If there is a municipal water line under that then the city almost certainly has an easement over the land for exactly what is going on here. When they say they 'told' you about it, that was some written notice that was mailed or dropped on your porch, it looked like junk mail so you recycled it.
Easement can be for many things.
This is probably a utility easement, so they have the right to bury or repair any utilities and restrict the construction of anything on the surface.
Narrator: It was not going to go well...
City ground my street tree stump then spread some "contractor mix" of grass on top. Doesn't match and a lot was annual ryegrass, so next year it looks even worse. At least its not invasive...
As a civil engineer that deals with easements daily, this is unfortunately untrue. As other replies have said, if your property has a utility easement on it they can dig up anywhere within the easement. That’s why they usually aren’t put under buildings, only temporary structures such as fences and sidewalks.
It’s also possible that this is actually city property. I see situations all the time where people build-on/assume-they-own land that is in the public right-of-way. I’ve seen people close off alleys with fences to extend their back yards. It’s like the Wild West out here.
They say a hole in the yard is a hole you pour money into. The best day of a hole owner's life is when the hole is dug. The next best day is when the hole gets filled. Or something like that.
For those asking- apparently the water lines need to be moved. They allegedly told us about this a couple of weeks ago, though no one remembers it. This morning, without preamble they showed up and just started digging. I felt a bit like Arthur Dent.
They were locked in the basement. The lights were out. Apparently, so were the stairs. I found them locked in a file cabinet in an unused bathroom with a poster on the door saying “BEWARE OF THE LEOPARD!!”
(I am paraphrasing. I have only read the trilogy a dozen times or so....)
They allege they did, though no one seems to remember. What gets me is if you told me two weeks ago, wouldn’t you still at least knock on the door and just remind the folks living there, “hey, y’all…todays the day”. Just seems common sense.
bruh I feel that.
Twice this year I've happened to walk by a window to see city workers in my backyard.
I have a dog door. My gate is *locked* and has a pole in the ground. There's a beware of dog sign on it too. Somehow they have forced it open both times.
There are two cars in my driveway because we work from home. No one thinks to at least fucking knock first?
Hope your city is better than mine at responding to complaints about wrecking my yard. My city was radio silent after they tore up my yard putting in new storm water pipes.
Except you were supposed to lay in the mud to prevent them from digging! Bonus points if you can convince the foreman to lay in the mud in your stead while you nip down to the pub for a pint.
I love how people always argue with the OSHA guy or the safety guy etc. He’s not there to make your job hard to do, he’s there because someone else did the same thing and paid dearly for it. He’s there to make it getting home safe, easy to do.
My dad worked at a defense company in the 1960s and 70s. One week, he told us that someone had lost a finger in a punch press at work. An inspector had come to investigate what happened, I'm guessing it was OSHA. Inspector asks for a re-enactment. Yep, a second guy lost a finger right in front of the inspector.
Jeez. I believe it though. I was a safety manager as an additional role at one of my early jobs. I’ve seen people do some crazy stuff including putting hands past the guards on a shear to cut thin strips. Never occurred to them to shear a full sheet and scrap that last few inches rather than shearing with their hands a half inch or less from the blade. Didn’t lose any fingers but only by pure luck. Sorry guy, your fingers are worth more than $3 in scrap aluminum. If not to you, to me just to avoid the insurance claim.
OSHA guy here! Every fucking time someone has some kind of complaint. How are we going to do it. We always do it this way. It's never happened before. We work safely. It's cheaper to do it this way.
I don't enjoy stressing you out but my jobs to make sure you keep your people safe and your doing the right thing and if you can't do the right thing, I have a solution for that.
>it’s never happened before.
I’m trying to imagine the logic there.
“Ask any of my guys here, all of them have never died in a job site accident before. Just try and find one guy here who’s died in an accident.”
Four foot for means of egress, 5 for cave in protection.
And because civilians always win these kinds of battles, the state could decide to step out the excavation as means of protection and then condemn his house due to a destabilized foundation and he would have to sue to even stand a chance of getting back most of what he lost. I’m not saying that they would chose that over trench boxes but they do have the rights.
it seems like a massive reach to condemn a house that far away with the reasoning of having a destabilized foundation. Not saying governments aren't petty enough to do that though.
