Spraying is cheaper than tractors?

[MikeD74T]

Mike, I am sure you are correct in the fact that if I had properly groomed the grass in the ditch, they probably wouldn't have sprayed. Though I keep it cut most of the year, this happened in the end of August and I am physically unable to operate a weedeater during these extremely hot days.

What if you sprayed the ditch where you can't mow with a hand held sprayer. Wouldn't cost much and would keep your lawn looking good. Without knowing how much frontage you have, I'd even consider maintaining a short distance either side of my property. Was just responding to the potential that no overspraying was done maliciously. MikeD74T

 

[schmism]

A right of way does not mean that the state owns the land. In fact, I'm sure that the homeowner paid for that portion of land, and pays taxes on that portion of land. The right of way just gives the state the right to use the land. However, I'm sure the rights the state has vary widely from state to state.

Mike

Incorrect (you seem to be refering to an Easment)

ROW = you dont own the land... (state owned) you pay no tax on it.

Easement = you own the land (you pay tax on it) but essentally have no rights to it. (the utility can come dig it up at any time without any special permissions)

Think of it this way... you dont own the ground (pay tax on it) under the street out front your house... the street is built inside the public ROW. that ROW will extend out past the EOP (edge of payment) and (in rural areas) often encompass the ditch alongside the road.

When the "state" (county, city...etc) wants to widen a rural road they often have to purchase addtional ROW. this is usually a narrow strip of your front yard. You will get compensated for this land that is legaly purchased from you. You get a new deed stateing your front yard is now ____ feet shorter than it was. (ie you dont pay tax on it)

A signifiant porton of what my wife's company does is nogotiate ROW purchase for state road projects. It (row) is most defently owned by the state/county/city.

 

[tallyho8]

just because you mow the grass does not make it yours. i wouldnt be surprised if there is a 10-20' ROW next to the road. which means its there grass that you cut. so while it may look like your front yard is now craptastic..... it was never YOUR yard to begin with so any "complaints" are likely going to fall on def ears anyway.

In post #10 I stated that this WAS the highway ROW. In most cities and suburbs across the country there is a green space between the sidewalk and the road which is the highway ROW but the landowner usually maintains it and though the highway dept has the right to spray it anytime they want and make it look like cr**, the POINT I was trying to make in my thread is that the property looks much nicer when it is cut by the highway dept or the landowner instead of being sprayed.

What if you sprayed the ditch where you can't mow with a hand held sprayer. Wouldn't cost much and would keep your lawn looking good. Without knowing how much frontage you have, I'd even consider maintaining a short distance either side of my property. Was just responding to the potential that no overspraying was done maliciously. MikeD74T

I had a slow growing bermuda grass growing in the ditch which needed little maintenance except for cutting the weeds out occasionally. We get severe rainfalls here plus this road is on the side of the Mississippi River levee and much water runs down the levee into the ditch. The grass prevents erosion of the ditch walls which collapse and widen with each hard rain. Already the ditch has widened so much that there is no longer any room for me to put my garbage bucket out between the ditch and road and they will not cross the ditch to pick it up.

And I didn't mean to make it sound like they were maliciously spraying the property. I just meant to say they were bumbling idiots.

 

[jimg]

tallyho -- Im sure someone in govt decided it would be cheaper to nuke it once than have someone mow several times. Then again someone (you might know him) on this forum once said 'I think I've learned that there are 2 kinds of math, regular and government!'. So who knows if its really more cost effective or not. It might have nothing at all to do w/ cost (at least in minimizing it)

 

[orezok]

Incorrect (you seem to be refering to an Easment)

ROW = you dont own the land... (state owned) you pay no tax on it.

Easement = you own the land (you pay tax on it) but essentally have no rights to it. (the utility can come dig it up at any time without any special permissions)

Think of it this way... you dont own the ground (pay tax on it) under the street out front your house... the street is built inside the public ROW. that ROW will extend out past the EOP (edge of payment) and (in rural areas) often encompass the ditch alongside the road.

