Anyone have any experience with Power company easements?

[Coyote Chris]

I got a letter that the power company is going to be putting another 230kv line through my property and to contact them. They are coming out in 2 weeks to stake out the possible sites of new towers. I emailed them and will call them tomorrow. This sucks. I have one 100 ft easement but no towers on MY property on the SW corner of my property. The letter says they will try and use the existing easements but may have to have more land. I asked them for a route map. Can they put a big girder tower in my back yard? My house value will drop like a rock.

 

[mikesim]

Since the utility is asking for an easement for public use, you can try to fight it but they have deeper pockets and more attornies than you do. Should they require additional property for the easement, you should be entitled to fair compensation. If you feel that your property values will suffer from the prospective easement, it might be wise to hire an appriaser that has experience dealing with that sort of thing to try and estimate the impact the easement would have on your property. You would also be wise to discuss this with your attorney.

Good luck!

Mike

 

[ARKNT]

Good luck with this. Maybe they will pay enough for the easement but I would not like a transmission tower very close. There is a subdivision near here with HV lines running through it and it is not what I want to see in the backyard while sipping coffee.
Of course their side of this is it needs to go somewhere. Lucky you.

Arknt

 

[Coyote Chris]

Since the utility is asking for an easement for public use, you can try to fight it but they have deeper pockets and more attornies than you do. Should they require additional property for the easement, you should be entitled to fair compensation. If you feel that your property values will suffer from the prospective easement, it might be wise to hire an appriaser that has experience dealing with that sort of thing to try and estimate the impact the easement would have on your property. You would also be wise to discuss this with your attorney.

Good luck!

Mike

I talked with the project engineer today. They are going to put in rust brown pole towers 30-50 ft taller than the lattice towers there now. About 60 ft to the north side of the existing towers. They need to make sure the wind cant bring the various power wires together. He said the way the easements work is that they are in general 75 ft north of the existing tower line and 25 ft south. The tower behind us is on our neighbors property 120 ft from our property line. The engineer said he MAY need another10- 20 ft of easement from us. I sent him back an email with the go ahead (he was in his car) to survey and mark tower sites. And he has agreed to provide a warning before the engineers and survey crews arrive. If they chose to put a tower on the west side of our 5 acre west lot, it would really kill its value. It may appraise at 50k but we have been offered 135k. The project is set to go in three years. They will have to do alot of logging on my southern neighbors property which now hides the existing power towers. And a bit on mine. This will really change the southern landscape for us. Have to find out if we accept the settlement is it is taxable.? If it is, I will suggest they pay 25 percent more and hold out for as long as I can. What they do is access the property and make an offer on the easement. With 14 miles of property owners. Mike is right. In the end, they win. How much grief do I need at 78 years old? I will email him and ask about if the tower on the west neighbor's property near the road will get a new tower next to it or on my property. That would really suck. These things are huge. The existing tower line. Looking SW. New tower line would go to the north. All those trees you see on the left would have to come out. They are on my neighbor's property. My property is to the left off screen.

 

[Yoda]

Your property has an existing utility easement that they should be required to utilize.

BUT, If they can’t use it, for whatever reason, you don’t have to give them any more without negotiated compensation. Let them buy your ENTIRE PROPERTY for a big price and you can move on to someplace else.

Make them pay moving expenses, legal fees, realtor commissions, etc. If they really want your property, YOU deserve to end up better than you started.

 

[Yoda]

At the very least, before agreeing to anything, I would spend a couple of hundred bucks on a knowledgeable attorney’s opinion.

We had looked at real estate values in Spearfish a few years ago. More expensive than our area, but might be similar to Spokane? Could be a nice place to live. Turn lemons into lemonade!

Good luck, Chris.

 

[mikesim]

Good luck!! As far as taxes on the sale, I think you would be liable for the capital gain on the property sold. In other words the difference in value from the original purchase price vs the price the easement sold for would be treated as a capital gain, thus taxable. Again, this is my opinion/understanding and I may be dead wrong so get an attorney's/accountants opinion to be sure.

Mike

 

[RedLdr1]

Since you already have an easement the power company can do what ever they deem necessary on the existing easement. If they need more land they'll likely use eminent domain to steal, I mean legally acquire, your property. I have a storm water / sewer easement on my property line and the county has screwed up my property while accessing it. It took a call from my attorney to get our property restored to the condition it was in prior to the work. Take a lot of pictures before they start and while they are working!

The county here used eminent domain to straighten a road and took a nice chunk out of my property. I did hold out for their fourth offer, which was almost triple their first offer, before agreeing not to go to court. As far as taxes the county reassessed my property at a lower value, due to the reduced acreage, and I did not incur any tax liability for capital gains.