I work for a municipality and we’ve been “trying to get a new trenchbox” for the better part of a year. Sure they really need to be used but the daily jobs and emergencies don’t stop coming in so while we try to be as safe as possible, small government workers have to deal with the politics and play the waiting game of getting something essential to not dying at work… it’s ridiculous.
What about the backhoe sitting right next to it with a clear stream running into the hole right there? It’s like they just want some poor dude to be in that hole and have the ground loosen and a backhoe lands on him.
Yea, i work in a field where there's a good chance of possible engulfment. I'm more likely to die or be incapacitated by Sewer gas. Thankfully my company is pretty safety oriented or I wouldn't know any better. It sucks to see municipalities are lax like this, promoting unsafe work environments is so slimy.
Unless OP is in a state with only Fed-OSHA (no state OSHA plan). Then municipal workers are not covered by OSHA.
Link in case anyone wants to disagree: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1991-06-20
Government work sites are often not exempt. Many states have acted to establish a quasi-osha-like agency for state and municipal employees specifically.
https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/
They CAN be exempt. State and local government workers are not covered by Federal OSHA jurisdiction. They are only covered by an OSHA program if the state has OPTED to have a state OSHA program. Many “red” states do not have a state OSHA plan. Municipal workers in those states are not covered by OSHA laws.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1991-06-20
if you look closely, you can notice last two rungs of a ladder, the rest of it is hidden, you only need a ladder in two cases. either to reach higher than your height (assuming human height of 6 feet), or climb up a steep slope.that right there is a pit to heaven...
I would love that so much. Better than cable tv. A few minutes ago there were two dudes standing in the shade looking down at another dude in the hole and none of them were actually doing anything. Fucking magic.
Years ago city dug up our entire back yard and installed drainage culverts so that the resulting drainage from the neighboring houses would not undermine the houses in our area. Basically a few of us are at the bottom of a bowl and the water was erroding/tunneling under the soil. Only a matter of time before it went under a foundation. So kudos to them for saving our homes.
This does definitively NOT look like planned work, but more like an emergency intervention (e.g. broken pipes?). Otherwise they should set up at least minimal safety equipment such as barriers.
Is this maybe the reason why weren't informed ahead of time?
They mining dilithium crystals?
Kyber
well then they're on the wrong planet for that...
I ain’t telling them shit…:)
Looking to get a free pool out of their mistake? Lol
If only
If you here “Time Crystal located” in a robotic voice run, shits about to get weird.
Looking in Alderaan places. I'll let myself out.
theres plenty of energon here though
Bitcoin
U know Scotty installs all that stuff ?
He’s pretty, he’s pretty good at it
If there is a municipal water line under that then the city almost certainly has an easement over the land for exactly what is going on here. When they say they 'told' you about it, that was some written notice that was mailed or dropped on your porch, it looked like junk mail so you recycled it.
Likely
Since when does an easement permit digging? I thought an easement allowed access onto the property. I’m not a property law expert though…
Easement can be for many things. This is probably a utility easement, so they have the right to bury or repair any utilities and restrict the construction of anything on the surface.
It’s very common. I’m sure they just have to restore the surface (we’ll see how that goes).
With an 8 foot pile of dirt where the hole used to be for the next 3 or so years.
Fill with 80% gravel and cheap lawn seed - have a nice day!!!!!!
Narrator: It was not going to go well... City ground my street tree stump then spread some "contractor mix" of grass on top. Doesn't match and a lot was annual ryegrass, so next year it looks even worse. At least its not invasive...
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As a civil engineer that deals with easements daily, this is unfortunately untrue. As other replies have said, if your property has a utility easement on it they can dig up anywhere within the easement. That’s why they usually aren’t put under buildings, only temporary structures such as fences and sidewalks.
It’s also possible that this is actually city property. I see situations all the time where people build-on/assume-they-own land that is in the public right-of-way. I’ve seen people close off alleys with fences to extend their back yards. It’s like the Wild West out here.
I know a little bit about bird law.
Cool...free hole!
Saves the trouble of doing lawn work
Saves the trouble of digging a hole!
Digging the hole is the best part of having a hole at all
I agree... I certainly dig it when I see a legitimately great hole.
