Short version:
my neighborhood is rural, built on an old farm with 3-5acre lots. builder did not install communication infrastructure (no cable, no POTS, etc). For 20 years we have had no phone, no landbased internet or tv. Most use mobile hotspots, satellite or in a few cases, Point to point radio.

Well as part of the covid infrastructure package, Shentel has installed fiber optic . . . at no cost. I went from 9mbs of 4gtle to 1gb of unlimited with no caps and it costs 1/2 as much as 4g.
This is amazing.

The now:
some neighbor are pissed and do not seem to understand the concept of a utility easement. They have members of the city council, a sheriff for some reason and Shentel coming to a neighborhood townhouse meeting to 'be heard'
I have been invited. but Damn, I was actually the beta tester all spring (furthest house from the tap and was super excited) so I have 0 complaints, and 0 f's for these whiners.

Question:
Should I go and defend the County and Shentel? risk further dislike of my neighbors?

Choices:
Go and defend
Dont go
Go and enjoy them being lectured on what 'utility easement' means
Dont go - but send cake, you know which one . . .

 

I should explain:

The county painted lines to mark power and water, these lines offended some as they painted in flower beds, driveways, yards etc.

When they installed the boxes it was a shared box so it is not always by a driveway, but it is flush with the ground. Some were pissed that they dug up stuff (most cable was installed via horizontal drilling)

I find it interesting to listen to how uneducated and stupid people truly are. What's the end game?

I would go. You need to be able to ID the idiots around you.

Years ago we owned a double size lot in Ohio, half was a retention basin, maybe 5 to 6 foot deep, for the neighborhood storm water.

One year a 50 year storm, lots of water and the back of the basin failed tossing the culvert pipe in the air while tearing out the rear wall.

As in your case the pond is an easement on our land, wife worked for a developer who built our home and at the same time was putting in a large retention pond behind he subdivision in the next subdivision he was building. He offered to connect the conduit, run it on his land, fill the old one in exchange for making it a lot he could sell a house on and a little money for us for consideration.

We had to get approval of the neighbors, most signed right off to get it out of the neighborhood of 20 homes. A couple of people like you have, didn't like that deal, they actually thought they could hold it up and get money from the developer as the deal it was fully disclosed, and were not going to sign off unless paid.

So, we talked with her boss, he got the city involved, having plenty of contacts in it, they called a meeting at City Hall where these problem people showed up, complained, somehow wanted to be compensated all kinds of BS, one idiot wanted the basin back and thought I should pay for it.

City manager explained easements, and how it was the financial responsibility of every home in the neighborhood that used it to maintain and pay for the repairs, when challenged he said, no problem this isn't the burden for one home, and we will fix it and assess then lien every home in the neighborhood to cover the costs which are expected to be around $10 to $15K per home.

Everyone signed off..... funny how that works...

quote:

I would go. You need to be able to ID the idiots around you.

I voted go and enjoy.
The above quote holds much merit also, but most likely you already have that figured out.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I would go. You need to be able to ID the idiots around you.

this.

You actually might be impactful here. If not addressed you could ask a simple question.

"Several neighbors have expressed concerns about acces/easements and how installations will impact their property. Can you speak to how you assure that you will minimize damage and assure things are put back as close to 'as were' as possible during install?"

Seems like all this outrage is after the fact, the FO cables are already installed, right? Assuming that all permits were pulled, etc., it seem unreasonable to undo the work that has been done. These seem like relevant questions:

• Why is, only now, Shentel seeking an easement?
  
• How did they get "permission" to install what they have done to date?
  
• What business objective is this easement intended to facilitate?
  
• How much will it cost the good citizenry to undo/remove the FO infrastructure that's already been laid?
  
• What recourse does Shentel have (or will they take) if they are denied revenue from their investment?

I would imagine Shentel would be powerfully motivated to spruce up their Internet plans with additional incentives, such as free telephone service on top of the Internet access, SIP-based voice service is a cheap and easily-provisioned technology. Might be worth asking about in the meeting in front of the various folks who are on the shelf about things. Self interest is a powerful motivator.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I would go. You need to be able to ID the idiots around you.

This ^^^^^

Most rational people are overjoyed to get connectivity.

These are the same kind of people that would whine about poor cell coverage, then, when a new tower was put in and the coverage improved, whine about the eyesore

about six years ago, the neighborhood finally got Shentel to sit down for a town hall. (verizon, declined and reported to the state that we were covered because of 4gLTE)

In the end it fell a part, because they wanted a lot to do the initial install in the neighborhood. (around $2000 per house). But now they installed FO for free with state and federal infrastructure monies.

But yes, the FO is already installed. So I think this is a ploy for money or something from Shentel. But even the installer told me they had a few folks who were pretty belligerent about them installing the loop. I will be curious to find out which neighbors and and why are they upset.

When ATT finally put FO into our neighborhood they sent a crew from South America, nobody spoke english, they ran everything underground, it went well for the most part, a few issues like they left the entire center part of the subdivision off the install order so they had to come back several months later to run cable under the roads and wire those homes.

I voted go and defend - you don't have to be hostile, just citing the benefits you described in the op will give a point of view not based on speculation and as a side benefit you will be able to identify the idiots.

I assume they want the cable and fiber, but they want all the benefits without the horror of a junction box on the corner of the yard.

I wouldn't defend - let the pros do it. You can't reach some people anyway, and you do have to live with them.

Take the cake anyway.

I say go and watch the show. I should be entertaining and you might learn who the problem children are in the neighborhood.

Reading things like this make me glad I live in the country and don’t have to put up with the nonsense.

Meh. Lots of good comments. I’d go. My first instinct is to defend and point out the stupidity of the whiners, but I voted enjoy the show. I guess I might be (finally) maturing a bit.

I live on a ranch where I am my own water company, sewer disposal company (septic), road installation and maintenance company, and electric power company for the house (not the wells and the barn). Construction is *always* a pain in the neck, even when you are doing it. Tough, that’s just a fact of life. Deal with it.

It is possible that some of these folks have real, legitimate gripes. If so, I’d be surprised if they aren’t addressed. In the more likely case (that they’re just whiners), they’ll have a chance to vent and (hopefully) that will be the end of it.

I can sympathize (a little) with folks who didn’t appreciate their flower beds being painted. I didn’t care for the dig alert marks that the local utility left in my grindings shoulder. Okay, stop, take boot, scuff the grindings around until the marks disappear, then get on with life. It is a minor temporary annoyance, get over it.

It may be a waste of time TBH

From my experience with HOA meetings when I owned a condo, there will always be that one person that will try to bully and dominate the meeting and everyone else will barely be able to get a word in edgewise.

Do not attend. People have crazy ideas about easments and what they are. Shentel ??? Sounds like a Fifties musical group. Weird name.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
You actually might be impactful here. If not addressed you could ask a simple question.

"Several neighbors have expressed concerns about acces/easements and how installations will impact their property. Can you speak to how you assure that you will minimize damage and assure things are put back as close to 'as were' as possible during install?"

^^^^
Really good advice. It's non confrontational. I would add "impact the utility easement" and have them define a "utility."

General, cable for this purpose, when on private property, does not involve lots of digging. In my neighborhood, they used a lawn edger, set to about 6 inches, to dig a slot for the cable, less than a half inch wide. They tucked the cable into it and neatly covered it with dirt. I threw some seed over it the next morning, and in less than a month you couldn't tell it had happened.