Phone company digging up my foxtail...

17 years ago

Hello all,

I came home from work today with startling news from my wife. The phone company came by and need to dig in my back yard to access their lines. I have a foxtail I planted in April of this year that appears to have rooted well and grown about 3-4 feet, totaling about 8-10 feet overall. They painted an "X" where they are going to dig, it is about 3 feet away from the trunk. How far out do the roots go at this size? They said they were going to dig it up and re-plant it in a few days. If they have to do that, what are the odds this tree will live? BTW, they said if it does die, they would replace it, but as we all know, that is not the point. Just looking for any experiences, suggestions, sympathies....

Thanks,

Richard

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Comments (5)

unautre
17 years ago
what can you do but go along?

just try to be there and make sure they get a big root ball,

don't lift it by the trunk, but by bottom of the rootball

when they re-plant, note that Foxtails are sensitive to being planted too low, so err on slightly too high, as Foxtails "stilt up".

It may be stalled/in shock for many months, no new growth, maybe lose the older fronds.
florida_wannabe
17 years ago
As I am a supervisor in the Field (CATV not Phone), if the tree is in the easement, their is not much you can do.
But as I personally do, I give people my card and tell them to call me with any problems.
My advice, get the biz card of the supervisor, have the people dig it up and watch them. Chances are, this is not the first time they have had to dig up a palm in the way. I actually don't think you will have any problems. However, keep the phone number and you might even take pictures of the locate marks now, and then when the workers get there, maybe take pics of them WITH THE PHONE TRUCKS IN THE BACKGROUND working on the tree. Keep the pics and phone numbers and if something goes wrong, ask them to buy you a new one (more than likely, they will) and this time plant it away from any locate marks.
BTW, not trying to be rude so please do not take offense to this, but if you planted it in April, and if you did what is the law, and called for locates, why would you plant it so close to a utility cable?
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richard852
Original Author
17 years ago
Where I planted the tree is outside of the utility easement. This particular line does not service my house, but goes to the back area of the subdivision which is still undeveloped. Apparantly when my homebuilder put up my fence, they hit the phone line so the back of the neighborhood does not have service. They just found this out now since they are now starting to develop the back section of the neighborhood.

I had a pool put in and called for locates and electric, gas, and cable showed up but not the phone company. My pool builder told me that was common with Verizon. Maybe they assume it costs less to repair one out of ten than to mark every one, I don't know, just a guess. I just assumed it would be safe to plant there since it was planted outside the utility easement. Am I required to call for locates outside the normal utility easements?

Richard
florida_wannabe
17 years ago
Well then I am confused.
If it is a main line (not just YOUR service drop) and it is outside the easement, then they need to move the entire main line.
If it is just your service drop, then they could just not do anything to the cable in the ground right now and run a new service drop well away from your tree.
What it sounds like is that it IS a main feeder line since it serves the neighborhood behind you. If that is the case one of two things are going on...
1) The phone cable is out of easement, and again, they should move the line and not disrupt your tree.
2) The tree is in fact in the easement.
To check, you can get a "Plat Map" from your city office. On it, you will see your boundaries. Also you will see a line thru your boundary that says some thing like "16' U-Easement.". What that measn is that from your property pin or stake, 8' either side of the pin is utility easement. All your phone, cable, power lines should be in the 16' area going down the back of your property.
If the phone cable is more than 8' on your side of the pin, they need to move the cable, NOT your tree.
However, I just use the 16' easement as that is what most are here. Could be a 20' easement (10' both sides of property pin), could be an 8' easement (4' each side of property pin).
If you would like, go to the city office and get the plat map and scan it and send it to me. I will be more than happy to help you as I said earlier, thats what I do for the cable comapany here.
florida_wannabe
17 years ago
Have not heard anything else. How did things come out????

Phone company digging up my foxtail...

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unautre

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Phone company digging up my foxtail...

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unautre

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