What's your theory (odd surveyor activity)

[MillauFr]

We have an answer! Those who thought utilities were correct. As I was leaving today, I noticed that writing had been added to the side of the stakes "forced main." After a bit of back and forth with a couple of neighbors, one received a call back from the county. Apparently the original plan for the sewer for the new development requires a lift station (which we knew about) but the original design for placement of the lift station and outflow won't work, so the water & sewer department is looking at moving the lift station to a different location, then obtaining easements on two properties on my road (one from the lift station, and one uphill back onto the development where the sewer line exits the property) and will install the forced sewer main along the rite of way on my road. I wish we could have negotiated something as our road is all on septic, with many homes still on wells. It would have been wonderful to get an upgraded water line that supports fire hydrants (currently not available on my road) and potentially sewer for homes that might want to connect.

If you haven't signed any easements you probably can negotiate. Although the City isn't going to pay much of the cost for you to connect to their utilities. You are looking at $50k to $100k worth of work to get hooked up to the new sewer lines.

 

[OneOftheB's]

If you haven't signed any easements you probably can negotiate. Although the City isn't going to pay much of the cost for you to connect to their utilities. You are looking at $50k to $100k worth of work to get hooked up to the new sewer lines.

Fortunately, my property is not directly affected but several close friends and elderly neighbors will be directly affected. I'm not certain what the actual pricing would be in my area, but I know it would not be a cheap option.

 

[barkley]

We have an answer! Those who thought utilities were correct. As I was leaving today, I noticed that writing had been added to the side of the stakes "forced main." After a bit of back and forth with a couple of neighbors, one received a call back from the county. Apparently the original plan for the sewer for the new development requires a lift station (which we knew about) but the original design for placement of the lift station and outflow won't work, so the water & sewer department is looking at moving the lift station to a different location, then obtaining easements on two properties on my road (one from the lift station, and one uphill back onto the development where the sewer line exits the property) and will install the forced sewer main along the rite of way on my road. I wish we could have negotiated something as our road is all on septic, with many homes still on wells. It would have been wonderful to get an upgraded water line that supports fire hydrants (currently not available on my road) and potentially sewer for homes that might want to connect.

if i were one of the impacted property owners i would want a land attorney to look over any potential easement of this nature with a fine tooth comb. the restrictions on land usage surrounding a utility easement can be VERY impactful and limit improvements and repairs a property owner can make. i'm on septic and well also and the laws and regulations we would have to follow if we had to make major repairs or do any kind of relocation would not lead me to wanting to allow any individual let alone a public utility to impact my land usage.

you mentioned in your earlier post that there's a creek along the property lines of some of these existing homes as well-that comes with it's own bag of land use restrictions (including federal depending on the designation of the creek), having that restriction on one side of a property and then adding more via a utility easement on the other could devastate the value of someone's home.

 

[OneOftheB's]

if i were one of the impacted property owners i would want a land attorney to look over any potential easement of this nature with a fine tooth comb. the restrictions on land usage surrounding a utility easement can be VERY impactful and limit improvements and repairs a property owner can make. i'm on septic and well also and the laws and regulations we would have to follow if we had to make major repairs or do any kind of relocation would not lead me to wanting to allow any individual let alone a public utility to impact my land usage.

you mentioned in your earlier post that there's a creek along the property lines of some of these existing homes as well-that comes with it's own bag of land use restrictions (including federal depending on the designation of the creek), having that restriction on one side of a property and then adding more via a utility easement on the other could devastate the value of someone's home.

I agree with your thoughts. One of our dear friends owns one of the properties with the creek along his rear property line and will have the forced main along his front. He is a retiree who worked in computer programming so this is out of his normal area of knowledge. Unfortunately his immediate neighbors are also retirees with health issues so I’m not certain how much involvement they will have if there is any negotiating. The rite of way on our road is very small when compared to newer developments (5 feet from the edge of the asphalt, most neighborhoods around me are 13 ft). There are a couple of properties have stakes that indicate the easement will transverse a long section well into the property, not just along the road. I hope those owners are aware of potential issues the easement can cause

 

[barkley]

I agree with your thoughts. One of our dear friends owns one of the properties with the creek along his rear property line and will have the forced main along his front. He is a retiree who worked in computer programming so this is out of his normal area of knowledge. Unfortunately his immediate neighbors are also retirees with health issues so I’m not certain how much involvement they will have if there is any negotiating. The rite of way on our road is very small when compared to newer developments (5 feet from the edge of the asphalt, most neighborhoods around me are 13 ft). There are a couple of properties have stakes that indicate the easement will transverse a long section well into the property, not just along the road. I hope those owners are aware of potential issues the easement can cause

it would be worth it for the impacted neighbors to band together and share in the cost of a consultation appointment with an attorney. these things are so freaking complicated. i live in the land of easements though my property has far fewer than some of my neighbors. we've had new neighbors who didn't fully read all the disclosure documents when buying their homes and have been devastated to learn how little say they have on large swaths of it and they get pretty ticked when they want to do an improvement or repair that they see the other neighbors routinely doing-only to find out that they are legally prohibited from doing so (and if they proceed and it's a utility holding the easement many are written up such that the utility can revert it back to it's original state and the cost falls on the property owner). uuuuugh-no fun.

