What to do about my new water feature

Broke EF

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Ill try to keep this as short as possible. We have been in this house a little over a year, and that whole time only had to deal with water either in the culvert by the road or in the area right around a drain that goes under the street. In either case it was never standing water unless it was actually raining. The culvert is a culvert so it makes sense to have water in it, and/or be wet sometimes. Same more or less goes for the area in front of the drain under the street. I was planning on filling that area a little this year to help at least make the wet area smaller when the ground is saturated. Keep in mind that was only ever in the fall around say October when we had lots of rain for longer periods of time.

Well earlier in the year when the snow was melting and we had a lot of rain, there was some water built up in the larger part of my yard. I was keeping an eye on it, but just assume it was due to rain mixed with snow melt. It was drying out just fine about the time I was ready to mow the first time this year. In fact I was specifically waiting for it to dry up before I mowed. I had been checking to see how dry it was so that I wouldn't tear it up with the mower. Well In the weeks leading up that first mow my neighbors were up to something with a tractor in their yard. They even brought in a second larger one at one point. I am not a nosy neighbor, and wasn't too concerned with what they were up to. That is until on one Saturday I just happened to think "I bet they are trenching their yard." I just kept on working what I was working on though hoping that wasn't it. Until I turned around on a nice bright sunny day and saw a river starting to flow through my yard.

20200418_134701-X4.jpg


20200418_140826-X4.jpg


Now, let me explain a bit more of what happened. Yes you can clearly see a retention pond/wetland across the street, and a drain that goes under the road from my yard to it. That pond drains into a creek behind it and goes under the main road and off to wherever. So some of the "natural" drainage is designed to do exactly what you are seeing in these pics. However, all of this water is coming from the retention pond on his property, as seen here.

20200418_134647-X2.jpg


His retention pond (which is over full) drains across that main road into the same creek and off to wherever. So only a portion of his property should be draining my way, and definitely not anything from as far away as his pond. I walked over there and was like what the fuck. He gave some bull shit about a pipe being plugged up and they have to do this every so often. I gave him shit for not at least giving me a heads up before flooding my yard. At that point, if his story was to be believed, this would be a temporary deal that should have water in my yard for a couple days. IF that was the case, fine I can deal with that. I would have still liked a heads up so I could mow the grass first, but for a temporary problem I could live with it.

Well that was over a month ago now, and its been flooded ever since. Here it is today, and yes we have had rain all day but nothing crazy.

20200517_191304-X4.jpg


20200517_171159-X4.jpg


Not easy to tell, but all the grass in that area is long as shit because I haven't been able to get near it with my mower since they dug the trench. Every time I mow I try to see how much I can get, and its pretty much the same every time. I have to go around it on the road to do the other side, I cant take my mower all the way across anywhere in my yard. I just looked actually and the day he opened the trench was the day we moved in last year 4-18. I have pics of that area from that day, and all year, and there is never any water over there.

In fact I have had a lot of my neighbors come by and tell me that's fucked up. Its never had water like this, it shouldn't have water like this etc. The one guy has lived here since this was all built. Also the guy who originally did all the dirt work, and still owns the lot next to me and across the street stopped on Friday and was looking at it all. I am actually gonna call that guy this week and see what he thinks. I didn't get a chance to talk to him when he was out here since I was working.

Anyway, I dont know if I am looking for advice or just venting here. I have called the county (they are step 1 I guess) and they said they cant do anything since it drains that way. I am planning on calling back this week and raising some hell about it because I don't think they understand exactly what he did. Talking to the neighbor seems pointless since the actual "owner" didn't even say a word when I talked to them the day it happened. I am pretty sure the guy I was talking to was the actual property owner, and his son lives there alone, or with some friends.

I can of course put in some kind of drainage, or something but that will be thousands of dollars and mean redoing a large chunk of my yard to fix an problem that shouldn't exist. I cant build a berm and keep the water on his side for many reasons. Again though that would mean me spending a bunch of money which is BS.

I guess thats enough for my Sunday rant. Let me know what you guys think I should do. Am I over reacting, do I just need to suck it up and install some kind of drain/raise my yard, should I be super pissed and go down to the county in person? I am just frustrated by it all, and it doesn't seem to be very temporary to me.

