KretZ
Silver Member
Got a question. Recently had a company put a pipeline through our undeveloped land. The land is almost entirely forest, so this required the cutting of a large amount of trees. We have a pretty large pile of logs out there, right off of the pipeline easement.
Before winter set in, while we were home on leave (in Ohio where our property is), I rented a machine, sorted through the pile and got about 12 nice big logs set aside and tarped with the intention of having them milled into boards. Got a gentleman with a mobile sawmill rig on a trailer who will come out and do the work for me. So now I am planning a quick trip home to try and get these boards milled and stacked in our garage to dry. The location of the logs is a slight problem, I could get a dozer and drag the logs a thousand feet through the forest over to our road, which I am prepared to do if need be. But I realized it would be a lot easier if I could bring the mill to the logs via my neighbors land. I say my neighbor, even though he doesn稚 live on his land, he lives somewhere else. There is nothing on his land but a dirt road. I am guessing he probably would not care (I know I wouldn't) but I didn't want to assume. I thought about calling him up, but we have never formally met, and I didn't want to call him and put him on the spot, so I sent him a letter in the mail. This way I could introduce myself, and ask his permission to cross over his land to get to mine. Here is the letter I sent:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. XXXXXX,
My name is Luke XXXXX, and my wife XXXX and I are your neighbors to the north. I apologize this letter introducing ourselves is a little late. I am active duty military, currently stationed at Malmstrom AFB in Montana. My wife's parents are XXXX and XXXX XXXXX, who also live on a neighboring parcel. I am originally from XXXXXX, WV. We have two boys, XXXX and XXXX, ages 3 and 3 months. We purchased our parcel of land from my wife's parents soon after we were married in 2010. At the time I was stationed at McGuire AFB in New Jersey, and it was a fairly painless drive across the PA turnpike to come over on a long weekend. Our initial plans were to gradually clear a site on which to eventually build our home. But as luck would have it, not long after we had the land, I was notified I had orders to Germany for four years. So our plans were put on hold while we were overseas. We are now back in the States, but still very far from home. I have been on active duty for seventeen years, and in three years' time, I plan to retire from the military, and to move our family back home to Ohio. Once we are back, we hope to begin to build our home in earnest.
My purpose in writing to you today, along with introducing ourselves, is to respectfully ask your permission. As you know, the recently installed pipeline required the cutting of a lot of trees. You may have seen the enormous pile stacked right off the easement on our land. While most of these trees are of a size that makes them good for not much else than firewood, while we were home late last summer I sorted through the pile and got about a dozen nice sized logs separated and tarped, for the purpose of having them milled into boards. Obviously not enough to build a house with, but we felt it would be special to have some wood harvested from the land, used in the finishing of our house one day (trim, window sills, etc.). My plan is to fly home sometime in late March or early April and coordinate with a gentleman who has a trailer mounted saw mill rig to do the cutting for me. What I would ask of you, is permission to cross your land with a pickup that pulls the saw mill trailer on one occasion only (see attached diagram). I am confident the work could be completed in a single day, two days at the most. The entire process of milling the boards would take place on my land, no scrap or trimmings would be left on your land. I only ask permission to cross your land with the necessary equipment. This would be vastly helpful as it would take a large amount of effort and resources to drag a dozen logs a thousand feet through the forest to the other side of our land where the road is. If for any reason you do not feel comfortable with this, I understand and will harbor no hard feelings.
Once again I apologize this introduction is so late, I had meant to send out a note before now. We look forward to one day being good neighbors, and if there is ever anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Respectfully,
Luke XXXXX
XXXX XXXXX St.
XXXXXX, MT XXXXX
XXXXXX@gmail.com
555 555 5555
Getting to my question, as you can see I, I gave him all my contact info. It has been about a month and I have not heard from him. I am trying to get my trip planned to go home and take care of this stuff, and I need to know if he is or is not cool with me crossing his land. So I can make plans to borrow the necessary equipment to drag the logs through the woods to a place the guy with the saw mill can get to. At this point, would I be out of line to call him up to see if he actually got my letter or not? I have heard of other neighbors having problems with this guy, and it's something I would like to avoid, so I don't want to push his buttons. But at the same time, I feel as though my letter was respectful, and I am not asking much, just permission to drive on his dirt road once. Am I wrong in expecting some kind of response?
