Contractors hired by county leaving dumped materials in easement?

[monkeymynd]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I have an easement, which I believe is a maintenance easement, which is shared by me and my neighbor. We live in an unincorporated part of Palm Beach County. The county hired contractors to put in a road across from this easement. They used the easement as a staging area for the machinery, etc. During this period, they also dumped sand and asphalt to be used for the road.

The road is now complete, yet they have left the remaining sand and asphalt in the easement (which happens to be on my side). This was a completely grass covered area, which now has a mound of asphalt sitting on it. I called the county and asked them to remove it, and they said they would "look into it". It's been over two weeks now, and they are not returning my calls.

My understanding is that there cannot be any dumping in the easement. And, I would think this would be considered "dumping". I would just like to know if I am correct in this assumption and, if so, who else can I contact to get this resolved?

Thank you.

 

[NC Aggie]

Well if this is in fact an easement then it should have a specified use and staging/storing equipment is typically not a recorded use for an easement. If it is an easement and this equipment and material has been left within your property boundary you have the right to demand that they remove it right away. Now it's quite possible that this "easement" may be public right of way. A lot of people use these two terms interchangeable and in some jurisdiction they are one in the same, but there is a distinct difference. A right of way is land that reserved for public use (public meaning city/county/state). If it is right of way, they could legally store this equipment and material for an unspecified time. So that's why it's important to determine exactly what type of easement this is.

 

[csi7]

Take pictures of the area, send it to the media, and you should see it get cleaned up pretty quickly.

 

[monkeymynd]

Well if this is in fact an easement then it should have a specified use and staging/storing equipment is typically not a recorded use for an easement. If it is an easement and this equipment and material has been left within your property boundary you have the right to demand that they remove it right away. Now it's quite possible that this "easement" may be public right of way. A lot of people use these two terms interchangeable and in some jurisdiction they are one in the same, but there is a distinct difference. A right of way is land that reserved for public use (public meaning city/county/state). If it is right of way, they could legally store this equipment and material for an unspecified time. So that's why it's important to determine exactly what type of easement this is.

Thank you both for your replies. In reference to the above, does anyone know how I find out exactly what type of easement it is?

 

[NC Aggie]

Thank you both for your replies. In reference to the above, does anyone know how I find out exactly what type of easement it is?

Did you have survey done when you purchased the property or was a written survey provided? The easement (with description) should be identified on your survey but it's possible it was not.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Report the illegal dumping to the The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County

http://www.swa.org/site/illegal_dumping/illegal_dumping.htm