Ogden Street residents upset with city's lack of action on easement
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Newsboy photo/Jimmy Galvan MARY SANDERS points to easement paperwork drawn up in 1960 which shows the easement next to her property that was previously maintained by the city of Jasper. A recent decision by city officials has caused major erosion on Sanders' property.

Every time it rains, Mary Sanders loses a bit more of her Jasper property she purchased back in 1953.

And according to Sanders, the city of Jasper is to blame.

Her bone of contention - a sewer easement that Sanders said was placed and maintained by the city for years until recently when Jasper City Manager Alan Grindstaff told Sanders that the city would no longer maintain the easement.

The result has been the area around the easement is slowly eroding away and has taken a portion of neighbor Robert Kulp's driveway and made Sanders fearful to even use her driveway for fear it might give way.

"I am afraid to use my driveway because I think it might fall in," Sanders said. "My fear is that I'm going to lose more and more of my property to erosion.

Newsboy photo/Jimmy Galvan ROBERT KULP surveys the fallout of the easement, which has been neglected since September of 2005. Kulp has lost a portion of his driveway to erosion caused by the easement not being cleared since that time.

"Now the city is saying they should have never went on private property to build the easement but my position is that there has to be some continuation of city services that property owners can expect when city management changes," Sanders said. "Jasper has been my home almost all my life. I have lived through a lot of changes in city management but this one says we are not going to honor anything that has been maintained for 47 years."

"This is a serious situation because now the city is saying they won't come on private property and that's an about face of what they had done in the past," Kulp said. "I cannot accept their answer. You can't arbitrarily say this is a mess, we're not going get involved this. We didn't design this and we are property owners and we can't afford for more to be deteriorated.

At the time Sanders purchased the property at 1001 Ogden, it was mainly acreage and outside the city's limits.

"We had to get on city services and the city required curb and gutter and they placed a storm sewer that empties into a spillway on the easement," Sanders said.

Sanders said Hurricane Rita damaged the spillway and since that time, the city has refused to take any action on the easement.

Since the easement hasn't been cleared since Rita, Sanders said the water that flows through the clogged artery has caused erosion of her property and a partial collapse of Kulp's driveway.

Sanders has been battling city hall for more than a year over the issue and now plans on appearing before city council.

Sanders said she spoke with Grindstaff about the easement and was told the city was not going to take care of anymore.

"I told him the city has been cleaning this drainage ditch for 47 years and they told me they were not going to do it anymore," Sanders said.

Sanders said she has presented city leaders with a copy of the easement, which is dated Aug. 9, 1960.

"They cleaned it for years and years and now suddenly, they are saying they won't do it anymore," Sanders said. "And now, our properties and this street is collapsing.

"I have had many people who have looked at this and said it was a crisis and was very dangerous," Sanders said. "They kept it cleared out."

Sanders said after her meeting with city officials, she received a letter dated May 8, 2007, which stated the city's position on the easement that she sought to be cleaned by the city.

According to the letter, Grindstaff stated that the easement was done for a sanitary sewer main and currently there are no sewer lines in the easement.

Grindstaff stated that the city only enters utility easements to operate, maintain and repair and the city does not maintain the property where they have an easement.

The letter further states that the city does not work on private property and the city only works on easements when the utility line placed in the easement needs work to be done on it.

"Since we do not have any utility lines in Easement No. 6 we cannot got on that easement," Grindstaff states in the letter. "Also, city crews do not go on private property."

Kulp said that if the property owners were forced to fix this issue, it would cost "a tremendous amount of money."

"There is so much water by volume that comes down here and in order for us to be protected I am going to have to do away with this driveway," Kulp said. "When the water comes down here, it sits and the erosion continues."

The city's storm sewer is still in place but since its exit way is blocked, it's "a kiss and a promise" as Kulp put it.

"This area doesn't flood because the intensity of the water comes down here in a torrent," Kulp said. "It doesn't have a chance to flood, it just washes away everything."