Bethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Bethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionThe entrance to Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is blocked by traffic cones after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close the business on Monday in Bethlehem. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The entrance to Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is blocked by traffic cones after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close the business on Monday in Bethlehem. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionBethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Bethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionBethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Bethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionBethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Bethlehem officials are looking at the stability of the land at 55 Delaware Ave., where a Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube are located. The sunken area in the parking lot prompted the officials to close the business Monday over fears of a possible landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionThe entrance to Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is blocked by traffic cones after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close the business on Monday on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The entrance to Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is blocked by traffic cones after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close the business on Monday on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionSurveying equipment is posted in the Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube parking lot after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Surveying equipment is posted in the Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube parking lot after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionThe cliffside below Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is viewed from the Normans Kill below on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. Bethlehem officials closed the business due to concerns about a landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The cliffside below Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is viewed from the Normans Kill below on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. Bethlehem officials closed the business due to concerns about a landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionThe cliffside below Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is viewed from the Normans Kill below on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. Bethlehem officials closed the business due to concerns about a landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The cliffside below Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube is viewed from the Normans Kill below on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. Bethlehem officials closed the business due to concerns about a landslide. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionSurveying equipment is posted in the Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube parking lot after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close the business on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Surveying equipment is posted in the Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube parking lot after fear of a landslide prompted Bethlehem officials to close the business on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, on Delaware Ave. in Bethlehem, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Will Waldron/Times UnionThe Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube on Delaware Avenue were closed Sunday amid concerns from Bethlehem town officials that the land behind the businesses was at risk of collapse.

The Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube on Delaware Avenue were closed Sunday amid concerns from Bethlehem town officials that the land behind the businesses was at risk of collapse.

Patrick Tine / Times UnionThe Bethlehem hillside where town officials say a 23-feet-long crack has emerged which poses an "imminent threat to public safety." The Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube location at the top of the hill have been ordered closed. 

The Bethlehem hillside where town officials say a 23-feet-long crack has emerged which poses an “imminent threat to public safety.” The Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube location at the top of the hill have been ordered closed. 

Patrick TineARCHIVE PHOTO: Worries about the stability of a hillside along the Normans Kill creek prompted the town of Bethlehem to order the closure of the Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube at 55 Delaware Ave. The area along the creek is prone to landslides. In May 2000, a vegetable stand in the area was destroyed when the land below it gave way. The aftermath of that collapse is shown above. (Philip Kamrass/Times Union)

ARCHIVE PHOTO: Worries about the stability of a hillside along the Normans Kill creek prompted the town of Bethlehem to order the closure of the Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube at 55 Delaware Ave. The area along the creek is prone to landslides. In May 2000, a vegetable stand in the area was destroyed when the land below it gave way. The aftermath of that collapse is shown above. (Philip Kamrass/Times Union)

PHILIP KAMRASS/DGThe Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube on Delaware Avenue were closed Sunday amid concerns from Bethlehem town officials that the land behind the businesses was at risk of collapse.

The Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube on Delaware Avenue were closed Sunday amid concerns from Bethlehem town officials that the land behind the businesses was at risk of collapse.

Patrick Tine / Times Union

BETHLEHEM — A 23-foot crack in the earth off Delaware Avenue abutting the Normans Kill poses an “imminent threat to public safety,” the town of Bethlehem said in a statement Sunday. 

The Hoffman Car Wash and Jiffy Lube at 55 Delaware Ave. are closed while Bethlehem officials scrutinize the stability of the land where the businesses are located. “Portions of the slope on the property are actively moving,” the statement said, citing a report issued by the town’s geotechnical engineer. 

Article continues below this ad

The car wash and the oil change shop will remain closed until the property is deemed safe, the town said. Town Supervisor David VanLuven declined to comment or offer an update Monday morning and referred media requests to Jim Potter, the town attorney. 

Potter said that the report issued last week by the town’s engineering contractor, CHA Consulting, revealed the slope extending beneath the north side of the parking lot where the car wash and garage are located is at a point where “the forces of stability and the forces of instability are at equilibrium.”

“Any outside force — an earthquake, a heavy rainfall, (additional weight) at the top of the slope — could potentially push the slope into instability,” Potter said. 

