Unisource PUE

[Boat 405]

Anyone have any reliable solutions recently getting them to work with you on easements? Trying to get a wall built and am willing to give access but what they are asking for is a bit much considering every one of my neighbors built right up to their property line with zero respect for easements and most if not all have completely blocked all access to any power poles within sight if my property. Since I’m the last to build on the block it seems as though they want me to carry everyone else’s lack of doing so.

 

[Instigator]

it is easier to beg for forgiveness than ask permission.

 

[HSR]

it is easier to beg for forgiveness than ask permission.

This. I have close to 200’ of block wall in their easement.
Are the lines in the easement underground or on poles? If on poles, build the wall. If 6’ or less, and not retaining I don’t believe a permit is required.

 

[Boat 405]

75’ of 7’ tall retaining wall.

 

[Instigator]

Add 1 foot of material to the lower grade so that your wall is only 6 feet and then play dumb.

 

[Boat 405]

If it’s a retaining wall it needs to be 40” or less without permit. Trust me I’ve been going 3 months around this issue. I can’t finish my pool until this gets resolved

 

[Groper]

This. I have close to 200’ of block wall in their easement.
Are the lines in the easement underground or on poles? If on poles, build the wall. If 6’ or less, and not retaining I don’t believe a permit is required.

LOL for a 32" garden wall in some cases you might get away without a permit anything more than that yes you will need a permit.
You will have to check with your local building department just about every City and County will have their own criterias and specifications when it come to easements and setbacks.
Do not start a 6' Block Wall without all your ducks in a row, there is NO forgiveness when it comes to city building codes & regulations.

If a Utility CO. (none mentioned above) needs access to their equipment they have and will gain access.

BOT'E 405 have you met with the Utility Co. Planner onsite and walked the area in question ? You can PM me with a phone number if you'd like.

 

[HSR]

LOL for a 32" garden wall in some cases you might get away without a permit anything more than that yes you will need a permit.
You will have to check with your local building department just about every City and County will have their own criterias and specifications when it come to easements and setbacks.
Do not start a 6' Block Wall without all your ducks in a row, there is NO forgiveness when it comes to city building codes & regulations.

Not to sidetrack the thread, but in Havasu walls under 6’ that aren’t retaining don’t require a permit.

regarding the original question, since it’s retaining, yes, permits are required. Are you using a contractor? If so, the bigger block companies should be experienced with the PUE issues. I know Armor fence and masonry and masonry and more deal with it all the time.

 

[Boat 405]

Not to sidetrack the thread, but in Havasu walls under 6’ that aren’t retaining don’t require a permit.

regarding the original question, since it’s retaining, yes, permits are required. Are you using a contractor? If so, the bigger block companies should be experienced with the PUE issues. I know Armor fence and masonry and masonry and more deal with it all the time.

Yes, been in contact with both. Jesse will be doing the work. BTW as an update to this I spent 30 mins on the phone this morning with a Unisource guy from Kingman for explanations about easements.

His words, "we would fill in a pool with dirt to gain access to an easement and when finished pack up and leave even if it cost $30,000 in repairs to the homeowner"....

A bit militant if you ask me.

Wow, just wow... He was 100% unwilling to cooperate and find a solution. His response to any and all suggestions was NO, NO, and NO.

Time to move to a higher up in Unisource, like Director or CEO and let flow downhill.

Can you imagine someone coming in and doing this? I get it, a lot of people built walls in easements in the years past and a lot of places don't have any access.

Am I wrong in thinking that they were supposed to have all underground utilities including power lines from the get go and they never did it?

Anyone have any back story on some of this in Havasu @RiverDave

 

[Motor Boater]

Are you trying to build your wall in the PUE? If so that’s pretty much a non starter from the utility companies prospective.

 

[Boat 405]

Are you trying to build your wall in the PUE? If so that’s pretty much a non starter from the utility companies prospective.

