County says mysterious man-made hole left on Belcher Rd appears to have been first cut years ago

CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) – County officials are working to find out who cut a hole in Belcher Road, near Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard.

This is after a Better Call Behnken investigation highlighted the $1,000 in damage the hole caused to Katherine Germano’s car when she hit the hole last month. 

Germano had just turned onto Belcher Road from Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard when she heard a loud bang. She didn’t see the hole and had no warning. 

“I thought I hit a dog or something. Stopped the car, got out, didn’t see anything that I hit, but saw that my car was crooked and the car wasn’t running right,” Germano said. 

It turns out, she hit a man-made hole. It’s the kind of hole a worker might dig to make repairs to utilities under a roadway.

Problem is, no one claims to know anything about the hole or how it got there. And no one wants to repay Germano for the more than $1,000 in damage it caused to her Volkswagen Beetle. 

Germano has tried for a month to get answers and turned to Better Call Behnken for help. 

County employees quickly fixed the hole after Germano pointed it out. But as far as fixing her car goes, she’s been bounced back and forth from between Pinellas County and Clearwater.

While in the city of Clearwater, Belcher Road is owned by the county. Officials for both governments tell 8 On Your Side that they didn’t create this hole and know nothing about it. We called several utility companies and were told the same thing. 

County officials say companies doing any work under the road are supposed to file for a permit.

A look at recent permits, however, has not produced the company or worker responsible, county officials say. 

Tom Washburn, of Pinellas County Public Works, tells us he now thinks the hole was originally dug several years ago and the patch may have just recently failed. This is based on aerial photos, dating back to late 2015. 

“Based on the size and what it looks like… typically they’ll dig in, vacuum out the material to find out what’s there, a subsurface utility investigation,” Washburn said. 

He said they are working to find out who is responsible for the work, whether Germano should be paid for her car repair and who should pay. 

8 On Your Side will continue to follow this story.