The northwest side of the parking lot, where the crack is visible, is the area most likely to give way. “We’re concerned if the slope were to fail, would it stop at that crack or would it extend into the parking area’s lanes of travel?” Potter said. 

Article continues below this ad

CHA and an engineering firm hired by Hoffman Car Wash are both assessing the situation on the hillside. Potter said he was not sure if the two firms had communicated yet. 

“Hoffman’s engineering firm has their data; we are trying to facilitate their acquisition of the other data,” Potter said. “They can look at it to determine if they agree with the analysis performed by our geotechnical engineers, and if they do, they can evaluate it to determine what the plane of failure would be.”

Potter said town officials had met with some representatives from Hoffman, who told them the “area of instability that is observed in the parking lot” does not extend to the structure housing the repair shop and the car wash.

Town officials had met with National Grid engineers in recent months who assured them that even if the slope collapsed, power could be quickly rerouted, which would prevent an extended power outage, Potter said. A large utility pole carrying power lines is in the center of the parking lot.

Article continues below this ad

Television station WRGB-Channel 6 first reported on the developments on Sunday.

National Grid spokesperson Patrick Stella said Monday afternoon that the utility company had been monitoring the slope for the last year and had detected recent movement on the hill. The company has installed new gas pipelines deeper into the earth and is in the process of connecting the line to a gas regulator station on the western side of the Normans Kill.

Stella said that process will take several weeks, and that burying the lines deeper into the ground should protect the infrastructure should the slope give way.

Above-ground utility lines on a pole in the center of the Hoffman parking lot will also be moved in the coming months, Stella said.

Article continues below this ad

The town’s statement also said the state Department of Transportation had determined Delaware Avenue itself was safe and did not need to be closed. 

Tom Hoffman Jr., the CEO of the car wash chain, said he met with the Bethlehem code enforcement officer Friday and was informed the town had decided to close the car wash and the garage before a nor’easter that was expected to move into the region Monday.

Hoffman said the town based its decision to close the businesses on several years’ worth of data it had reviewed from Hoffman’s engineering contractor, C.T. Male Associates. Hoffman said his engineers told him the document that town officials cited as proof of imminent potential danger did not rise to the level of a formal report.

“It’s not really a study or anything, but they did a quick look again,” Hoffman said.

Article continues below this ad

“C.T. Male has not felt that there’s been enough concern to tell us ‘Hey, we should close down or we should do anything,’” Hoffman said. “And, again, the engineering firm the town has used is only referencing our own data. So our engineering firm’s opinion is we were fine to be opening, and the town’s engineering firm feels we shouldn’t be.”

He said data compiled by C.T. Male showed there had been .7 inches of earth movement on the hillside over the last several years.

“It’s not a 23-foot-deep crack,” Hoffman said. “It’s movement at 23 feet.”

Despite the apparent friction between the two assessments, Hoffman said he was not frustrated with the town’s decision.

Article continues below this ad

“I actually completely understand why they’re taking this position,” Hoffman said. “You’re a town and you have health and safety and you have to listen to the experts you hire.”

The area along the Normans Kill has experienced landslides before.

PREVIOUSLY: 25 years ago, a landslide crippled Bethlehem

In May of 2000, 400 linear feet of earth, trees and shrubs detached from a rain-saturated hill behind a car wash in Bethlehem and fell to the ravine below.

Article continues below this ad

The slide destroyed Anthony Battaglia’s Delaware Avenue vegetable stand, the California Produce Marketplace. And the Albany Med office building at 99 Delaware Ave. lost half of its parking lot to the landslide.

The main route to Albany from Bethlehem was severed, and the 18,000 to 19,000 motorists who travel each day between Albany and Bethlehem on Delaware Avenue were forced to take alternate routes — more than doubling their commuting time in some cases.

Tons of dirt and vegetation fell on the Normans Kill Creek, damming a 90-foot-wide and 200-to-300-foot-long section of its waters.

Article continues below this ad

The six-month repair and cleanup cost more than $25 million. And part of the Normans Kill was rerouted.

In 2012, more erosion was noted at the location, and a geologist at the time told the Times Union: “Given the track record that about every 10, 11 years there is a landslide in that area, a significant landslide could take place.”

In 2015, another massive slide brought down a section of slope near the Normanside Country Club in Bethlehem. It blocked a length of the Normans Kill, more than two football fields long.

Article continues below this ad