Sean
 
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IceCreamAssassin

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Depending on your area if he was doing work he might of needed a permit, if it was something he possibly needed a permit for you could call an inspector and they might red tag them. Can you see the work he did or have pictures of any of it? There are big fines for disturbing the natural flow of water and drainage, but from what I’ve learned it’s not easy to get someone for it.
you could also hire someone to give you a quote on fixing the drainage problem in your yard and sometimes the company can tell it’s your neighbors fault. They will help you go after them or “testify” on your behalf if you try to charge the neighbor for it.
Good luck.
 

Broke EF

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There is a lot to know and follow when it comes to easements and drainage. Especially modification.

If the neighbor modified land/drainage in the easement without approval (if there is that requirement in your municipality) then you have something.

Does your plat of survey show that area as drainage easement?

Ill have to look at the Plat again, but this wouldn't have been in the easement. He dug pretty much straight across the center of his yard.

Water.PNG


Something along the lines of that.

turn it into a moat with laser sharks boom problem solved





but fuck that sucks.

i have a front yard drainage situation and it sucks....

You are now the second person to have that exact solution :) I have also been told I am so rich I now have a private lake and should be buying a speed boat next :)

I agree it sucks.

Depending on your area if he was doing work he might of needed a permit, if it was something he possibly needed a permit for you could call an inspector and they might red tag them. Can you see the work he did or have pictures of any of it? There are big fines for disturbing the natural flow of water and drainage, but from what I’ve learned it’s not easy to get someone for it.
you could also hire someone to give you a quote on fixing the drainage problem in your yard and sometimes the company can tell it’s your neighbors fault. They will help you go after them or “testify” on your behalf if you try to charge the neighbor for it.
Good luck.

He did not have a permit for sure. They said if he dug up more than 5,000 square feet or something like that he could be in trouble. I said I have no idea how much he dug, and I am not going over there to measure. I cant really see it, or get pics of it without being a total creep because of the trees. Like I said, the guy who owns the lot next to me and across the street is the guy who originally did all the grading out here. He clearly knows about it since he stopped by and was looking at it all. I think I am going to call him today and see what he has to say. He is not only someone who could help actually fix it, but he can also articulate better how it was designed to flow since he designed it.

I already know I am going to end up fucked in this whole deal. That is just my luck. I bet I will end up having to spent 10k+ having some type of drainage put in, and regrading my yard over it. I don't want to do either of those things though, so hopefully something else happens. I am not holding my breath though.

Sean
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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Ill have to look at the Plat again, but this wouldn't have been in the easement. He dug pretty much straight across the center of his yard.

View attachment 58112

Something along the lines of that.



You are now the second person to have that exact solution :) I have also been told I am so rich I now have a private lake and should be buying a speed boat next :)

I agree it sucks.



He did not have a permit for sure. They said if he dug up more than 5,000 square feet or something like that he could be in trouble. I said I have no idea how much he dug, and I am not going over there to measure. I cant really see it, or get pics of it without being a total creep because of the trees. Like I said, the guy who owns the lot next to me and across the street is the guy who originally did all the grading out here. He clearly knows about it since he stopped by and was looking at it all. I think I am going to call him today and see what he has to say. He is not only someone who could help actually fix it, but he can also articulate better how it was designed to flow since he designed it.

I already know I am going to end up fucked in this whole deal. That is just my luck. I bet I will end up having to spent 10k+ having some type of drainage put in, and regrading my yard over it. I don't want to do either of those things though, so hopefully something else happens. I am not holding my breath though.

Sean
DRONE or a friend with a drone. get some aerial photos.

then pop them on the computer and use measurements from google earth to estimate the size of the dig.
 

FESTER665

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I agree I think youre going to be the one getting screwed for sure. Sounds like he's a total asshole.

Honestly, now if it were me and I was going to be stuck with the bill, I would say a big old fuck you and build a big ass berm and keep all that water on his side and let him figure it out....

Unless the cost to add a few trucks of dirt to dam everything off is double the cost of regrading your entire yard.