 

[Mary Pops In]

I live in on an established road. The entire road are properties of 2 acres or larger, with the earliest homes built in the 1950's and the last lot under construction now. Our little road is an oddity, we are nearly surrounded by land that has been annexed by the local city over the years and new developments built that are all on smaller lots or built as commercial property. The final piece of land that can be annexed has been annexed and a cluster home community is currently under construction (approximately 74 homes on 27 acres, with about 6 acres of that total being unbuildable due to a lake and creek). The first two homes on my road were annexed by the city to give access to the new parcels for annexation- the city isn't allowed to annex properties that do not touch the city limits.

The development has been clearing, moving dirt, blasting rock etc for about a year and they are now installing the utilities and are pouring curbs. About 2 months ago, a survey crew drove down our road and spray painted arrows on the road in a seemingly random pattern; they did not in any way match the property lines for the existing properties, but the spray painting was only done in front of homes that share a property line with the new development. The following week, a survey crew was back on our street and marked property lines for 6 homes on my road, again all on properties that were adjacent to the new development, except for one, which was across the street from the adjoining properties. The survey crew has been on the street, surveying but not marking anything new, nearly every week since. I finally had the chance to speak to one of the crew members and he had no idea why they were there, he was just following orders (which may or may not be the case and he was just told not to say anything).

Today, a survey crew was back out. This time they placed stakes with flags along the front property lines for 6 of the 8 properties that share a property line with the new development. The stakes vary from 5 ft to 30 ft apart, but I don't see a pattern as to why the distances vary. The properties along that section of the road are wider than they are deep (average of 450 ft wide) so each property has multiple stakes across the front property (closest to the road, this is the property line that would be the only line that doesn't touch the new development)

So, if you made it through all of that, congratulations! And if you did, does anyone know why a developer would go to this extreme, on multiple properties he does not own? He/they have not contacted any of the property owners on my road, and the city has no idea of any issues with the development and property lines of adjacent parcels.

Survey regulations vary by state, so there are a variety of reasons. The most important reason is to ensure the new lots are correctly located. Tying into previously identified property corners is the best way to do so. Surveying is based on exact locations on the ground. You wouldn't want to find out this work wasn't done and the new lots are encroaching on your land. Be thankful the developers are being diligent and paying for this service.

 

[scrapquitler]

I live in on an established road. The entire road are properties of 2 acres or larger, with the earliest homes built in the 1950's and the last lot under construction now. Our little road is an oddity, we are nearly surrounded by land that has been annexed by the local city over the years and new developments built that are all on smaller lots or built as commercial property. The final piece of land that can be annexed has been annexed and a cluster home community is currently under construction (approximately 74 homes on 27 acres, with about 6 acres of that total being unbuildable due to a lake and creek). The first two homes on my road were annexed by the city to give access to the new parcels for annexation- the city isn't allowed to annex properties that do not touch the city limits.

The development has been clearing, moving dirt, blasting rock etc for about a year and they are now installing the utilities and are pouring curbs. About 2 months ago, a survey crew drove down our road and spray painted arrows on the road in a seemingly random pattern; they did not in any way match the property lines for the existing properties, but the spray painting was only done in front of homes that share a property line with the new development. The following week, a survey crew was back on our street and marked property lines for 6 homes on my road, again all on properties that were adjacent to the new development, except for one, which was across the street from the adjoining properties. The survey crew has been on the street, surveying but not marking anything new, nearly every week since. I finally had the chance to speak to one of the crew members and he had no idea why they were there, he was just following orders (which may or may not be the case and he was just told not to say anything).

Today, a survey crew was back out. This time they placed stakes with flags along the front property lines for 6 of the 8 properties that share a property line with the new development. The stakes vary from 5 ft to 30 ft apart, but I don't see a pattern as to why the distances vary. The properties along that section of the road are wider than they are deep (average of 450 ft wide) so each property has multiple stakes across the front property (closest to the road, this is the property line that would be the only line that doesn't touch the new development)

So, if you made it through all of that, congratulations! And if you did, does anyone know why a developer would go to this extreme, on multiple properties he does not own? He/they have not contacted any of the property owners on my road, and the city has no idea of any issues with the development and property lines of adjacent parcels.

its possible that the lines and flags are simply marking the locations of existing utilities. All existing utilities need to be identifited before work can begin for safety reasons, but they may also need to mark them for planning and design purposes.
If you are interested in finding out what is going on, check with your local zoning and building deparments, no work will happen without them knowing what it is.