whack-a-mole.
“It's been well known around town,” MacKay said. “This happens throughout the year.”
In a statement, a Park City spokesperson acknowledged that flooding and water main breaks are devastating to the people and property they affect.
MacKay disputes the use of the term “flood,” saying it implies this was an act of nature when it was infrastructure that failed.
“With hundreds of miles of water pipes throughout the City, these types of unfortunate incidents do happen,” a city spokesperson wrote. “After being alerted to the break through our systems, our team promptly responded to the leak in order to protect the public, minimize damage to property, and prevent loss of water.”
Matt Baydala is the co-owner of Yuki Yama Sushi, farther down Main Street. He experienced a similar problem when a water main broke in July 2019.
The crawl space below Yuki Yama filled with dirt and water just like Old Town Cellars. But, Badayla said, his business is mostly on the first floor while Old Town Cellars is completely underground, which is a lot worse.
He echoed MacKay’s wishes for the city to be more proactive but acknowledged it might be unrealistic to dig up every pipe everywhere.
When water mains break, city code specifies whether it is the city’s or business’s responsibility to handle the cleanup. In Baydala’s case, the breakage occurred on the side of a valve that made it his responsibility.
He said it was frustrating because he can’t be expected to maintain a pipe buried under feet of concrete, below even the original Main Street from the 1970s. It was a key point he made in his insurance claim.
MacKay maintains, in his case, it was a city pipe that failed. He said a city representative actually asked for the pipe back once it was removed because it was city property.
MacKay said he has ongoing worries about structural integrity now. There’s an old stone wall in a room called “The Vault” which he said dates back to the 19th century.
“It's obviously super saturated. And the building next to us did see water damage,” he said. “Is this wall structurally sound? I haven't seen anyone from engineering come check it out.”
MacKay provided a MatterPort link to a 3D rendering of the damage.
The city expects roadwork to finish up in the middle of this week. Currently, Main Street narrows to one lane in front of Old Town Cellars and the sidewalk is closed.
“Flooding and water breaks can be devastating to those affected and we understand any frustration that people are experiencing. With hundreds of miles of water pipes throughout the City, these types of unfortunate incidents do happen.
"After being alerted to the break through our systems, our team promptly responded to the leak in order to protect the public, minimize damage to property, and prevent loss of water.
"The break has been contained and our teams remain on site to work on the area infrastructure. At this time, our team is expected have water on and business access unobstructed by the end of today (4/7). Work to the road will be completed by the middle of next week.”— Park City spokesperson