 

[Coyote Chris]

the tower placements as of now.
View attachment 21440

Since you already have an easement the power company can do what ever they deem necessary on the existing easement. If they need more land they'll likely use eminent domain to steal, I mean legally acquire, your property. I have a storm water / sewer easement on my property line and the county has screwed up my property while accessing it. It took a call from my attorney to get our property restored to the condition it was in prior to the work. Take a lot of pictures before they start and while they are working!

The county here used eminent domain to straighten a road and took a nice chunk out of my property. I did hold out for their fourth offer, which was almost triple their first offer, before agreeing not to go to court. As far as taxes the county reassessed my property at a lower value, due to the reduced acreage, and I did not incur any tax liability for capital gains.

Interesting story. Yes, hopefully the surveyers will come out when I am here. I will look at their offer and decide if we stall....they have 14 miles of home owners to deal with...I think they will give more if I push....I am getting conflicting messages from legal sites (depending on state) even as far as FEDERAL taxes go. Luckily, the property is in my trust so my trust attorney will know.

Good luck!! As far as taxes on the sale, I think you would be liable for the capital gain on the property sold. In other words the difference in value from the original purchase price vs the price the easement sold for would be treated as a capital gain, thus taxable. Again, this is my opinion/understanding and I may be dead wrong so get an attorney's/accountants opinion to be sure.

Mike

That is what the web says also.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Thought I posted this pic. Maybe not. This is the exact locations of the three towers near me. I have asked the engineer via email to make sure the NW tower isnt placed on my western 5 acres.
If you look carefully, you can actually see the lattice towers. If the new one to my south does go in 60 ft from the old tower, it will be half way to my property line. Note neightbor is gonna loose alot of trees....and I will loose some. At least the fire danger will go down. My neighbors dont keep up their land. My three lots are roughly 630 ft north to south, 335 ft east/west.
A new easement would certainly clip the west five acres, and may just touch the center 5.

 

[mikesim]

Your pic doesn't depict the cardinal points of the compass so it's hard to envision the routing. I would presume from a simplicity point of view that they would attempt to just add on the existing easement taking as little of the property as possible to keep the acquistion cost as low as possible as well as future maintenance costs. They will likely base their offer on the acreage needed and comparable costs based on prior acquisitions of similar property. They may sweeten their offer a time or two but at some point in time they will use eminent domain and condemn the needed land.
Mike

 

[Coyote Chris]

Your pic doesn't depict the cardinal points of the compass so it's hard to envision the routing. I would presume from a simplicity point of view that they would attempt to just add on the existing easement taking as little of the property as possible to keep the acquistion cost as low as possible as well as future maintenance costs. They will likely base their offer on the acreage needed and comparable costs based on prior acquisitions of similar property. They may sweeten their offer a time or two but at some point in time they will use eminent domain and condemn the needed land.
Mike

Up is north on google satalite view. The engineer hasnt gotten back to me yet but he thinks from the centerline of the towers the easement is something like 78 north(east) and 22 south (west). That left room for a second set of lattice towers. But the new towers are 30-50 ft taller so that 78 ft may not be enough since the new tower is 60 ft centerline to center line to the old one. If they appraise the land (the county appraiser tried to screw us once on a parcel we bought and we contested and showed then real world sale prices vs what HE said our property was worth) and we won.) and then say the land , 5 acres, is worth say $40,000 but we are only taking a ten foot strip of it out of 600 ft to add to the 100 ft strip and we arent buying the land, we are buying an easement they will offer us 666 bucks minus the easement factor. Chump change. Not worth getting a lawyer over unless they work on contingency...but worth being a pita for. The Real worry is if the NW tower is gonna be moved east of the road. Who wants that in their back yard? It would cut the property value in half, if you ask me.

 

[Frosty]

More power distribution required for the state electric vehicle charging stations funded by the $.70 per gal phantom fuel tax?
I would hold out for a free tower leg mounted charging station for your Osh Kosh electric scooter.

 

[Coyote Chris]

More power distribution required for the state electric vehicle charging stations funded by the $.70 per gal phantom fuel tax?
I would hold out for a free tower leg mounted charging station for your Osh Kosh electric scooter.

Here is a map from the engineer. Looks like the new easement will just miss my middle five acres. It can be seen as faint grey lines. Still no word on new tower location other than probably 60 ft to the NE of lattice towers.. Note that Rambo road was moved 15 years ago to the west (left) a bit (10-15 ft) and made a paved road. The while line is probably the old gravel Rambo Rd. The red writing is mine.