City tries to correct sewer easement oversight

WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg City Council tabled two agenda items dealing with condemnation of a property it needs for a permanent easement over a sewer line.

Williamsburg City Manager Aaron Sandersfeld said the city can wait to make a decision because the easement is not something the city needs for immediate work.

The sewer line was installed in the late 1960s, and the city did not get an easement at that time, said Sandersfeld. The city is trying to correct that problem by getting easements now from Dan and Susanna Smith and from Joshua Evans, who attended the meeting.

The city had not reached an agreement with property owners Dan and Susanna Smith and were prepared to take the easement through condemnation proceedings, but the Smiths discussed the issue with the city council during the March 10 council meeting, and the parties think they can work things out.

Dan Smith said he and his wife were frustrated and disappointed at the quality of communication from the city. The couple didn’t understand the document sent to them by the city and thought it did not represent the amount they’d been led to believe they would receive for the easement.

Dan had received additional information since asking to speak with the city council, he said, but he would need more time to read it and understand it.

The city probably didn’t have the same ordinances in place at the time the subdivision was built, said Williamsburg City Attorney Eric Tindal. It didn’t get the easements that it needs to meet code today.

Going to court to get the easement by condemnation will be a long process and will cost the city and the Smiths more money, said Tindal.

The only question in a condemnation hearing is value, said Tindal. “At the end of the day, value is what someone will pay you for it.”

The city is offering $2,500 to the Smiths, Sandersfeld said.

In condemnation proceedings, the court appoints a commission to decide the value of the property, said Tindal.

If the condemnation commission agrees with the value set by the city, the property owner can appeal and have a jury trial, but that litigation will take over a year, and if the property owner is unsuccessful, he is responsible for his own cost, Tindal said.

The Smiths also said the easement takes more of their yard than they’d like. They already have a tree ready to plant in that area, said Dan, and they’d planned to fence in the yard.

The sewer is 20 feet deep at Elm, said Sandersfeld. That’s why the city needs so much land for the easement. The deeper the hole, the wider the mouth of it has to be.

“Plant the tree,” Tindal told the Smiths. The city probably won’t have to dig up the sewer for a long time.

The city can grant the Smith’s permission to plant a tree and erect a fence on the easement, said Tindal, but the property owners should be aware that the tree and fence may be disturbed if the city has to dig up the sewer in the future.

Sandersfeld said this portion of the street is not part of the road construction project that will begin this spring, so the council can wait until the March 24 meeting to make a decision.

Councilman Tyler Marshall was absent.