.
The day my husband had been waiting for finally arrived. The top road engineer from the State (and two support staff for backup) were here. Outnumbered and surrounded, my husband was undeterred and ready to discuss the ditch from Hell in great detail.
.
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He explained how repeated snow plow drivers and mailman had driven on the edge and ruined the structural integrity.
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He explained how the sides have been caving in and filling the ditch with dirt, sand, gravel and chunks of road tar.
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He complained about the town scraping off all his hard won grass that helped the erosion.
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He told them he wanted to install .. at our expense…a perforated drainage pipe and fill in the ditch to bring a level lawn out to the road … like our neighbors on both sides and across the street.
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And that’s when things got tense. Because no matter how many reasons my husband gave, the head engineer would not be swayed.
.
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He kept repeating the ditch was necessary for proper road drainage. Which is odd, because it was the previous owner who (illegally) dug the ditch to begin with.
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Nothing my husband said… and believe me over the course of an hour he said a lot…. could sway the official.
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The end result?
Before the state paves the entire road, which will happen in the next few weeks, a crew will arrive to completely dig out and shore up the sides of our ditch. They will lay new dirt on the sides and scatter grass seed.
Big whoop.
To me this will be even worse than what we have now. It will be steeper… and harder to mow and weed whack than ever. Grass seed? Useless, it will just wash away into the ditch.
And before you say we should have just filled it in ourselves and not told them? The official told us if we did that we’d be given a huge fine and forced to dig it back out again… and if we didn’t? They’d come dig it out themselves and charge us for doing it.
They say you can’t fight city hall. Apparently you can’t fight the Maine DOT either.
😡
River's world..... 
You can fight, it just doesn’t do any good. When people refuse to consider facts and logic, there is little hope. Sorry.
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It’s so aggravating. Where was this guy when the previous owner dug the damn thing out?
😡
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THOSE BASTARDS!!!! You’d think they work for the State of Texas……ugh.
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It’s going to be a nightmare. I know it…
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Please explain to your husband that it is futile to argue with a bunch of guys named Dot who aren’t even smart enough to wear their name badges on the front of their uniform. So if it was illegal for the previous owner to dig the ditch and illegal for you to fill it in, please tell just what is legal for the edge of your road ? Enquiring minds want to know. Now for the good news. Both you and your hubs now qualify for improved drinking time. You now have legal and justified improved drinking time. Yes you have a reason. Please get out there and enjoy. Happy Tuesday ! I have to wait until tomorrow for the anesthesia to wear off. However I will I promise resume the opportunity with gusto. Cheers !
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And what are the odds that all three of them were named Dot? You rarely find that kind of symmetry in life.
As for what they think is legal, I have no idea. None of our neighbors have ditches… it’s completely baffling.
And while I’m glad our drinking time is now justified, to be honest the lack there of never stopped us before.
Cheers!
🍸
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Surplus justification for drinking time is always a good thing. Just keep it in the bank and hope you can remember which bank when the need arises !
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So they’re basically claiming that land is a public easement – yikes, we have an easement on our western border – such a pain. So sorry.
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They say the state owns 10 feet in from the road.
🥴
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Good lord. I hated liking this post! I feel the frustration from way down here. It.makes.no.sense.
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None. Whatsoever.
If there are any drainage issues from us filling it in and making it lawn, they’ll be our problem… so why do they care?
😖
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How much do you pay for water? After the new ditch is built, and sfter all the DOTs have gone home, put the hose in the ditch at the higher end and turn it on, and let it run till the new dirt is
washed away. Then next year bitch about the fact every time it rains, your ditch turns into mud!
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Ha! We don’t pay for water, we have a well. And I’d hate for it to run dry …
😉
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No, we don’t want that.
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I’m thinking about surface structure and environmental impacts. Yes the road needs drainage, but it’s all occurring outside your property. If road runoff is contaminated and the water percolates into groundwater and springs, that may impact your water supply. Alternatively, the lack of continuity of solid surface on either side of the road may undermine the road itself, requiring constant repairs and maintenance. Worthwhile thinking about what the guys doing your driveway said about those aspects. So, saying that, let’s hope heavier traffic isn’t anticipated. I’m no expert, just a student and generally irate about current governance practices…. Anyway, I’m adding a link to an interactive map for your area – one, because I love these things, and two, it may give you something to play around with. Go to the layer list on the top right to select/deselect things you might wish to view. It might convert you into an activist….
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Oh, here’s the link to the map! https://maine.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=10b3bb8ce13548179414bf4c68bcf9c5
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Interesting.
Zoomed in on our area, no work in sight.
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It’s not a heavily traveled road but annual freezes and frost heaves destroy every road in this state over time. I understand drainage issues, but why just us and not our neighbors? It’s a dead straightaway in front of all of them.
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I don’t understand how your neighbors can get away with having no ditch…
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No one has a ditch except us. Granted across the street us all field, but our neighbor to the left has lawn right out to the road.
😖
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Right. That’s what I don’t get. If the county is so adamant that the ditch is necessary, why don’t they dig one in your neighbor’s yard??
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Good question.
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