When the "state" (county, city...etc) wants to widen a rural road they often have to purchase addtional ROW. this is usually a narrow strip of your front yard. You will get compensated for this land that is legaly purchased from you. You get a new deed stateing your front yard is now ____ feet shorter than it was. (ie you dont pay tax on it)

A signifiant porton of what my wife's company does is nogotiate ROW purchase for state road projects. It (row) is most defently owned by the state/county/city.

Almost correct, but not quite. EASEMENTS You own the land titled as an easement and pay taxes on it. You still retain full rights to do what you want with the land (except interfere with the easement holders rights). You can plant it, put a fence on it etc. BUT if they need to do maintenance on their work, they can dig it up and not have to repair or replace your work.

Typically, ROW's are measured from centerline, not from pavement edge. Pavement width may vary along a road, but ROW is usually a constant width from centerline.

 

[Gryantaylor]

In post #10 I stated that this WAS the highway ROW. In most cities and suburbs across the country there is a green space between the sidewalk and the road which is the highway ROW but the landowner usually maintains it and though the highway dept has the right to spray it anytime they want and make it look like cr**, the POINT I was trying to make in my thread is that the property looks much nicer when it is cut by the highway dept or the landowner instead of being sprayed.



I had a slow growing bermuda grass growing in the ditch which needed little maintenance except for cutting the weeds out occasionally. We get severe rainfalls here plus this road is on the side of the Mississippi River levee and much water runs down the levee into the ditch. The grass prevents erosion of the ditch walls which collapse and widen with each hard rain. Already the ditch has widened so much that there is no longer any room for me to put my garbage bucket out between the ditch and road and they will not cross the ditch to pick it up.

And I didn't mean to make it sound like they were maliciously spraying the property. I just meant to say they were bumbling idiots.

If you are intrested in trying to get the county to stop you could try contacting the EPA or DEQ (department of enviro. quality) around here storm water quality is a big deal. Killing grass in a ditch and intentionally causing erosion would not go over very well. I routinely spec out "grass lined swales" (ditchs) and a cost effective way to manage errosion. I don't know how far you'll get but it might be worth a try. Also, I'd ask who is going to repair all the plugged culverts, etc. that will result from the erosion?

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Here is what our local county does.

IF you do not want the county to spray your road ditch, you go down to the local county office and fill out a simple form saying so. You are then responsible to keep the weeds and brush clear. It works great. I usually try and put a no spray sign also.

 

[jimg]

Here is what our local county does.

IF you do not want the county to spray your road ditch, you go down to the local county office and fill out a simple form saying so. You are then responsible to keep the weeds and brush clear. It works great. I usually try and put a no spray sign also.

How refreshing...common sense and communication. I might try that here next yr and see how far I get.

 

[dmccarty]

I'm sure the ROW and easements differ between states but in my county I own the land to the center line of the road. I have an easement on other's property per a subdivision and the power company needs my signature to put in power via an easement I granted them.

The county has been redoing our lot sizes and they have actually REDUCED the size of our lots and no longer include the acreage in the ROW from what I can tell. The ROW is either 30 or 50 feet from the centerline of the road. The survey of our land show more acreage compared to the county tax rolls. They used to be the same. But I ain't arguing!

I'll spray chemicals when it makes sense but I'm kinda leary of them myself. I would be concerned with someone else spraying near/own my land. I would be very curious what the could spray in a ditch and if it effected water quality... Can you call and ask them what they are spraying?

Later,
Dan

 

[schmism]

I'll spray chemicals when it makes sense but I'm kinda leary of them myself. I would be concerned with someone else spraying near/own my land. I would be very curious what the could spray in a ditch and if it effected water quality... Can you call and ask them what they are spraying?

its likely just generic roundup... same stuff used on thousands of acers of "round up ready" crops.