You can build on the easement! You can build a fence, even a shed if you want to. It’s PA Law.

The utility easement is a right of way for ingress and egress, not to dictate what you erect on your property.

Under Pennsylvania law, it’s permitted to construct enhancements like fences or sheds on your easement. The easement serves as a passage for entry and exit purposes and doesn’t impose restrictions on the installations on your property.

However, as the below notice summarizes, it’s crucial to recognize that should a utility company need to dismantle a portion of your fence for operational reasons, they are not accountable for any resulting damage. This principle was already acknowledged by the board in their notice from November, which explicitly mentioned that the authority will not compensate for damages to landscaping, fences, mulch, etc., because any additions made within the right of way are at the property owner’s risk.

This notification doesn’t mandate the removal of any landscaping, fences, or structures. Instead, it clarifies that if such installations are damaged during the exercise of the authority’s access rights, the authority won’t be liable. This stance by the board confirms that the current demands being placed on me are not in line with the acknowledged easement rights.

 

This is the crux of the case

This is it in a nutshell. (image below) This is the crux of Mr. Zerbe’s case. He sent me this copy, with the line highlighted, that he mistakenly thinks implies that we cannot erect a fence in conjunction with an easement. Mr. Zerbe incorrectly posits that the community agreement, as per his interpretation of Section 7, prohibits the construction of any structures upon an easement, implying that this restriction would preclude the erection of anything within 15 feet of the roadway. This interpretation, however, is a misreading of the deed’s language. If his interpretation were true, everyone would have to tear down any structures and other enhancements, not just 15 feet from the curb stops, but also 15 feet from the road. So, again, the entire basis of his case is moot, section 7 does not say what he thinks it does.
The argument that the community has agreed to an absolute prohibition of construction within 15 feet of the roadway is not only unfounded but also contradicts the practical and observed applications of the deed’s guidelines within the community. There are numerous instances and precedents within the lake community where structures have been erected within proximity to the roadway, all in compliance with the agreed-upon regulations and without contravening the spirit or the letter of Section 7.

The first paragraph below is indicative of the case relying on the referenced paragraph seven

Here is the copy of the deed he sent me with the line highlighted referencing paragraph seven. (The paragraph in which he thinks there is verbiage preventing structures be build on easements.)



This is Section 7

7. Lake Wynonah, Inc., for itself, it’s successors, and licenses, reserves an easement upon all 60 foot road rights of way, reserves a 15 foot wide easement along all road rights of way, and a 5 foot wide easement along the side and rear lines of each and every lot for the purpose of installing, operating, and maintaining television cables, utility lines, and mains thereon, together with the right to trip and or cut or remove any trees and or brush and the right to locate guy wires, braces, and anchors wherever necessary for installations, operations or maintenance, together with the right to install, operate and maintain gas and water mains, sewer lines, culverts, and drainage ditches, and other services and pertinence thereto. For the convenience of the property owners, reserving also the rights of ingress and egress to such areas for any of the purposes mentioned above. if and when the sewer district established by the Schuylkill county commissioners determines it feasible to install essential system such district shall have and it hereby is granted the right along with other authorized utilities to use the hearing reserved easements to install and maintain such central sewer system. Exceptions one, where an owner of two or more adjoining lots construct a building which shall cross over or through a common lot line, common lot line shall not be subject to the aforementioned 5 foot easement unless it is shown on recorded plate.

2. No easement shell exist on that portion of any waterfront running along or a bunting the shoreline of Lake Wynonah unless shown on the recorded plate except however Lake Wynonah incorporated for itself, is successors, assigns, and licenses reserves the right to cause or

his proof, LOL

This is Section 7 continued

Permit drainage of surface water over and or through send lots. Lake Wynonah, Incorporated, it’s successors or assigned, reserves and easement on, over or under all road rights of way for the purpose of installing operating and maintaining the above mentioned utilities and drainage. The owners of said property shall have no cause or action against Lake Wynonah incorporated it successors, assigned, or licenses either at law or in equity accepting in case of willful negligence by reason of any damage caused said property in installing, operating, removing, or maintaining the above mention installation. Lake Wynonah Inc. successors and assigns reserves all mineral rights to the lands hereto, and the rights for the installation of cable vision.

This is the rest of the letter.

What’s particularly frustrating is the continuation of these actions even after the board’s acknowledgment of their mistake through the orange-pink notice distributed in November, which is referenced again beneath this letter. This notice explicitly states they won’t be liable for any damage to fences, without mandating the removal of all fences, nor singling out Maria Dorval for such action.

The presence of this letter does not validate its contents as factual. It erroneously cites “encroachment” in its fourth paragraph, despite there being none. My fence is situated on my property, within a 15-foot utility easement, as allowable by PA Law, and constitutes no encroachment.