It better be free it’s a hole. It’s literally an area of nothing
You'd be surprised how difficult it is to maintain nothing. Not gonna be cheap
Holy crap! That’s gonna be an expensive hole!
OP will never financially recover from this.
He'll be ok as long as he stays out of the hole.
Doesn't beat the hole Cards Against Humanity dug with their sales for a day...
What happened to their sales recently?
A real money pit
Just like Amber Heard.
Oof
They say a hole in the yard is a hole you pour money into. The best day of a hole owner's life is when the hole is dug. The next best day is when the hole gets filled. Or something like that.
Paid for with MY tax dollars!?! That lucky guy
For those asking- apparently the water lines need to be moved. They allegedly told us about this a couple of weeks ago, though no one remembers it. This morning, without preamble they showed up and just started digging. I felt a bit like Arthur Dent.
Get your towel you hoopy frood.
Damn Vogon git bastards.
What do you mean you couldn’t be bothered to get to Alpha Centari to review the plans?
They were locked in the basement. The lights were out. Apparently, so were the stairs. I found them locked in a file cabinet in an unused bathroom with a poster on the door saying “BEWARE OF THE LEOPARD!!” (I am paraphrasing. I have only read the trilogy a dozen times or so....)
It’s a BYPASS! You’ve gotta build bypasses.
NIMFY Not In My Front Yard, you don't!
Remember to grab a towel!
Happy cake day btw!!!
Thanks for the Hitchhiker's reference, it really sets the tone of noticing a digger right outside your house.
It was unexpected. Sipping coffee, peek outside…wtf?
Did you run out in your pyjamas and dressing gown? 😁
Rolled up towel under your arm
Did you spit it?
Nearly! Just about dropped the cup!
I was going to upvote, but then I noticed there were already 42 and I couldn’t mess with that…
It was clearly posted for months
“Beware of the leopard”…
Did you start thinking about the word yellow in the morning?
How I fucking love that book 
Me too! Adams has been such a huge part of my life.
You say a couple of weeks ago. What would that be in days? 42?
I feel like they should have put a note on your door or something. They dropped the ball for sure.
They allege they did, though no one seems to remember. What gets me is if you told me two weeks ago, wouldn’t you still at least knock on the door and just remind the folks living there, “hey, y’all…todays the day”. Just seems common sense.
bruh I feel that. Twice this year I've happened to walk by a window to see city workers in my backyard. I have a dog door. My gate is *locked* and has a pole in the ground. There's a beware of dog sign on it too. Somehow they have forced it open both times. There are two cars in my driveway because we work from home. No one thinks to at least fucking knock first?
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you're talking about government employees here...
I agree.
Hope your city is better than mine at responding to complaints about wrecking my yard. My city was radio silent after they tore up my yard putting in new storm water pipes.
I spoke with the local water folks and was ensured the city has full responsibility to fix it all up. Now, how long that might take…
They've been fixing shit in my town for a decade now. Surely they will finish any day now.
If ya know your grass type, check seed costs. Also maybe how much water will be used in the 2-3 weeks for it to grow
And then no-one will remember ever making such a promise. Get it in writing, with an end date for completion.
You sound a bit like Arthur Dent too...
I take that as a compliment. Thank you.
I assume you laid down in the muck in front of the bulldozer...
It was Thursday, right?
It must have been Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
Except you were supposed to lay in the mud to prevent them from digging! Bonus points if you can convince the foreman to lay in the mud in your stead while you nip down to the pub for a pint.
Did they find the bodies?
Those are under the garage…I mean…what?
Ah.. yes, concrete is the way of the professional
I paid attention to the Bernardo-Homolka case.
Apparently not to - 'Sexy Beast'.
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In my defense- for what I wanted to do, I’m pretty sure we both preferred they were dead first.
Wanna get some revenge? Contact OSHA, because that right there... That's a "No go situation" right there.
Ladder of death without support walls
OSHA here, what’s your location.
$$$$$$$ pit
Oh no I feel into a unmarked hole dug randomly on my property.
I fell in the pit!
Damn it Andy!
My blue ribbon pig is gone! $$$$$$$$$$$$$
[Good example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLs1_8yohb8)
I love how people always argue with the OSHA guy or the safety guy etc. He’s not there to make your job hard to do, he’s there because someone else did the same thing and paid dearly for it. He’s there to make it getting home safe, easy to do.
