By Danny Jones, City of Rock Hill
Competition for adequate space between landscape architects and utility coordinators is no new topic. However, in many cases the conflicts can be mitigated to some degree of success. To a large extent, the amount of success depends upon the cooperation between the two or more practitioners as available space on many parcels is at a premium for owners and operators. Utility providers, whether they are water, sewer, electric, gas or fiber optic, all require enough space on real estate to not only install their respective lines but to service the lines as well. Utility easements are typically granted by landowners so the utility contractors can access the service corridors and repair or replace the lines if damage or failure occurs. The lines themselves and their associated easements vary greatly. For instance, a high-tension, electric transmission service may be mounted on towers perhaps 1,000 feet apart and the easement for such a line may require 150 feet each side of the center line of each tower for a 300-foot, fully cleared easement. Such lines can be seen on aerial photographs, from airplanes or mountain tops. Most easements are much smaller than 300 feet. The lines themselves are owned by the utility provider. The easements, however, are not. They are owned by the landlord and by granting the easement to the service provider, the landlord gives the provider more or less free range to enter the property as they deem necessary. Within the easement, the utility provider conducts service to maintain their lines in working order, both overhead and underground. That includes the access route, vehicular circulation, deliveries, storage and actual work zones to maneuver as necessary. Anymore, the provider assumes no responsibility to damage to private property within the easement.
Enter the trees conflict. As you know, trees GROW! They grow above ground and below. Over time, trees and tree roots may encroach into the easements and can become a nuisance to utility service efforts. “Line clearing” is the term frequently used to describe the removal of tree limbs from close proximity to power lines. It’s common to see limbs near such lines being severely pruned or removed from the trunks of large trees. Pruning and removal is the typical approach especially on older properties. There are other options that can be employed to reduce conflicts and damage to both utility lines and trees. If the utility providers can cooperate using a ‘shared easement’ that would reduce the amount of land that is claimed for each line, resulting in reduced width overall, thereby allowing more space for trees to grow. Or, prescribing smaller trees on the subject property adjacent to in-ground services or under overhead lines. There is some flexibility in how the easements are located relative to their lines as well. Most providers assume, or prefer, that the line is centered in the easement. As that is the usual case, easements don’t always have to be located that way. This may allow some vegetation to be located within the first few feet of the easement along the opposite edge. Another option may be to re-route the service line and shift the easement entirely.
There are three easements in question in this illustration. The STORM water easement, — STM underground, and the ELECTRIC easement – which is overhead, OHE, as shown. Combined, they total 50 feet in width. That’s 50 feet of valuable real estate. As the storm easement turns and goes under the road, the water main, WM, passes through. The water line easement and the overhead electric easement are shared. But because the stormwater and the electric overhead do not share their easement, property owners on building lots 107-110 are prohibited from using 20 feet of their own land due to the required buffer shown in gray. In this case, the buffer separates single-family homes from a state-owned, five-lane public road. And, just for your information, the proposed buffer plan itself was denied. It did not meet the density expectations for full visual separation from the road.
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