Building on top of city sewer line
 

Curious if anyone knows if there is a standard building code regulation on this kind of thing. House next door is being renovated after being empty for years. Property deed includes what has functionally been an alley. New owner wants to build a garage there. (I don't want him to since I've been using that piece of land for access to my backyard for 18 years. I think I have a constructive easement). However, I'm pretty sure the city sewer line runs under that piece of land behind all the houses on the block. Is is permissible to build a garage over a city sewer line or does the city's easement (?) to maintain the line, trump the right to build? There are no other buildings in that strip of land under which the sewer line runs.
I've talked to the new owner and he is aware of my concerns and is wondering what to do. But if he can't build over a city sewer line, there's no point in me pushing him on the matter apart from asserting my right of access across the land.

The answer lies in the covenants in the deed.

If the city has a right of way over that line (and I'm sure that it does), the deed will tell all.

He builds on it.........they need to service the line.........they tear down his building.:eek:

Generally I think the sewer line is just a "right of way" easement for the city. Without a specific code or limitation, there's probably no bar to building over it, which would be at the landowner's risk.

I'm doubtful he could do it legally with a building permit...........if the municipality was on the game.

It depends on how the records were kept. Did the city put the sewer in, or was the area built up by a developer back in the day? Got to town hall and look up the deed- its public record. Buildings in NY are over train tracks and subways, so a sewer should be pretty simple.

I designed an addition to a house that is over a storm drain runnoff from a state highway. The state has no record of the storm drain grate, and the grate connects to old field drains for the farm that used to be across the street. As far as the state was concerned, their responsibility ended at the limit of the right of way for the highway...

The design however has foundation walls at each end and nothing in the center- like a bridge- so that if/when repairs have to be made, you can trench away to fix the drain.

First, go to the city code enforcement officer. The officer can tell you where the utility easements are and what laws affect them. These easements, i.e., alleys if they run between the back of adjoining properties, are usually 15 ft. wide, 7.5 ft. is granted from each property owner. Technically the property owner owns this property but has granted its use to the city for utilities, i.e., water, gas, power poles, sewer line, etc.

The code usually says the the property owner can use this property as long as he does not deny access to the city for utility maintenance. Building on top of a sewer line would be denying the city access. Property owners can build a fence across their portion of the easement but the city has the right to remove the fence for utility maintenance.

Here in Michigan you cannot build on top of city sewer. Could be different for your municipality thuogh.

Nowadays they don't need to dig up the whole line anymore. They reline it from the curb.

I my 30+ years of Construction Inspection work, I only know of one instance where a building was erected over a utility, and that was a storm drain about 14 feet deep. I have never encountered any construction over a sanitary line. Your jurisdiction may be different.

This is how it is here, too.

It seems like building over a storm drain would be asking for trouble.

It would not be allowed here.

Building over the sewer is not a big problem, but if the sewer springs a leak its a problem for the building. Fixing a sewer without digging it up is only possible in special circumstances and Its probably more expensive than digging it up.

Posts 2,4 and 6: Good advice. Probably the law in your town is the same.
Would not be allowed in my town, or probably in the entire state.

No electric or gas company would let you build over their lines. Municipal or county govt's. almost certainly would prevent it as well. If the code official can't help, contact the sewer utility and ask them where the LEGAL lines run in your neighborhood. People have been know to illegally tap into sewer lines!
My $.02

Thanks for all the input. Called the building department today and eventually was directed to Waste Water Management. They confirmed that you can't build over a city sewer line and checked for the location of the line behind our houses. It was where I thought it was, directly under where he planned to put his garage and cut off my access to my backyard (under which the line also runs). This will probably make my negotiations with him about access to my backyard a little smoother since it won't be me directly stopping him from building the garage.