Oklahoman town builds fence across man's driveway

[avebury]

http://kfor.com/2017/02/06/this-is-a-pretty-sad-thing-to-do-to-somebody-oklahoma-town-builds-fence-across-mans-driveway/

A chain link fence sprawls across Hulme's driveway, blocking access to the house he's lived in for 16 years.

The fence appeared about three months ago, the latest chapter in what Hulme calls an ongoing dispute between him and the town of roughly 150 people.

"It's almost comical, and it makes you wonder why a municipality would spend money on doing this," he told NewsChannel 4. "I was appalled that the city leaders anywhere would treat anybody different from the others. We don't understand why we probably have the only house in the county that you can't get a firetruck to."

The feud started about four years ago, Hulme said, when he tried to get an easement for a water main he discovered was running across his property, which he said has been unchanged for the last 60 years.

Pocasset's mayor referred NewsChannel 4 to town attorney Jeromy Brown, who said the fence is "for the town to protect its property."

The town hall and community center is on the adjacent property.

Brown would not say what the fence is protecting the property from and declined to elaborate before conferring with all of the town's trustees.

Brown offered to provide public documents about the fence, but they were not available Monday afternoon.

Hulme is able to access his property only by way of an adjacent property, on which he owns and runs a storage business.

He still worries about what the fence will do to his property value and fears the worst should someone need to reach his property in an emergency.

"If you called 911, the GPS coordinates would lead you to this mess," Hulme said, standing by the fencing. "There's not enough room to get a fire truck, an ambulance, or a delivery or anybody past this utility pole and this fence." Hulme is working on a lawsuit against the town of Pocasset and its water board.

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I would love to be on the jury for this lawsuit.

[Orrex]

1. A fence intended

[SticksnStones]

3. Clever!

[alittlelark]

2. The owner seems to have a large solar installation on his roof

Perhaps that has a little something to do with it.

[snooper2]

4. He should just say, well- This is OK

[hunter]

5. We discovered there was a water main under our driveway when it started to leak.

I called the water company and they insisted at first it must be our pipe and not their problem. I insisted our meter wasn't turning so they reluctantly sent a service guy out. When he saw it wasn't our pipe he called his supervisor with great urgency.

After that it was shocking how quickly things happened. I was thinking, "Oh well, they'll ask me to grant some easement, and fix the pipe."

Instead they went into deeply apologetic and appeasing lawyer mode and had a large crew with heavy equipment relocating the main out into the street within a week.

I've never seen them respond so quickly to anything. I've seen other similar sized leaks on city property go on for months, to the point willow trees taller than I am are growing there.

I viewed the entire episode with lighthearted bemusement. Some surveyor or contractor had made a mistake years ago. Oops. I'm not the sort who would have tried to squeeze whatever I could out of the water company, my inconvenience was slight.

[csziggy]

6. Looking at the location on Google Maps and Street View I don't think he owns the driveway

I don't think the driveway was on his property at all at least on the end at the side street. He does not seem to have any access from the side where his driveway was.

Go to 112 E 5th St, Pocasset, Oklahoma in Google Maps - on the Street View there is a survey marker that likely marks the corner of the Pocasset Community Center property. If you look at the aerial view, the fence that delineates the line between the community center and Mr. Hulme's truck parking and RV park land is in a straight line to where that survey marker is.

The truck parking and RV park are probably what the town attorney was referring to when he talked about 'the fence is "for the town to protect its property."' Whether they are concerned about the community's children wandering into the itinerant residents of the parking area or if they are worried that the residents of the facility - loosely called that since there are no "facilities" other than electrical hookups - might use the accommodations of the community center, the town could have a good reason for completing the fencing of their property.

I suspect Mr. Hulme was trying to pull a fast one - he found the water main and thought he could leverage that into an easement to secure possession of the driveway he'd been using for years.

Apparently Mr. Hulme's family (under Homer H. Hulme, plus Jr and III) have a good amount of land in Grady County, Oklahoma, according to the Grady County Assessor Office. One member of the family is a CPA. He can't be as clueless as he tries to portray on the news report!