Another option is to go with it, have him use his machines since he fucked you with this, trench out your yard, add a ton of heavy gravel in it and have a dry creek bed that only has water going through it when theres a lot of rain flooding his pond.

If it were my money though? Big ass berm just to fuck him.
 
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Broke EF

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So a lot of people say to build a berm. In order to make it tall enough to be effective I would have to rip out a lot of those trees for a start. Then in that lowest area where the water is coming though I would guess it would need to come up a couple feet easy. Then I would have to extend it all pretty far to make sure it didnt just direct it into my back yard closer to the house. Anything is possible, but I think the wall or berm is probably the least likely.

I am going to guess I will end up installing some kind of drain and also raising the grade though that whole area. No matter what I am sure it will end up costing me a fuck ton of money, which I don't have.
 
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there's a lot of features on here that IMO are better than google earth... typically the basemaps are higher resolution/allow you to get closer than google maps also.

you can search basemaps by year and add other functions as well. measuring tool too. takes a while to find all the features but i think it may help you before you go droning

although they may not be recent enough to show what he did
 
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FirstWorldProblems

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Ill have to look at the Plat again, but this wouldn't have been in the easement. He dug pretty much straight across the center of his yard.

View attachment 58112



Sean
So to sum this up simply, this dude literally dug a path to run water from his retention pond in to your yard. Yes? Seems pretty absurd to me.

I'd knock on his door and tell him to build up some dirt around his retention pond to keep water in there, or you'll be pouring dirt at the low spot of your yard, right on the edge of his property line, so he'll have built up water on his grass. Seems like a simple fix

water-png.58112
 

FESTER665

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I would think having the area regraded would be more than truckloads of dirt piled up, or at least close in cost.

My yard wasnt cheap to regrade and its a fuck ton of a lot smaller than yours is.

Pull the trees, add a few feet of berm, put the trees back on top of the berm so you have to see even less of his property, watch his land turn into a lake cause he's an asshole, profit.
 

FESTER665

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So to sum this up simply, this dude literally dug a path to run water from his retention pond in to your yard. Yes? Seems pretty absurd to me.

I'd knock on his door and tell him to build up some dirt around his retention pond to keep water in there, or you'll be pouring dirt at the low spot of your yard, right on the edge of his property line, so he'll have built up water on his grass. Seems like a simple fix

water-png.58112

Right? Based off his posts, the guy was tired of the extra water on his property so just said fuck it and dug a trench over to your property to let you deal with it.

If costs were even remotely close, I would be putting up a big berm just as a fuck you for making me spend money on this shit.

A yard of fill dirt is $20, If the costs for regrading were $5,000 on the low end, you could get 250+ yards of fill dirt for that much. That's one hell of a berm.

Keep it higher at your house end, grade it towards the end of the tree line and still keep it like a foot higher than his land. :bowrofl:


The other option is to be a good neighbor, show him what is now happening, and use his machinery to make a trench through your property and fill it with large rock and essentially make it a creek through your yard that will dry up when we're not getting a bunch of water.
 

zenriddles

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I posted in another thread where a member wanted to tweek some water features.

Get the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources involved. This guy fucked with a natural waterway WITHOUT a permit?!?!?

Think of all the poor misunderstood mosquito larvae who will no longer have their natural habitat ! ! !


Pursued through the proper channels, this guy just bankrupted himself in my opinion.
 

Broke EF

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there's a lot of features on here that IMO are better than google earth... typically the basemaps are higher resolution/allow you to get closer than google maps also.

you can search basemaps by year and add other functions as well. measuring tool too. takes a while to find all the features but i think it may help you before you go droning

although they may not be recent enough to show what he did

Yeah I have been on there before. You can get a shit ton of info from there. Just a rough guess from that measuring tool, they dug around 275-300 feet. I remember the lady at the village saying something along the lines of 5,000 square feet without a permit.

I agree on making a berm, dirt is cheap, let the water back up in his yard. It's not like you're going to have to make it 5' high, a little bit of elevation will go a long way

Did his yard flood a lot prior to the changes?
So to sum this up simply, this dude literally dug a path to run water from his retention pond in to your yard. Yes? Seems pretty absurd to me.

