[This story will be updated as more information becomes available.]

Updated 9/6 at the bottom of the story.

On Sept. 3, a hole was noticed in the faculty parking lot next to the Morton Fitness Center. 

Students, staff and faculty returned from Labor Day weekend to discover multiple parking spots in faculty parking lot D have been compromised by a hole that began to appear the day before.  

Facilities employee Alberto Gomez said a burst pipe outside of the Morton Fitness Center caused some flooding on the first floor of the Polytechnic United Methodist Church on Monday, Sept. 2. He said the burst pipe may be the reason for the hole in the parking lot. The city of Fort Worth arrived Monday to block off the area, including adjacent parking spots, with cones and tape. 

“[The foreman] was here yesterday until 8 o’clock last night,” Gomez said.  

Though the incident seems to have occurred on Sept. 2, the university has yet to send out any formal communication regarding the situation. Dr. Carl Smeller, department chair and associate professor of English & Humanities, arrived in the area around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 3 surprised to see the hole in the ground.  

“We weren’t alerted to it,” Smeller said. “Usually, they’re pretty good about telling you.”  

UPDATE 9/6/24

Brian Franks, executive director of facilities development and operations, said a burst pipe belonging to the city of Forth Worth caused the hole to appear in the ground as water was pushed up from beneath the asphalt and resulted in light flooding in Bragan Hall in PUMC. The university is working with Fort Worth to complete the repairs as soon as possible.  

“The city treats that as an emergency repair because that impacts the water supply to the buildings and residences in the area,” Franks said.  

The city arrived on the scene on Sept. 3 to valve off the section of pipe and made repairs that evening. Further work needs to be done to restore the lot, which may take a couple of days. 

“Once they start that process, unfortunately, because it’s as large as it is, we’ll have to shut off that section of parking that leads over to the loading dock of the Martin University Center,” Franks said.  

As the situation progresses, the university has measures in place to ensure that necessary updates will be shared with faculty, staff and students.