utility marking in backyard????

Deank wrote:

sputnik wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:Someone marks my backyard and I even suspect they might be digging I get concerned. Unless of course I KNOW for a fact that that would not happen.

A one minute conversation with your neighbour would probably be all that is necessary to clear up any fears you may have about the spray paint markings on your lawn.

yup.. a one minute talk FROM my neighbour would have done that. or even a note in my mailbox if I was not home.

Hey budy.. we are doing XXXX the utility company might need to come in your yard.. you okay with that?

Chances are your neighbour had no idea that Hydro would have to put markings on your lawn.

So there is some statute or by-law that allows unfettered access to utilities just because? Has some court granted utilities access?

How is it they are allowed access to my property?

sputnik wrote:

Deank wrote:anyway.. the markings are being removed tonight so it matters very little.

So what was the reason for the markings?

who cares. I am fixing my lawn in that area so too bad for them.

sputnik wrote:

Deank wrote:

sputnik wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:Someone marks my backyard and I even suspect they might be digging I get concerned. Unless of course I KNOW for a fact that that would not happen.

A one minute conversation with your neighbour would probably be all that is necessary to clear up any fears you may have about the spray paint markings on your lawn.

yup.. a one minute talk FROM my neighbour would have done that. or even a note in my mailbox if I was not home.

Hey budy.. we are doing XXXX the utility company might need to come in your yard.. you okay with that?

Chances are your neighbour had no idea that Hydro would have to put markings on your lawn.

chances are he was also not up at 6AM when I discovered them in my backyard this morning.

grumpy old man wrote:So there is some statute or by-law that allows unfettered access to utilities just because? Has some court granted utilities access?

How is it they are allowed access to my property?

Its a right of access document attached to your home title.

Still dont give them the right to just walk in my yard for anything other then maintenance or meter reading.

Did you find out who / what it was all about?

I think you'd be more up in arms if they didn't mark it correctly and your power/gas was cut off or worse by your neighbours contractor when they are doing whatever work they are doing. To accurately mark an underground utility you need at least 2 lines, in this case it appears one on either side of the garage. Just happens that in this case the 2nd line is on your side of the property line. Really, what's the issue here? That they sprayed a red line on your property that will grow out with the grass, or that your neighbour didn't inform you? Chances are he had no way of knowing that hydro would end up on your property as well. IMHO, your making a mountain out of a molehill as they regularly visit your property anyways for meter readings. In this case they're doing you a favour by ensuring your neighbour's contractor doesn't end up blowing up both your houses.

If it was just a painted line, and people KNEW it was just a painted line, then maybe it's no big deal.

The key here is just that: if people KNEW it was just a painted line. The flip side of the coin has someone driving a back-hoe into my back yard and have it dig it up before I was informed.

And as long as it is not an emergency, where is the harm in the home-owner getting a letter or phone call a few days in advance?

What would be the purpose of marking your backyard if work was not to be carried out there? Just practicing?

Again, the only way to accurately mark the direction and length of underground line is to mark an extra 3M on either side of the ROW as was mentioned earlier. I've had a fair bit of experience with underground line locates in the past, and they require a certain amount of markings to ensure accuracy. You can't have an accurate locate done with only 2-3 feet of lines. It just so happens that in this case some of the lines extended on either side of the property lines. It has been my experience that utilities and in fact most contractors are very good at giving a minimum of 24 hours notice if they require access to your property for actual work. Given that there was no notice, I would assume the painted line was just that, a painted line.

No utility is going to get into the habit of giving owners notice just for a line locate. The extra time involved would just slow the process down even more. For instance, typically a line locate request by hydro in the summer is usually a 2-4 week wait. You start making it a requirement to notify all potentialy affected homeowners and you'll need to start booking your locates in the spring if you want to do any work in the summer.

While there's no harm in giving notice, there's also no harm done by giving an accurate locate that may involve painting a line on adjacent properties.

The real harm is when idiots start digging without obtaining their locates first, or start digging after the locates have expired and are no longer visible.

Actually the invasion of privacy is a HUGE Real harm. What if I or my wife were sunbathing naked? What if I had money laying around?



Maybe we should just open up our telephone and Internet conversations for college access too?