I'd knock on his door and tell him to build up some dirt around his retention pond to keep water in there, or you'll be pouring dirt at the low spot of your yard, right on the edge of his property line, so he'll have built up water on his grass. Seems like a simple fix

water-png.58112

Yes, that is what he did. From my very brief interaction with him, and talking with some other neighbors, I doubt telling him I will berm up my yard will have any affect on him. I will also touch more on me doing that in a bit.

I would think having the area regraded would be more than truckloads of dirt piled up, or at least close in cost.

My yard wasnt cheap to regrade and its a fuck ton of a lot smaller than yours is.

Pull the trees, add a few feet of berm, put the trees back on top of the berm so you have to see even less of his property, watch his land turn into a lake cause he's an asshole, profit.
Right? Based off his posts, the guy was tired of the extra water on his property so just said fuck it and dug a trench over to your property to let you deal with it.

If costs were even remotely close, I would be putting up a big berm just as a fuck you for making me spend money on this shit.

A yard of fill dirt is $20, If the costs for regrading were $5,000 on the low end, you could get 250+ yards of fill dirt for that much. That's one hell of a berm.

Keep it higher at your house end, grade it towards the end of the tree line and still keep it like a foot higher than his land. :bowrofl:


The other option is to be a good neighbor, show him what is now happening, and use his machinery to make a trench through your property and fill it with large rock and essentially make it a creek through your yard that will dry up when we're not getting a bunch of water.

So there is a good chance I am over thinking it all since I always do that. To me, even a berm seems like a pretty expensive and involved project. I don't do dirt work for a living though so who knows. Also with my luck, me adding a berm would fuck me. As someone has posted, altering the waterways in IL is a huge no-no. That is why I don't really understand the county being like meh. I would understand if part of his yard on my side was flooding since that should flow my way. From what I can tell though, that retention pond on his property should be going the opposite direction. So while he is only draining off the over flow, he is draining it against the way it should flow.
 

FESTER665

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Yeah I have been on there before. You can get a shit ton of info from there. Just a rough guess from that measuring tool, they dug around 275-300 feet. I remember the lady at the village saying something along the lines of 5,000 square feet without a permit.




Yes, that is what he did. From my very brief interaction with him, and talking with some other neighbors, I doubt telling him I will berm up my yard will have any affect on him. I will also touch more on me doing that in a bit.




So there is a good chance I am over thinking it all since I always do that. To me, even a berm seems like a pretty expensive and involved project. I don't do dirt work for a living though so who knows. Also with my luck, me adding a berm would fuck me. As someone has posted, altering the waterways in IL is a huge no-no. That is why I don't really understand the county being like meh. I would understand if part of his yard on my side was flooding since that should flow my way. From what I can tell though, that retention pond on his property should be going the opposite direction. So while he is only draining off the over flow, he is draining it against the way it should flow.

Well you're not altering a waterway. If they come and see you "altered" a waterway, it is only a waterway because the asshole neighbor trenched his retention pond onto your land.

If the city or state gets involved in this I would assume they would see what he did as well which would be win/win wouldn't it?

I don't do dirtwork either, but its a berm, not like it's a retaining wall or anything. Dump trucks full of dirt piled up, put some seed down so it turns to grass and you're good I would think. I don't want to say its that easy, but if the cost is the same as grading your yard I would do it anyway. :dunno:

I would legit build the berm 1 foot higher than his property. Now then there is overflow, he can deal with it on his property. :bowrofl:
 
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Broke EF

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I posted in another thread where a member wanted to tweek some water features.

Get the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources involved. This guy fucked with a natural waterway WITHOUT a permit?!?!?

Think of all the poor misunderstood mosquito larvae who will no longer have their natural habitat ! ! !


Pursued through the proper channels, this guy just bankrupted himself in my opinion.

That was my thought process, but step one was calling the county. Well really it was calling the city, but they just dumped me off to the county. They seemed pretty unconcerned so far which is why I am going to try again. If that fails again I guess I will go up the ladder. I dont want to ruin the guy over it, I just dont want to have to spend my money and time fixing it either.
 
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