I am writing this letter to express the stress and hardship I have been through over the last two years with a small water utility in the community of Shirley.
I moved to this community in December 2021 with a lot of good intentions and optimism. I spent time volunteering at the lighthouse and also offered my time at the pumphouse for the water works.
Things started to go sideways when I started to put a lot of money into my property, namely installing a reasonable driveway that was almost impossible to drive up in a car and very precarious to walk over, as it was just covered in riprap. I expected that with an easement on my property, the costs to maintain and use would be shared by the water works. Since this time, I have dealt with damages to my property that are unsightly and unnecessary. The people on the board have removed my posts for my gate, removed a property pin put in by a local registered survey company, as well as trees that were beautiful and loved. These people had a better alternative that they chose to ignore. I have asked for remediation to at least put back the posts and pay for the survey now that the pin is not ambiguous.
I have been denied any respect for my property rights. This company does receive grant money from the CRD, but not enough to cover the costs associated with the use of my property.
My question is: Do you feel that, as the property owner and full taxpayer, I should have to cover all costs for their use through my property? So far, my damages amount to over $25,000 to remediate. Is this a situation of breach of an easement? I knew full well when I purchased that I had an easement, but had no idea I had to cover costs associated with its use. I also have been denied any written proof of insurance for their contract workers or equipment loss or damage. Should I also be expected to cover these costs? All of this was not disclosed to me when I purchased this property, and I did meet with these people on many occasions and could not foresee any of this, and was assured by the person in charge at the time not to worry, all will be fine.
So what choice have I been given? If it's OK for this utility to do what they want and no rules seem to apply to them, does that work both ways? This utility has an alternative and is not subject to only one option.
Judy Penner
Shirley