Yup, if you saw the property you would understand how fucked the situation is. I'm not trying to block access, in fact I want to be sure to give them the access they need, and compared to any other houses on my street they would be sitting pretty to work with me. Everyone has signed off except for Unisource Electric. Someone has a personal vendetta on this property from years prior. I unfortunately got left holding the bag.

 

[DRYHEAT]

Are you trying to build your wall in the PUE? If so that’s pretty much a non starter from the utility companies prospective.

Not necessarily true here but as of late they’ve been real assholes. Bunch of jerks on a power trip and Unisource is one of the worst. Had a friend submit plans that got rejected, submitted the same plans six months later and they were approved. There is no consistency and how they apply any of their rules.

 

[Boat 405]

Not necessarily true here but as of late they’ve been real assholes. Bunch of jerks on a power trip and Unisource is one of the worst. Had a friend submit plans that got rejected, submitted the same plans six months later and they were approved. There is no consistency and how they apply any of their rules.

Yup, guy I talked to today definite power trip. Not to mention he flat out lied to me on the phone about multiple items, like how they had to drive through my RV garage to change a utility pole when I know in fact after talking to the lineman who did the work they did all the work from the property next door. Like why even make something like that up?

Mohave county Unisource director got an email today and tomorrow will follow up with a phone call about this guy.

 

[Motor Boater]

Unfortunately it doesn’t matter what the other properties have got away with. All eyes on are you at this point and they are making it black and white. You can get it done, but my advise would be to speak and act EXTREMELY nicely to these folks. Go meet with them face to face. All they get is people pissed off and screaming at them. If your nice and they see that, they will bend over backwards for you. You can be firm and still be nice. This is what I do for a living, the shit I have gotten done would blow your mind. I can’t stress enough how much an in person meeting helps. Ask for options, ideas and help. It’s very easy For them to say no over the phone, not so much in person.

 

[Boat 405]

Unfortunately it doesn’t matter what the other properties have got away with. All eyes on are you at this point and they are making it black and white. You can get it done, but my advise would be to speak and act EXTREMELY nicely to these folks. Go meet with them face to face. All they get is people pissed off and screaming at them. If your nice and they see that, they will bend over backwards for you. You can be firm and still be nice. This is what I do for a living, the shit I have gotten done would blow your mind. I can’t stress enough how much an in person meeting helps. Ask for options, ideas and help. It’s very easy For them to say no over the phone, not so much in person.

Agreed. I’ve kept my cool even though I’d like to say a few things that wouldn’t go so well. Been trying to get the in person meeting since day one full knowing that the over the phone will never go in my favor.

 

[DRYHEAT]

Unfortunately it doesn’t matter what the other properties have got away with. All eyes on are you at this point and they are making it black and white. You can get it done, but my advise would be to speak and act EXTREMELY nicely to these folks. Go meet with them face to face. All they get is people pissed off and screaming at them. If your nice and they see that, they will bend over backwards for you. You can be firm and still be nice. This is what I do for a living, the shit I have gotten done would blow your mind. I can’t stress enough how much an in person meeting helps. Ask for options, ideas and help. It’s very easy For them to say no over the phone, not so much in person.

Have you done this in Havasu? If so maybe I’ll hire you I’ve got a 20‘ x 50‘ easement where I want to build my RV garage.

 

[DRYHEAT]

Agreed. I’ve kept my cool even though I’d like to say a few things that wouldn’t go so well. Been trying to get the in person meeting since day one full knowing that the over the phone will never go in my favor.

Did you ask the contractor building the wall about getting the easement encroachment? I always thought it would be easier if the contractor talked to them because they don’t like talking to us owner builder types.

 

[Boat 405]

Did you ask the contractor building the wall about getting the easement encroachment? I always thought it would be easier if the contractor talked to them because they don’t like talking to us owner builder types.

Pretty sure the house builder is responsible for part of this mess unfortunately.

