Storm Drain and Drainage Easement

The Drainage Easement has been the mild bane of my existence.  A constant itch I can never solve.  If you ever read the phrase "drainage easement" in a house you want to buy, go elsewhere! 

When I moved here, 25 years ago, there was a drainage easement on one side of the property.  It divided the 2 properties.  That makes it joint responsibility.  You DON'T WANT THAT.  Your neighbor will NEVER want to do what you want to.

In my case, my yard is lower than the neighbor's.  So when it floods, it is only MY problem.

Well, I woke up this morning and heard heavy equipment running outside.  It was county people cleaning the storm drain at the bottom of the drainage easement!  I got dressed fast and ran outside to see what they were doing. 

Some background...  A storm last Winter washed down tree branches that got so interwoven over the storm drain that I could not pull them apart.  Then leaves and dirt piled on top and made a dam.  Half my front lawn is sodden.  I mean squishy to walk on like a bog.

Coincidence:  I wrote up a list of things to do this week and the 1st item was to contact an excavator to dredge the easement.  The storm drain itself is untouchable county property.  But I was going to contact them about that.

My neighbor beat me to that.  He is selling his house and called the county to clear the storm drain.  Yay!

I noticed that they had shoveled the drainage path 5' upstream, so I asked if they could use their bucket dredge to deepen it.  No go.  They only own that 5' upstream.  The rest is mine and the neighbor.  I've looked at the drainage easment.  It is silted up almost 2' because the (idiot) neighbor planted willow trees along it.  Willow tree roots LOVE water and grow thick and trap dirt.


When I saw him planting the willows 15 years ago, I begged him not to for that reason.  He ignored me.  Why not?  The problem would all be mine. 

Now, they are trying to sell their house.  I'm a good neighbor.  If the county cleared the storm drain, I can clean up my corner of the yard.  I spent 2 hours clearing the brush from the boggy corner. 

Before:

After:

Here's the view from the street. best in at least 10 years!

Since I had the pruning saw and loppers out, I took out several saplings that had chosen to grow up through some shrubs.  But no pictures of that.  Just happy to have gotten THOSE spots off my list.

Next, the "ugly corner of the yard where I used to stack firewood and has grown all brushy"...