An Easement Question

[CurlyDave]

We are building a home on 40 acres.

There is a Public Utility easement which crosses about 60' of a neighbor's property, and right now the electric and phone lines end at his property, right at the beginning of this easement.

I have talked to the power company and they would like to run the power (and phone) up this easement to my property. The neighbor is aware of the easement and agrees it is valid.

The wires are going to be installed by plowing them under the surface with a D-7, which I have to pay for.

The easement goes right up the middle of the neighbor's gravel driveway. So far, so good and since the driveway isn't paved it is easily repaired.

Without even asking about the legalities, I am going to repair the driveway to its pre-plow condition, just because I think it is the right thing to do.

The real issue is that the neighbor has built a shop on the opposite side of the driveway from his house, and we are both convinced that the plow is going to cut the electric wire to his shop. He has no idea where the wire is, and claims he doesn't know how deep it is, although I bet it is not up to spec (or down to spec, as the case may be).

What is my responsibility with respect to repair/replacement of this wire?

I suspect he feels I should replace it solely at my cost. I am not convinced that I have any responsibility for the wire, since he knew about the easement when he built the shop and ran the wire where exercising the easement would destroy the wire.

I am willing to share the cost of dealing with the wire in some way, just to keep good relations, but I think he should put in something also, since the cost would not be there if he had respected the easement.

For instance, I could trench for a new wire before we run the plow through, which and then he could pay for the new wire & its attachment, or something similar.

There are no offers on the table yet, but I would like to get some ideas on what is reasonable before I open my mouth & make a mistake.

Trying to walk softly as I learn country ettiquette...

 

[EddieWalker]

Before they trench in the wire with the dozer, I'd find out where your neighbors wire is. Locate it at the exact spot they will cross it and dig it up. Find out what you're dealing with and plan accordingly.

It will be ALLOT easier and cheaper to address it before it's destroyed!!!!!!!!

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[CurlyDave]

Locate it at the exact spot they will cross it and dig it up.

Eddie:

Help me out a little here. How does that lower the cost? Suppose I dig a trench parallel to the existing wire, somehow managing to not break it. There isn't any slack in it and I still have to cross it with a D-7. The plow is on a ripper which lays the wire 3' under the surface.

How do I do this without breaking the wire? I can't lift it up and then put it back in the ground--not enough slack. My wire is on a large reel & has to go under the existing wire. I can't cut it & splice the new one without putting a vault in the middle of the driveway.

The total length of the neighbor's burried wire is about 100-150'. I don't know how much a new one costs, but how much is finding & saving the old one going to cost?

Possibly the best solution is to find his at the edge of his driveway and offer to split a vault and new wire to his shop, maybe 40'. This gets his power back in his shop & I am only out half of the box & the wire.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

If you can find where the current line is then talk to the power company as they deal with this all the time. It might be as simple as having to dig the trench out thru that area and pull the wire above the current wire in an open trench, then unhook from the plow and thread it under the other wire and hook back up to the plow and continue. The power company should have some idea how to handle it though.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The first thing to do is to locate the neighbor's line. It might be deep enough and not be a problem after all.

This is a common problem. Sometimes plowing in a line will involve multiple crossings of water mains, gas lines, telco stuff, etc.

The utilities are located by excavation. If they are more shallow than the power requirement then the power cable is laid out and pulled underneath the utilities. Then it is plowed into place.

This happens all the time. The contractors doing the work won't even blink over what's keeping you up nights.

Another thing to consider is the neighbor's power line might be in conduit. It could be removed from the conduit, the conduit cut for the plow, and then repaired. Then the service re-pulled and all is good with the world.

But like Eddie said, locate and excavate the service first. Otherwise you're dancing with questions that might not even apply to your situation.

Besides that you're dealing with professionals. Let them do their job. That's what you're paying them for.

 

[magrred]

"I suspect he feels I should replace it solely at my cost. I am not convinced that I have any responsibility for the wire, since he knew about the easement when he built the shop and ran the wire where exercising the easement would destroy the wire."

One point in this discussion that I don't think you are fully considering is that the property is OWNED by your neighbor and you and the utility companies only have an easement or legal permission to go across it (or underground in this instance). IMHO you should be responsible for any and all damage and repairs that you create on his property in using the easement. Insuring that the property owner does not suffer any cost for you using the easement is a small price to pay for relations in years to come.

Magrred

 

[scott_vt]

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Another thing to consider is the neighbor's power line might be in conduit. It could be removed from the conduit, the conduit cut for the plow, and then repaired. Then the service re-pulled and all is good with the world. )</font>

I think you hit the nail on the head there Harv, worst case senario would be to remove the wires and have to splice the conduit!

scotty

 

[EddieWalker]

Dave,

You got some good replies already, but here are a few more thoughts.

When that dozer hits the line, it will pull it out from both directions. The damage will be massive. No real good way to repair it unless its a clean break, but even then, wire will stretch, the connections could be destroyed or the wire can become thinner in the bends. It's all bad to let the trencher destroy the wire in the ground!!!!!

Dig it up and find out how deep it is. You might get lucky and be able to lay the new line acrosst the old one. It's real easy for them to raise the depth of the trench when crossing another line.

If it's too shallow, they might have a good solution. Like mentiond already, they deal with these problems all the time. But they have to know what they are dealing with first.

I also agree that you are solely responsible for all expenses and damages that occur on your neighors land. Labor too. It's his place and he has a right to do what he wants on it. If you're taking advantage of an easement, that just means you have permission to cross his land, but not to destroy his property in the process.

When I replaced a water line along an easement, I did 100 percent of the work, returned the propety to it's previous condition and even replaced an old corner post with brand new. The owner of the land never got involved, nor would I want him to. It wasn't his project and he was allowing me to work on his land without me having to force the issue.

Good luck and be thankful that your neighbor is being so nice about the entire process. Allot of the time it's not that way and in one case, I know a guy who spent $50,000 in legal fees to get his water line ten feet across a property that he had an easement for and paid part of the instalation of the water line with the intent of accessing it at a later date.

Eddie

 

[Mrwurm]

I agree with Eddie. The wire is not likely to break in a nice clean manner. My neighbor cut three strands of direct-bury 00 cable with his backhoe. Two stands broke pretty clean, the other strand pulled up about six feet of slack (stretch) on each side of the trench.

 

[midlf]

Easiest solution IMO. Locate and dig to the shop cable exposing it. Cut it clean, run the cable plow past it. Re splice the shop cable with a splice kit.

I can virtually guarantee you the shop cable will be shallower than the utility cable and unlikely it is in conduit.