 

[grumpy88]

If it’s a retaining wall it needs to be 40” or less without permit. Trust me I’ve been going 3 months around this issue. I can’t finish my pool until this gets resolved

My pool guy is telling me I can only go 2 feet above grade without permit . How much more can it be to just permit these stupid little walls ?

 

[Instigator]

Have you offered to pay to put the utilities underground across your easement yet? You would have to do it for ALL utilities such as electric, cable, phone along with extra conduits for future use and they may even want vaults at each end but that would eliminate the problem for you.
It won't be cheap or fast though as they will require you to pay them to hire their contractor to do the work which will be a whole lot more than it should be for sure but how bad do you want it. This option can put an end to your problem for good.

 

[Boat 405]

Have you offered to pay to put the utilities underground across your easement yet? You would have to do it for ALL utilities such as electric, cable, phone along with extra conduits for future use and they may even want vaults at each end but that would eliminate the problem for you.
It won't be cheap or fast though as they will require you to pay them to hire their contractor to do the work which will be a whole lot more than it should be for sure but how bad do you want it. This option can put an end to your problem for good.

I brought that idea up, but the response was they would still want access to "THEIR" easement..... I'm like wait, what? whose easement? who pays the taxes on the property?

 

[SummitKarl]

you might have to go the abandonment route, they usually will give 5' , unisource is not normally the problem, it's frontier that's the issue, yes you need a permit for higher than 3' retaining( cantilevered/restraining) or not especially if block/CMU it's a public safety issue, all you need for the pool is 5' from top of wall to dirt and non scaleable, (no chainlink or horizontal bars, and 4" max opening between vertical openings).....welcome to Havasu building where you can do something once but not the same thing twice

 

[Boat 405]

Had a good conversation this afternoon with a guy higher up in Unisource and we may have figured out a solution. Fingers crossed.

 

[KKern]

Had a good conversation this afternoon with a guy higher up in Unisource and we may have figured out a solution. Fingers crossed.

We are having the same struggle, would you be willing to share the name and number of who you spoke to? Did you speak in person?

 

[The Prisoner]

it is easier to beg for forgiveness than ask permission.

That’s what I did with a giant Tuff Shed. No Habla Permit.

 

[DRYHEAT]

Had a good conversation this afternoon with a guy higher up in Unisource and we may have figured out a solution. Fingers crossed.

Curious to know if you got your issue resolved and were able to do what you wanted to do?

 

[Boat 405]

Yup got it handled back in September. They agreed to an encroachment into the easement. Finally got my wall finished back in December.

 

[KKern]

Yup, guy I talked to today definite power trip. Not to mention he flat out lied to me on the phone about multiple items, like how they had to drive through my RV garage to change a utility pole when I know in fact after talking to the lineman who did the work they did all the work from the property next door. Like why even make something like that up?

Mohave county Unisource director got an email today and tomorrow will follow up with a phone call about this guy.

I'm having this same issue, how did you get contact info?

 

[KKern]

Would love some advise on who to talk to as we are battling the same thing witb Unisource is Lake Havasu right now. The city and all other utilities approved it except Unisource

 

[Boat 405]

Would love some advise on who to talk to as we are battling the same thing witb Unisource is Lake Havasu right now. The city and all other utilities approved it except Unisource

Get in touch with Steve Hanes at Unisource. He is a very respectful, cool guy to work with. Be reasonable and adaptable and he will be the same. Private message me if you need contact info. You should be able to call and ask for him via the local number. I don’t think sharing it on a public forum would be appropriate.

 

[KKern]

Great thank you

 

[KKern]

Great thank you

Is he is havasu or kingman

 

[KKern]

Get in touch with Steve Hanes at Unisource. He is a very respectful, cool guy to work with. Be reasonable and adaptable and he will be the same. Private message me if you need contact info. You should be able to call and ask for him via the local number. I don’t think sharing it on a public forum would be appropriate.

Thank you. Is he is havasu or kingman?

 

[Boat 405]

Thank you. Is he is havasu or kingman?

I think he is Havasu.