Is This Horrible Parking Lot the ‘Pothole Hell’ of Northern Colorado?

Yes, it is that time of year where potholes are coming out of the woodwork, so to speak, but somebody has do something about this lot. Thousands of cars are going through this lot every month; how many jarring trips do we have to take?

When it comes to city streets, there a department to call and report potholes; but when it's a parking lot, it's not that easy. When you see so many cars trying to traverse their way around this mess of chuckholes, you wonder if anybody cares.

"Chunk," is the sound I hear when I look at the photo above. Technically, the sound is "chuck," according to the definition of a chuckhole. Regardless, it's the sound my car makes going in and out of one of these things. There are many potholes within a small area of a parking lot here in Northern Colorado. I hear the sound of money: Money to fix my suspension, maybe a new tire. I feel the hot coffee spilling all over my shirt. Ouch.

I know there's no way that my pictures do these potholes justice, but believe you me, this parking lot is treacherous. Even as I was taking pictures, a woman in her truck stopped so I could do so - "Are you reporting these, they're horrible!!" I did some calling around to see what I could find out about who's going to fill these suckers in.

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I honestly don't know how long these potholes have been bringing hell to shoppers at King Sooper and the other business at 15th and Main in Windsor, but I was over there in mid-March, and was shocked at how bad things are. They are along that south side of the lot, along that "road" that runs from 15th to 16th.

I can see these potholes exist because of the weather, and how this particular south area of the parking lot doesn't get enough sun, because of the shade of the buildings on that side of the lot.

RELATED: SEE A COLORADO ROAD THAT'S FULL OF GNOMES

WHO'S IN CHARGE OF FIXING THESE POTHOLES?

I called King Soopers and got a hold of the manager and he broke it down:

• Windsor King Soopers put in a 'Service Request' with King Soopers corporate.
• King Soopers corporate is to contact the property management company to repair.
• We wait.

The Town of Windsor's Chief Planner, Carlin Monroe did let me know that parking lots in the terrible/dangerous state that this one is in, do fall under the Town's jurisdiction within its Building Code

• Chapter 18, Article VIII of the Windsor Municipal Code (Section 102.2 of the International Property Maintenance Code) requires the property owner to maintain the premises in good working order.

• Section 7-1-30. - Nuisances prohibited. The Windsor Municipal Code states, it is “…unlawful for any owner, agent or occupant of or having under his or her control any building, lot or premises or unimproved real estate within the Town limits to fail to maintain the property in a neat, tidy, methodical, systematic, clean and orderly condition..”

From an email from Carlin:

The Town sends notifications to private property owners when it is aware that conditions are unsafe.  The Town is aware, through citizen complaints and observations, that several properties pose unsafe conditions and have notified those property owners either by email or certified mail, stating that the potholes must be fixed immediately. Failure of the property owner to fix the unsafe conditions could result in further action being taken.

.. We emailed King Soopers on March 14, 2023, and received a response that they had received our message.

So, those who can help address this situation (and the others across Windsor) are aware and working within their limitations to get things fixed. I appreciate that.

I wanted to put something in one of the holes to give it "scale," all I could come up with was one of my gloves. I hope you can see that these chuckholes are pretty deep. I wouldn't want to get caught riding a scooter around there. Holy, moly.

YOU have probably seen some really bad potholes around Northern Colorado. You can share them with us with our app - just use the "Message" feature. We'd love to get the word out about the worst ones around the area.