Hello everyone...
I am new to this forum, and the reason I joined was to ask for advice from others who know way more about these particular situations than I do, so I'm hoping that I'm not out of line by posting here.
The situation:
The local Council has come to us requesting that we grant them a stormwater easement on our block. Standard size block, 1214m2 and they want to put a 500mm stormwater drain down the entire length of the block. The reason they want to do this is that next door (upstream) gets 3" of water in their building after any decent rain or intense storm, due to the current stormwater infrastructure being old and apparently inadequate (and fixing it will cost too much). Council has asked that we 'be good neighbours' and do this in 'the public interest'. Even though I am assured that their ideal outcome is negotiation for mutual satisfaction, the term 'compulsory accquisition" was mentioned in one of the face-to-face discussions with the Council engineer.
Have received the proposal/plans/lawyers dox in the mail (18/3), and the width of the easement on the plan is 4m in from the boundary. This will leave approx 1-1.5m between the easement edge and our building, where we live and work.
Simple so far. The issues start to be raised when the physical circumstances are addressed.
Issue 1: the area between the building and the boundary is populated with 6 huge mature trees. These trees have been there for 25+ years. They shade the entire western aspect of the building. This building is a galv tin shed in western QLD, where summer temps are over 40 most of the time, therefore I do not want to lose the shade. According to the legal documentation, Council will pay for SAPLINGS to replace any trees that die as a result of damage from the proposed works.
Issue 2: All the water lines and plumbing of the building also run down the western side. There is no written mention of replacing/repairing plumbing damage as part of the proposed works (although I had a verbal assurance that the plumbing would be taken into consideration), nor any written or verbal mention of any form of compensation for the fact that we will not have working hygiene amenities for the period of time the works will take to complete. No written/verbal timeframe for how long the works would take to complete.
Issue 3: I asked the local real estate agent whether these works would have a negative impact on the value of the property. The answer was yes, but not able to give a firm figure. Again, there is no provision in the legal docs about compensation for lost value. The verbal discussions touched on compensation, but nothing specific from either party.
There are a number of other semi-minor problems that will arise from these works being done, and there are no provisions (that I can ascertain from reading the paperwork) for anything other than "Council will do whatever it likes, regardless". It really is a horribly one-sided document.
So, my questions to the learned ones of this forum are:
1. are we within our rights as landholders to request compensation for immediate and future issues arising from these proposed works? What is considered reasonable forms of compensation?
2. if negotiations break down and agreement cannot be reached; where do we stand if we refuse to sign? What avenues does Council have to make us do this?
3. are there any precedents involving similar situations that can be viewed?
One further note:
I have limited recourse to legal help, as there is one firm of lawyers in town, and they act for the Council.
The only time I had initially spoken to them about this matter (just after the first visit by the Council engineer), I was billed $250 for a 40 minute one-sided conversation without any concrete action or resolution. Now that I've had my legal practice lesson, I'm not overly keen to go back for more.
I thank you for reading this post. Maybe someone will be able to advise us where to go from here.
Kind regards,
Meredith
I am new to this forum, and the reason I joined was to ask for advice from others who know way more about these particular situations than I do, so I'm hoping that I'm not out of line by posting here.
The situation:
The local Council has come to us requesting that we grant them a stormwater easement on our block. Standard size block, 1214m2 and they want to put a 500mm stormwater drain down the entire length of the block. The reason they want to do this is that next door (upstream) gets 3" of water in their building after any decent rain or intense storm, due to the current stormwater infrastructure being old and apparently inadequate (and fixing it will cost too much). Council has asked that we 'be good neighbours' and do this in 'the public interest'. Even though I am assured that their ideal outcome is negotiation for mutual satisfaction, the term 'compulsory accquisition" was mentioned in one of the face-to-face discussions with the Council engineer.
Have received the proposal/plans/lawyers dox in the mail (18/3), and the width of the easement on the plan is 4m in from the boundary. This will leave approx 1-1.5m between the easement edge and our building, where we live and work.
Simple so far. The issues start to be raised when the physical circumstances are addressed.
Issue 1: the area between the building and the boundary is populated with 6 huge mature trees. These trees have been there for 25+ years. They shade the entire western aspect of the building. This building is a galv tin shed in western QLD, where summer temps are over 40 most of the time, therefore I do not want to lose the shade. According to the legal documentation, Council will pay for SAPLINGS to replace any trees that die as a result of damage from the proposed works.
Issue 2: All the water lines and plumbing of the building also run down the western side. There is no written mention of replacing/repairing plumbing damage as part of the proposed works (although I had a verbal assurance that the plumbing would be taken into consideration), nor any written or verbal mention of any form of compensation for the fact that we will not have working hygiene amenities for the period of time the works will take to complete. No written/verbal timeframe for how long the works would take to complete.
Issue 3: I asked the local real estate agent whether these works would have a negative impact on the value of the property. The answer was yes, but not able to give a firm figure. Again, there is no provision in the legal docs about compensation for lost value. The verbal discussions touched on compensation, but nothing specific from either party.
There are a number of other semi-minor problems that will arise from these works being done, and there are no provisions (that I can ascertain from reading the paperwork) for anything other than "Council will do whatever it likes, regardless". It really is a horribly one-sided document.
So, my questions to the learned ones of this forum are:
1. are we within our rights as landholders to request compensation for immediate and future issues arising from these proposed works? What is considered reasonable forms of compensation?
2. if negotiations break down and agreement cannot be reached; where do we stand if we refuse to sign? What avenues does Council have to make us do this?
3. are there any precedents involving similar situations that can be viewed?
One further note:
I have limited recourse to legal help, as there is one firm of lawyers in town, and they act for the Council.
The only time I had initially spoken to them about this matter (just after the first visit by the Council engineer), I was billed $250 for a 40 minute one-sided conversation without any concrete action or resolution. Now that I've had my legal practice lesson, I'm not overly keen to go back for more.
I thank you for reading this post. Maybe someone will be able to advise us where to go from here.
Kind regards,
Meredith