I was awakened Monday morning by a momentary power glitch that coincidentally occurred (according to utility engineer Tommy Van Winkle, who I talked to much later, it was merely coincidental) when Ronnie was digging out the trench for slab beam. This particular digging was no where near the utility and telecom markings that were made after I called 811 in mid May. The digging (as well as the entire set of foundation forms) was 5 or more feet from the marked lines in the easement, and 2 or more feet from the marked service lines running to my house (which are NOT in any easement).
Well I didn't know it was coincidental, so I quickly got worried. I took the plat drawing off the refrigerator (where I have kept my copy for several years) and took a very close look for the umpteenth time. It is very hard to read because of small print in my computer generated copy. I then realized I had made a very big mistake. Last month, I had told Ronnie to make the slab start at 11 feet from the back, leaving 1 foot additional clearance from what I believed to be a 10 foot easement. But taking a fresh look at the very hard to read fine print on the plat, I now saw that the easement was 12 feet. So the slab under construction was encroaching the easement by 1 foot.
I went to talk to Ronnie who did not want to change the slab at all, he was firmly opposed to it, having invested a lot of time and materials into the current location (though no rebar or concrete had been placed yet, only base material, forms, compacting, and trench digging). He said to moving the slab now would require getting more base material because of the digging that had already been done. He said I should try to get a variance from CPS Energy.
So I called CPS, and the first person I talked to after getting past the voice menu said I should talk to Tommy Van Winkle and also to city code compliance. I was given numbers for both. I left a message at the voicemail boxes for both. Only having less than 5 hours sleep, I was hoping I didn't have to wait long. It was 9:30 am or so. I called those numbers several more times in the next 2 hours, maybe napping a half hour or so.
Finally around 11am got the return call from Tommy. He said I would have to talk to another person Joyce Tabus about the variance, and gave me her number. He said it was likely I could get it. I also quizzed him about the digging that was occuring only 2 feet or so from the service lines not in the easment. He said that it could only have been coincidental that there was a power glitch. He said construction of a slab can be done anywhere that is not "right on top of" the service lines, and it would be OK. Quizzing him further, he agreed that even 2 or 3 inches of separation would be OK. So two feet should have been plenty. He warned me, however, that open water pools, even kiddie pools, must be at least 5 feet from the lines. And he said that usually service lines were not in any easement, the easement was specifically for servicing the utility trunk lines, not for protecting service lines, which needed to be marked before digging. I assured him that had been done.
About 15 minutes later I got the return call from Joyce Tabus. Joyce told me I needed to email a PDF of the diagram showing the property lines, easement, and proposed slab. She seemed to assume that I already had such a drawing from the permit, but I told her I did not, because this project was less than 187 square feet and did not need a permit. She said fine, I could make up a drawing by drawing on a copy of the plat. Then she said I would need to pay a $360 fee and wait 4 weeks for approval, though approval was likely and that I could continue building if willing to take a tiny risk otherwise. I said I would probably do that. She said I should also call AT&T and Time Warner. She gave me the number for AT&T but didn't have the number for Time Warner.
Tom Harpe at AT&T told me he would email me the form for getting a variance from AT&T, and that it would cost $360.
I talked to Ronnie telling hime that I would have to pay $720 to get variances from CPS and AT&T, and that the CPS variance would take 4 weeks for official approval. I told him I would be willing to do this for pouring the slab, but would then want to wait for official approval before beginning brick construction. I told him I was planning not to bother calling Time Warner (and also Grande Cable who has lines in my easement) figuring that they would, most likely, never protest anyway.
After hearing all this, Ronnie relented and said he would go ahead and move the slab construction site back 18 inches, so it would be 12 feet 6 inches from the property line. I told him I was very sorry I had made this mistake and would take all responsibility for it, and that I was sorry he would have to do so much more hard work, and I would pay for it. That was how I very strongly felt, and why I had tried so hard to get the easement (while I personally would have preferred making the slab siting correct in the first place, even at the cost of more money). I told him I would gladly pay for the additional base material and whatever was required to do everything the right way.
Another person I talked to later said that Ronnie should have checked the Plat himself, as general contractor, so in some sense he was responsible also. I believe I had shown and given Ronnie a copy of the plat, and I remembered that 2 years ago when the Tough Shed associated concrete contractor came out, he checked the plat himself on the spot before doing his estimate and corrected me then that the easement was 12 feet, not 10 feet, but I had forgotten about that.
I am less worried about the additional cost than the dedication of my contractors to doing everything the right way. So I would never suggest it was their fault, fearing that would lead to them taking short cuts. I am worried about how the soil has now been disturbed outside the slab area, and hope that additional base and compacting will set everything right for the new location at least as well as in the wrong location.
Finally I was able to get some more sleep, though still feeling pretty nervous and wondering if I had handled this all the best way. I was wondering if I simply could have gotten away with the mistake if I had not talked about it to anyone, and maybe that would have led to better construction work. Now the ground may be a bit overworked too, lacking the original network of roots, etc. But Ronnie himself suggested getting a variance, so I had been merely carrying out his suggestion. It does not seem that I could have done anything better at this time, and my closest friend said I handled it very well, someone else might have blown up.
