THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SALVO LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Gaskill Austin has a power pole in his driveway - and he wants it out of there.
About a month ago, workers with the Cape Hatteras Electric Membership Cooperative installed a 90-foot wooden pole at the northeast end of an easement that Austin uses to drive to his Hatteras Island house. The 18-inch-wide pole was erected as part of the power company's project to upgrade electric service. It is about 80 inches southwest of where the former, shorter power pole was.
Austin said that the new pole blocks access to his home - and that the power company had no right to put it there, on private property.
``I have a 10-foot easement from N.C. Route 12 to my house. That pole takes up at least three feet - more than a quarter of my driveway,'' Austin said from his sound-front property.
``I can't legally offer this house for sale unless I have a 10-foot-wide driveway. The power company destroyed the value of my home and land,'' said Austin, a former Dare County commissioner. ``They also really restricted the type of vehicle I can use. You couldn't get a wide truck in here now. And fire trucks would certainly have difficulty getting through in emergencies.''
The state Department of Transportation retains easement rights for 50 feet on either side of the center line of N.C. Route 12. Most power poles are within that easement. But Cape Hatteras Electric Co-op Manager James Sherfey said several poles had to be put in easements on private property, all with the landowners' permission.
The new pole near Austin's house is on land that his stepmother owns and his brother controls by power of attorney. Austin's brother gave the electric company permission to put the pole there, Sherfey said. Austin said his brother did not have that right.
As soon as the Austins saw workers installing the pole, they called the electric co-op and asked that the pole be moved. On March 21, the power company's board ofdirectors voted not to move the pole. They called Austin and told him if he wanted it moved, he could pay for it himself: $5,000.
Austin said he doesn't have $5,000. Even if he did, he said, it is the power company's responsibility to relocate the pole. This month, Austin hired a lawyer to help fight the co-op - which is owned by its members, including Austin.
``I really feel a mistake was made in the beginning, and they just wouldn't correct it. I feel like a little man that's being swallowed up by big government,'' Austin said. ``I feel helpless against this power company. They can do whatever they want. And they know they'll get away with it.''
If the pole remains in place, Austin might be able to regain a 10-foot-wide driveway by acquiring additional land for his easement. Last week, Austin said his lawyer sent a letter to the co-op offering to forget the whole thing if the utility would pay his attorney's fees and the cost of obtaining a wider easement.
``We've offered to negotiate with other property owners for a bigger easement,'' Sherfey said. ``We'll work with him on the cost of recording that new easement.''
Sherfey did not promise, however, that the power company would pay for the purchase of any additional easement.
``I understand where he's coming from,'' the electric co-op executive said. ``I'm trying to do my best to work it out. We want to cooperate with all parties involved. But sometimes, in situations like this, you just have to go ahead and get into litigation.'' ILLUSTRATION: The argument inches onward
[Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
Staff
Gaskill Austin measures for clearance in the driveway easement to
his Hatteras Island home. Austin objects to the large power pole,
right, foreground, put up by the electric company about a month
ago.
by CNB