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. IMHO in this case the potential for real life threating damage is far greater than the potential invasion of privacy. Also, as you yourself mentioned they already routinely access your property for meter readings without giving notice. Doing an accurate line locate is a lot more important than a monthly meter reading and your not up in arms about that. Why is this different?

It's a lot more important to Canada safety that the government access your Internet and telephone communications without a warrant .....
Who cares about your privacy

Lol....similar but different from my point of view but very well played sir. Hydro already regularly visits your property with no notice, the government is not currently warrantlessly tapping my communications (I hope lol). If they were already doing it and I had not complained up till now, then it wouldn't make much sense to start now would it? If you'd been complaining all along that hydro was reading your meter on your property without notice then your argument would make total sense.

Anyways, in the end you figured it out and your house is still in one piece.

My meter is in a completely different section of myyard an they very rarely actually read it.
I am okay with it because I want to have hydro and they need to read it occasin for me to have hydro. Them making my yard gives me zero benefit so thru can bloody well frick off

The line is now gone. Whatever it was needed for is too damn bad now.

No sure where the danger is. Presume this is just a run-of-the-mill marking so someone else can dig. Two options: 1) mark properly and dig away; b) don't mark and don't dig.

Okay, that's not practical. So. Company H needs to mark. What to do? What to do? We walk up to the door and we knock on it. Sir/Madame, we must mark your back yard so your neighbour/the city/we have to dig. Will this pose an inconvenience?

What, no one's home? Drop a letter in the mail box.

It really is that simple. And no one is placed in danger.

If they are not digging in your yard, or won't be, there is no reason to be marking your property.



Did you ever find out why they were there?

nope. Kept missing the neighbour to ask. BUT there is no work even being prepped in his yard so no idea.

DeanK- did you get my PM, sent 15 minutes ago?

yup.. and I replied

reply never made it past grumpy- Please try again

I have not been involved with this in any fashion. Check your sandbox PM inbox rosen.

yeah.. no worries.. rosie is just crazy

Goth_chic wrote:If they did manage to climb my gate then they would have to deal with my dog....she isn't too fond of strangers coming onto her property, so if they have no fear of big dogs then go for it!!! LMAO Oh and I do have Beware of Dog signs as well.

Wow...look at all I've missed .

Quick mention...Hydro won't come in my house to read the meters BECAUSE I have a dog. We've explained he's quite harmless if we tell to sit...but the Hydro guys still won't come in. We've even offered to put the dog out back while the Hydro guy reads the meter...so now we have to call in our readings each month.


Anyway...in this case guys...Sputnik is correct...

Property ownership includes clauses indicating "Right Of Way" which allows utility and city services to enter the property for purposes which may be deemed necessary.

This applies to sewer, water, gas, electric, emergency, trees and air traffic (yeah...had to look that one up).

If a sewer line breaks (for example), they can come out and dig as much of your yard as required to find the leaks and repair them.
In Manitoba though, they do not have to repair the ground break to "original condition"...so if you just had landscaping done...you may be SOOL.

It's also the reason if your neighbour gets new hydro, phone, or cable tv service...the linesman installing the wiring from the poles are allowed to cross your property in order to reach the home from the line. They have a policy that the line should take the most direct route WITHOUT going over a neighbouring property if possible...which means run down the strand and enter at a right angle from the line to the house...but it's not always possible to do so....and thus they can cut over another yard if required.

I would speculate that Hydro was called in to mark a line for some kind of either service or expansion for a neighbour...and either the neighbour found it too expensive to do the work, or a different access point was determined based on the markings provided...and that would be the reason they aren't needed.

The one comment about spraying patios though...it's unlikely they would ever do that, as a poured concrete patio, they could not get their scanners through (too much solid material and interference from rebar)...and a patio-stone patio they would have to replace if permanently damaged...as their is also a policy that says no PERSONAL property (ie. things that can be moved out of the way) may be damaged doing their work.

The utility companies don't have a right-of-way unless they have an agreement with the property owner.

JTF wrote:The utility companies don't have a right-of-way unless they have an agreement with the property owner.

oh...but they do.

might want to go read that contract signed when property was purchased.

anyone within the city limits of Winnipeg AUTOMATICALLY give ROW to utilities.