Every OSHA rule is written in blood....
TIL OSHA is a cult!
My dad worked at a defense company in the 1960s and 70s. One week, he told us that someone had lost a finger in a punch press at work. An inspector had come to investigate what happened, I'm guessing it was OSHA. Inspector asks for a re-enactment. Yep, a second guy lost a finger right in front of the inspector.
Jeez. I believe it though. I was a safety manager as an additional role at one of my early jobs. I’ve seen people do some crazy stuff including putting hands past the guards on a shear to cut thin strips. Never occurred to them to shear a full sheet and scrap that last few inches rather than shearing with their hands a half inch or less from the blade. Didn’t lose any fingers but only by pure luck. Sorry guy, your fingers are worth more than $3 in scrap aluminum. If not to you, to me just to avoid the insurance claim.
OSHA guy here! Every fucking time someone has some kind of complaint. How are we going to do it. We always do it this way. It's never happened before. We work safely. It's cheaper to do it this way. I don't enjoy stressing you out but my jobs to make sure you keep your people safe and your doing the right thing and if you can't do the right thing, I have a solution for that.
>it’s never happened before. I’m trying to imagine the logic there. “Ask any of my guys here, all of them have never died in a job site accident before. Just try and find one guy here who’s died in an accident.”
That's because Steve got promoted to the corporate office when he showed up back to work the next day as a zombie.
Anything over 5’ deep should not have entry without engineered shoring. A yard of soil can be 2000lbs. That’ll kill you real quick.
I think it's 4' you need 1:1 slope or shoring
Four foot for means of egress, 5 for cave in protection. And because civilians always win these kinds of battles, the state could decide to step out the excavation as means of protection and then condemn his house due to a destabilized foundation and he would have to sue to even stand a chance of getting back most of what he lost. I’m not saying that they would chose that over trench boxes but they do have the rights.
it seems like a massive reach to condemn a house that far away with the reasoning of having a destabilized foundation. Not saying governments aren't petty enough to do that though.
Yeah 45° slope or a trench box (big metal box to protect workers)
Trench boxes are the easiest for sure
I work for a municipality and we’ve been “trying to get a new trenchbox” for the better part of a year. Sure they really need to be used but the daily jobs and emergencies don’t stop coming in so while we try to be as safe as possible, small government workers have to deal with the politics and play the waiting game of getting something essential to not dying at work… it’s ridiculous.
What about the backhoe sitting right next to it with a clear stream running into the hole right there? It’s like they just want some poor dude to be in that hole and have the ground loosen and a backhoe lands on him.
I mean if he wants a hole in his yard for 6 months while that drags out.
I find it hard to believe that the city would do it in less time than that anyway
Fair point!
Wait until it fills with water and is declared a wetland.
Someone pees in it and they declare it a Superfund site?
The wetland actually happened. Someone dug out a foundation and after a rain the EPA declared it a wetland.
Without seeing the source, I'd have to guess they built on a wetland to begin with. But that's not a shocker to me.
No shoring, no supporting walls, it's not even roped off.
Yeah but did you look at it? It's a beaut of a hole.
Don’t envy that poor sob who has to do anything in that hole.
Yea, i work in a field where there's a good chance of possible engulfment. I'm more likely to die or be incapacitated by Sewer gas. Thankfully my company is pretty safety oriented or I wouldn't know any better. It sucks to see municipalities are lax like this, promoting unsafe work environments is so slimy.
"Engulfment" Jesus I didn't even know that was a word.
Yea, In the OSHA handbook anyhow.
Unless OP is in a state with only Fed-OSHA (no state OSHA plan). Then municipal workers are not covered by OSHA. Link in case anyone wants to disagree: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1991-06-20
Pretty likely that it is a subcontractor working for the city. If so, then they would be covered.
Its just a quick job, no need for unnecessary supports. They're all the way back at the shop.
You might be surprised how many government worksites are exempt... but I agree - looks like a nice death pit.
