A little annoyed

Well a few weeks ago the city installed a new culvert pipe beside my house forcing the water on the other side of the road on to my side. A day AFTER that rain storm my property had water levels coming up way past the ditch (About 20ft!)and close to the house and staying there. The two nice days after the storm the water was still rising getting closer to the house! I Called thed the city and they said they would have a look i doubt they did! Ill have to call again and complain more as this is causing a mess! Now half my front lawn is a swamp and im sure dropping my property value and chances of a flooded basement!
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Well today I walked in to the bush and now there is water higher then my boots! I have never seen water levels this high in the bush even after the spring thaw! X:) X:)
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No more deer pictures its all wood ducks. Keep an eye on the ladder stand steps and it will give you an idea how deep the water was got!
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i love it when the township fixes stuff around here too. havent been that bad... as they actually lowered the amount of flooding here... but the road repairs... first time in 15 years.. consisted of a pick up truck with asphalt.. and a roller... a guy in the back of the pick truck shoveling asphalt out.. bening followed by a roller... the road was better before they `fixed`it...

I hope I can get them to remove this culvert as I'm sure someone on the other side complained and they installed it. Now it's causing a disaster

If you got lemons make lemon aid. Looks like you got heck of a duck spot now. With these storms flooding will happen. Look at Burlington where a number of home owners have found their homes unliveable.

Duck and deer spot. Looks good for you.

I would be calling the city constantly till they fix the problem "they caused" it is illegal to divert water from it's natural course onto private property.This is in the Township By Laws formerly Flamborough now The greater City of Hamilton "under the drainage act" .
Get after them , as you are now unable to use your property the way you had "because they created a problem ".

I would call the city and hound them and also contact a lawyer.

Hire a beaver and have him plug the culvert for you. Seriously, contact your municipality and have them fix the problem that they created.

Mind if I place my stake for the fowl opener :)

If they won't fix the problem soon I would plug the culvert before you drown your trees or flood your basement. That really sucks they didn't do their homework to see where they were diverting the water too

Time to use your free 30mins with a lawyer.
What a pain in the but for you though, hope it doesn't go as far as your basement.

i here you... my problem hasnt gotton that severe, but last summer my township decided to ditch all the roads... well my house is at the bottom of a small hill, then theres a creek right besside me, well they ditched down the hill then stopped at my neighbours driveway skipped mine then ditched after the creek again... so now when we get any heavy rains it flows down the ditch, but as theres no culverts there it just floods into our driveways and slowly drains down to the creek, i dang near got my 4x4 truck stuck in my driveway in the spring, all because the township was to cheap to put 2 culverts in our driveways... i brought it up with the foremen and nothing was ever done, might need to go higher i guess...

they also decided to ditch along a muskeg swamp further down which would flood for a day or too in the spring, well as soon as they ditched it, water came in from the swamp and was flooding onto the road in the middle of august... glad i pay high taxes for these guys to maintain my roads lol

hopefully u get it resolved before the spring thaw

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Originally Posted by fishy steve

i brought it up with the foremen and nothing was ever done, might need to go higher i guess...

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Make sure you document any communications you have: date, time, person you spoke with (or description of them) and the gist of what was said. They have a responsibility to do what is reasonable, failing that any damage after or caused by lack of reasonable precautions is negligence.

Start with a letter of how things happened as you know it, the solution you'd be happy with and send it by registered letter to the person or office in charge. Wait two weeks for the letter to 'cure' and if they don't respond then that's means they agree to everything you wrote. Then you use that letter in court.

Go get'em and good luck.

Conservation will be called next. Being as half my property is conservastion. If they didnt go through the right steps I am sure the city will hear from them.

If theres no drainage easemesnt on your property they cant divert water onto your property that would not normally flow there. Keep at them though. Dont let them get a moments rest. Make every thought going through their heads about you.

Good luck! If at all possible stick it to em!

Experience has shown that one cannot stop rainwater from running downhill. Up until the culvert appeared, the road was trying to do just that. Now the culvert lets the water flow as nature intended. You can either try to keep it on the other side of the road, which is ABOVE your property, or find out why it won't drain beyond your property and get the town to solve it from that end.
Either way, they need to do it before your trees die....

Do NOT plug that culvert! I had the exact same problem with the city. If you plug the culvert YOU are in violation of redirecting water and YOU will be responsible for ANY damage that occurs - REGARDLESS if the city initiated the redirection first.

Contact the city and, as already suggested, keep detailed notes and photographs. Stay on them each day! Make a phone call or send some type of correspondence EVERY DAY. Do not let them breathe. As silly as you may feel contacting and complaining each day, trust me that if you dont they will ignore you. Continually remind them that THEY redirected the water and complain that the water levels are increasing and causing damage.

Stay on them - good luck.

You have the legal right to force the city to undo the damage they have done, Jaycee is right on regarding changing a water course, natural or man made, if you were to raise the grade of your property and flood your neighbor they could hold you responsible, this is no different.

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Originally Posted by TurkeyRookie

Mind if I place my stake for the fowl opener :)

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Darn it...you beat me to it!!!

I would recomend that you look up the drainage act for ontario, there are fairly clear rules on water both for the collector and receiver of surface water based on old common law. I would refer to same in correspondence with the city.

Annother thing, if it's going to cause imminent harm you could have the work done and charge it back to them.
A better first route might be to get a quote and send it to them with a letter saying it's something they'll have to pay. If it's sent registered mail (and you send it to the right party) and they don't respond you can assume they agree, at least that's what a court might do..
;)

Call your councillor for your ward this is their job. Plus they love telling munipal staff they did something wrong makes them feel important.

And for the legal eagles the laws and acts all favor the municipality your lawyer or councillor will get results. You may be able to get them to make a ditch on your property and take the water to somewhere you want the water ( dig you a duck pond away from your deer spot )

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Originally Posted by Monster29/66

Call your councillor for your ward this is their job. Plus they love telling munipal staff they did something wrong makes them feel important.

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How did you make out with this Matt? If you don't get any response out of Partridge try getting in touch with Robert Pasuta. Even though he's counselor for Ward 15 he lives in your ward and he seems to be one of the few counselors in the city of Hamilton that has half a brain.

As of right there there is a paving roller and two dump trucks sitting where they installed the pipe.. I looked to see if anything changed on my way home from work doesn't look like it. Ill be taking a walk past there in about an hour

Keep us updated!

They are just re paving the roads... Going to call tomorrow and complain again and see what their plan is

ya know the problem is fixed!........for the guy on the other side of the road :) lol. take pictures demand an on-site meet and contact your councilor to have the proper authority to get back to you.

Tell them to fix it after September 27th...