Balligomingo Road Closure Becomes More Complicated

A couple months ago we met with Ira Saligman, the owner of the property above Balligomingo Road at the point where mud and debris fall into the road after storms. This issue has caused a portion of the road to be closed for over a year now.

Saligman had reached out to us to offer a tour of the property and give us his side of the story. He felt that there were a couple different issues driving the problem on Balligomingo. The first was a storm water issue on Union Hill Road (The Saligman property is 14 Union Hill Road in West Conshohocken). This issue was older than Saligman’s ownership of his property and the water was coming onto his property from the road and then down the slope.

2016

He also said that his property line wasn’t Balligomingo Road and that the Borough of West Conshohocken owned an area at the base of the slope adjacent to the road. Saligman claimed that PECO wanted some trees removed to protect its lines and the Borough of West Conshohocken removed trees at the base of the slope. According to Saligman this weakened the slope and the problem grew from there.

As you may remember, at one point there was a black material placed over the slope which was the fix or part of an attempted fix. It didn’t work and in June 2015 a storm brought the indefinite closure. You can see this material in the above video from NBC10.

balligomingo trees

Please note that the slope just wasn’t cleared as it appears in the 2016 image. The picture above shows that trees were cut near the base along the wires. This image is from April 2015. So sometime between late April 2015 and June 2015 the slope was cleared and the black material was applied.

The Borough of West Conshohocken disputes this version of the events and believes actions taken by Saligman caused the problem and he should be responsible for fixing the situation.

So why do we say the issue has become more complicated? Ira Saligman, who was 53, passed away recently after a plane he was piloting caught fire. In addition to real estate, Saligman was noted for his philanthropic work, especially for Jewish causes. You can read his obituary here.

So at this point, should the Borough of West Conshohocken just fix the problem and deal with the responsibility issue in court? Let us know in the comments.