Northland homeowner upset over torn up lawn
Resident says he should not have to pay to fix his lawn after it was dug up
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, September 23, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Northland Trailer Park homeowner is livid after being left on the hook for damages to his yard after a city contractor tore it up to install new water and sewer lines two years ago.
Northland Trailer Park resident Brian Reithaug is furious after his lawn was torn up two years ago for new water and sewer lines but not repaired. He said the city should pay to fix the mess left behind. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
Brian Reithaug lives on Norseman Drive and said he could probably live with paying for new grass seed or even laying down sod but after being left with only hard clay, rocks and weeds where he once had a lawn, fixing his yard has become a major and expensive endevour. About half of his front lawn was destroyed when RTL Construction installed new water and sewer pipes connecting to homes in the trailer park.
"I was warned that my fence was likely going to be damaged. I could live with that. I was working two weeks in and two weeks out at Ekati at the time so if they did try to tell me about my lawn as well, I never received any notice," Reithaug said.
"I figured you're going to wreck my bloody fence anyway. That isn't my problem. My problem is that I had a perfectly good lawn here and they put clay and rock in there and I want my frickin' black dirt back."
Reithaug said the only way he will be able to repair the damaged portion of his lawn is to completely dig it up, removing the clay and rocks and laying down topsoil and new grass. He added he is paying a monthly improvement fee implemented to pay for the water and sewer replacements.
"They left it like a gravel yard," said Reithaug, adding his next step may be to take legal action.
The state of the trailer park's aging water and sewer lines reached a crisis point several years ago after banks refused to provide mortgages in Northland due to their disrepair. The city agreed to cover the costs of replacing the infrastructure -- estimated at $23 million to be back over 25 years – providing the owners of Northland's 258 trailer pay a monthly $283 improvement fee.
The trailer park was considered a private entity when homeowners agreed to pay the fee in 2012. The city was supposed to take over ownership of Northland infrastructure after the water and sewer lines were replaced.
Yellowknifer sought an explanation from the city on its versus homeowners' responsibilities for yard repairs due water and sewer line replacements but did not receive a response by press time.
Jan Fullerton, president of Northland's condo board, said homeowners are ultimately responsible for repairs to their yards as a result of the water and sewer line replacements.
If (the city) had been replacing all the lawns and fence and driveways it would have driven the cost up that much higher," said Fullerton.
"Nobody else has really been complaining. What we have talked about doing as a condo corp. is whether there is some way we can help make it more affordable for people to fix their front lawns – like put in a collective order of sod which would make it cheaper. We haven't done anything like that yet though."