Well I didn't know it was coincidental, so I quickly got worried. I took the plat drawing off the refrigerator (where I have kept my copy for several years) and took a very close look for the umpteenth time. It is very hard to read because of small print in my computer generated copy. I then realized I had made a very big mistake. Last month, I had told Ronnie to make the slab start at 11 feet from the back, leaving 1 foot additional clearance from what I believed to be a 10 foot easement. But taking a fresh look at the very hard to read fine print on the plat, I now saw that the easement was 12 feet. So the slab under construction was encroaching the easement by 1 foot.
I went to talk to Ronnie who did not want to change the slab at all, he was firmly opposed to it, having invested a lot of time and materials into the current location (though no rebar or concrete had been placed yet, only base material, forms, compacting, and trench digging). He said to moving the slab now would require getting more base material because of the digging that had already been done. He said I should try to get a variance from CPS Energy.
So I called CPS, and the first person I talked to after getting past the voice menu said I should talk to Tommy Van Winkle and also to city code compliance. I was given numbers for both. I left a message at the voicemail boxes for both. Only having less than 5 hours sleep, I was hoping I didn't have to wait long. It was 9:30 am or so. I called those numbers several more times in the next 2 hours, maybe napping a half hour or so.
Finally around 11am got the return call from Tommy. He said I would have to talk to another person Joyce Tabus about the variance, and gave me her number. He said it was likely I could get it. I also quizzed him about the digging that was occuring only 2 feet or so from the service lines not in the easment. He said that it could only have been coincidental that there was a power glitch. He said construction of a slab can be done anywhere that is not "right on top of" the service lines, and it would be OK. Quizzing him further, he agreed that even 2 or 3 inches of separation would be OK. So two feet should have been plenty. He warned me, however, that open water pools, even kiddie pools, must be at least 5 feet from the lines. And he said that usually service lines were not in any easement, the easement was specifically for servicing the utility trunk lines, not for protecting service lines, which needed to be marked before digging. I assured him that had been done.
About 15 minutes later I got the return call from Joyce Tabus. Joyce told me I needed to email a PDF of the diagram showing the property lines, easement, and proposed slab. She seemed to assume that I already had such a drawing from the permit, but I told her I did not, because this project was less than 187 square feet and did not need a permit. She said fine, I could make up a drawing by drawing on a copy of the plat. Then she said I would need to pay a $360 fee and wait 4 weeks for approval, though approval was likely and that I could continue building if willing to take a tiny risk otherwise. I said I would probably do that. She said I should also call AT&T and Time Warner. She gave me the number for AT&T but didn't have the number for Time Warner.
Tom Harpe at AT&T told me he would email me the form for getting a variance from AT&T, and that it would cost $360.
I talked to Ronnie telling hime that I would have to pay $720 to get variances from CPS and AT&T, and that the CPS variance would take 4 weeks for official approval. I told him I would be willing to do this for pouring the slab, but would then want to wait for official approval before beginning brick construction. I told him I was planning not to bother calling Time Warner (and also Grande Cable who has lines in my easement) figuring that they would, most likely, never protest anyway.
After hearing all this, Ronnie relented and said he would go ahead and move the slab construction site back 18 inches, so it would be 12 feet 6 inches from the property line. I told him I was very sorry I had made this mistake and would take all responsibility for it, and that I was sorry he would have to do so much more hard work, and I would pay for it. That was how I very strongly felt, and why I had tried so hard to get the easement (while I personally would have preferred making the slab siting correct in the first place, even at the cost of more money). I told him I would gladly pay for the additional base material and whatever was required to do everything the right way.
Another person I talked to later said that Ronnie should have checked the Plat himself, as general contractor, so in some sense he was responsible also. I believe I had shown and given Ronnie a copy of the plat, and I remembered that 2 years ago when the Tough Shed associated concrete contractor came out, he checked the plat himself on the spot before doing his estimate and corrected me then that the easement was 12 feet, not 10 feet, but I had forgotten about that.
I am less worried about the additional cost than the dedication of my contractors to doing everything the right way. So I would never suggest it was their fault, fearing that would lead to them taking short cuts. I am worried about how the soil has now been disturbed outside the slab area, and hope that additional base and compacting will set everything right for the new location at least as well as in the wrong location.
Finally I was able to get some more sleep, though still feeling pretty nervous and wondering if I had handled this all the best way. I was wondering if I simply could have gotten away with the mistake if I had not talked about it to anyone, and maybe that would have led to better construction work. Now the ground may be a bit overworked too, lacking the original network of roots, etc. But Ronnie himself suggested getting a variance, so I had been merely carrying out his suggestion. It does not seem that I could have done anything better at this time, and my closest friend said I handled it very well, someone else might have blown up.
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