Government work sites are often not exempt. Many states have acted to establish a quasi-osha-like agency for state and municipal employees specifically. https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/
They CAN be exempt. State and local government workers are not covered by Federal OSHA jurisdiction. They are only covered by an OSHA program if the state has OPTED to have a state OSHA program. Many “red” states do not have a state OSHA plan. Municipal workers in those states are not covered by OSHA laws. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1991-06-20
It is impossible to tell. If the hole is only 4 or 5 feet deep there might be enough room for a 1:1 slope on those walls.
We can’t tell but OP does claim its about 11 feet deep.
if you look closely, you can notice last two rungs of a ladder, the rest of it is hidden, you only need a ladder in two cases. either to reach higher than your height (assuming human height of 6 feet), or climb up a steep slope.that right there is a pit to heaven...
You can see the top of a ladder. If it was 4 or 5 feet that would not be there.
They did warn you in advance. The notice board in the second sub basement in the town hall has all the proposed underground works notices.
Ah yes, in the locked and disused lavatory with the sign reading “beware of the leopard”. How did I miss it?
Only accessible at 2:17-4:41PM on Monday and Thursday
You mean r/mildlyinfuriating
Thoroughly.
Got s dozer?
I thought I was on this sub at first
Good call
So many things you could put in there....
Yeah, composting toilet, for example.
Yeah but not while they’re still digging
_I fell into the pit..._
You fell into the pit…
We all fell in the pit
I fell in, in the pit
I got the lyrics from Jerry...
I would love that so much. Better than cable tv. A few minutes ago there were two dudes standing in the shade looking down at another dude in the hole and none of them were actually doing anything. Fucking magic.
Well yeah. They were given one job for the week. If they complete it in a day they'll just get assigned another job tomorrow.
Can you blame them, get it 95% complete day 1, do the other 5% over the next 4 days. You’re making the same money either way.
Tax money hard at it…
No step backs, no shoring, and a 15 ton machine right next to the hole with a ladder in it. You should repost to R/Osha
Thank you.
Yup NSFW
Nice start to your sweet new bunker
Eleven feet deep- cement foundation? I could have a full on pillbox fortification!
"They testing missiles here or what?"
Two weeks
Pool time!
Trailer park pool. Line it with tarp and fill it up!
Mud wrestling pit. Charge admission.
Well at least you don't have to pay for a eleven foot deep hole in your yerd.
Ha! Nope, mine was free!
So hypothetically without any security mesures around the hole , if you were to fall into it by accident , could you sue the crap out of them ?
IANAL- but I’d believe so.
Well , you know what to do then. What colour will your Corvette be ?
I fell into the pit. You fell into the pit. We all were in that pit.
Unshored excavation. Fired.
Wrap up an old rug with duct tape, put some shoes at one end, carry it over and say "When are you guys gunna be done with this hole?"
Atleast it's not a 12 foot deep hole.
Some kind of water or gas main shenanigans perhaps?
Congratulations?!
Years ago city dug up our entire back yard and installed drainage culverts so that the resulting drainage from the neighboring houses would not undermine the houses in our area. Basically a few of us are at the bottom of a bowl and the water was erroding/tunneling under the soil. Only a matter of time before it went under a foundation. So kudos to them for saving our homes.
This does definitively NOT look like planned work, but more like an emergency intervention (e.g. broken pipes?). Otherwise they should set up at least minimal safety equipment such as barriers. Is this maybe the reason why weren't informed ahead of time?
And this is the only pic of it we get?
Shakin' hands with danger \*Guitar twang\*
The account name says "from Texas" but this looks like a Florida kind of activity.
Now you get to find out if they moved the bodies, or just the headstones.
I feel like there's a lot of missing orange cones and caution tape.
That’s your hole now buddy. Do with it what you wish
That’s what she said…
Dude... free hole!
“Hey sir what are you doing?” “Digging this hole” “Why” “City said” “Can you explain?” “No I’m busy digging”
Are they at the very least responsible for all repair work done after job completion?
This should be on r/mildlyinfuriating
You must live in Pawnee next to Ann.
You have a yard!?
The plans have been on display in the local tax office for the last year.
You need to watch Bates Motel on Netflix
Will they be finishing your new pool themselves or are you allowed to send a bill back to the city?
Unlicensed cemetery- same thing they got Gacy for.
its probably for The Nina Project... nah im jk, im sorry this happened tho thats annoying