Before winter set in, while we were home on leave (in Ohio where our property is), I rented a machine, sorted through the pile and got about 12 nice big logs set aside and tarped with the intention of having them milled into boards. Got a gentleman with a mobile sawmill rig on a trailer who will come out and do the work for me. So now I am planning a quick trip home to try and get these boards milled and stacked in our garage to dry. The location of the logs is a slight problem, I could get a dozer and drag the logs a thousand feet through the forest over to our road, which I am prepared to do if need be. But I realized it would be a lot easier if I could bring the mill to the logs via my neighbors land. I say my neighbor, even though he doesn稚 live on his land, he lives somewhere else. There is nothing on his land but a dirt road. I am guessing he probably would not care (I know I wouldn't) but I didn't want to assume. I thought about calling him up, but we have never formally met, and I didn't want to call him and put him on the spot, so I sent him a letter in the mail. This way I could introduce myself, and ask his permission to cross over his land to get to mine. Here is the letter I sent:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. XXXXXX,
My name is Luke XXXXX, and my wife XXXX and I are your neighbors to the north. I apologize this letter introducing ourselves is a little late. I am active duty military, currently stationed at Malmstrom AFB in Montana. My wife's parents are XXXX and XXXX XXXXX, who also live on a neighboring parcel. I am originally from XXXXXX, WV. We have two boys, XXXX and XXXX, ages 3 and 3 months. We purchased our parcel of land from my wife's parents soon after we were married in 2010. At the time I was stationed at McGuire AFB in New Jersey, and it was a fairly painless drive across the PA turnpike to come over on a long weekend. Our initial plans were to gradually clear a site on which to eventually build our home. But as luck would have it, not long after we had the land, I was notified I had orders to Germany for four years. So our plans were put on hold while we were overseas. We are now back in the States, but still very far from home. I have been on active duty for seventeen years, and in three years' time, I plan to retire from the military, and to move our family back home to Ohio. Once we are back, we hope to begin to build our home in earnest.
My purpose in writing to you today, along with introducing ourselves, is to respectfully ask your permission. As you know, the recently installed pipeline required the cutting of a lot of trees. You may have seen the enormous pile stacked right off the easement on our land. While most of these trees are of a size that makes them good for not much else than firewood, while we were home late last summer I sorted through the pile and got about a dozen nice sized logs separated and tarped, for the purpose of having them milled into boards. Obviously not enough to build a house with, but we felt it would be special to have some wood harvested from the land, used in the finishing of our house one day (trim, window sills, etc.). My plan is to fly home sometime in late March or early April and coordinate with a gentleman who has a trailer mounted saw mill rig to do the cutting for me. What I would ask of you, is permission to cross your land with a pickup that pulls the saw mill trailer on one occasion only (see attached diagram). I am confident the work could be completed in a single day, two days at the most. The entire process of milling the boards would take place on my land, no scrap or trimmings would be left on your land. I only ask permission to cross your land with the necessary equipment. This would be vastly helpful as it would take a large amount of effort and resources to drag a dozen logs a thousand feet through the forest to the other side of our land where the road is. If for any reason you do not feel comfortable with this, I understand and will harbor no hard feelings.
Once again I apologize this introduction is so late, I had meant to send out a note before now. We look forward to one day being good neighbors, and if there is ever anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Respectfully,
Luke XXXXX
XXXX XXXXX St.
XXXXXX, MT XXXXX
XXXXXX@gmail.com
555 555 5555
Getting to my question, as you can see I, I gave him all my contact info. It has been about a month and I have not heard from him. I am trying to get my trip planned to go home and take care of this stuff, and I need to know if he is or is not cool with me crossing his land. So I can make plans to borrow the necessary equipment to drag the logs through the woods to a place the guy with the saw mill can get to. At this point, would I be out of line to call him up to see if he actually got my letter or not? I have heard of other neighbors having problems with this guy, and it's something I would like to avoid, so I don't want to push his buttons. But at the same time, I feel as though my letter was respectful, and I am not asking much, just permission to drive on his dirt road once. Am I wrong in expecting some kind of response?
