EDGEWOOD, Ky. — When Tony Dalton bought his first home in April, he had no idea about the nightmare that he had in store.
Dalton said in June his sewage line was accidentally cut by workers with Webbs Excavation. The Kenton County School District recently hired the company to build a new parking lot for Hinsdale Elementary.
Dalton's house sits right next door to where the parking lot will be.
"I no longer have any connection to sanitation," Dalton said.
Dalton said he wasn't too worried about it initially, because he thought it would be an easy fix. He said the home he bought was built about 25 years ago, and the line has always been there.
Learn why Dalton said the situation soon became a financial nightmare in the video below:
However, Dalton said he was told that there was no formal easement for his sewage line. That means there was no agreement for his line to cross onto the neighboring property, where the parking lot will soon go.
Now, Dalton is left fixing the issue on his own.
"I feel it's unfair and I feel it's unethical too," Dalton said.
Dalton said the district agreed to hold off on capping the line for a few weeks, but it has since been capped. He said he can't use any running water in his house, because it has nowhere to go.
The sewage lines in Kenton County are overseen by Sanitation District No. 1 (SD1). Dalton said that SD1 gave him options for reconnecting to other sewage lines, but he said those are hundreds of feet away.
He said he recently got an estimate showing it could cost up to $35,000 to connect to a new line.
"It's going to cost tens of thousands of dollars that I'm left forking that bill," Dalton said.
I spoke on the phone with the school district's attorney, Jeremy Deters. He said while they sympathize with Dalton's situation, they are not responsible for what happened since there was no formal easement.
I also spoke to the owner of Webbs Excavation, who told me he has no comment.
"It's been frustrating, but at first I was hoping people would be responsible and work with me and we could work together to find a solution, but I've been left in the dark," Dalton said.
WCPO 9 News reached out to SD1 to learn more about this case. A spokesperson responded Friday afternoon with the following:
"SD1 is not responsible for private sewer laterals. Our responsibility generally begins when sewer flow enters the public sewer system, which happens where the private lateral joins the SD1 pipe. In the situation here, there was a parcel of land (neighbor 1) with a private lateral connecting to an SD1 pipe across another parcel of land (a parking lot) without an express easement. Then there was a second parcel of land (the gentleman you reference) who connected to neighbor 1’s private sewer lateral across neighbor 1’s land (also without an express easement). This is not an SD1 project so SD1 cannot comment further on a dispute between the property owners."
Dalton said he doesn't point the finger at one specific party, but he said he feels he shouldn't be left to pay for a problem he didn't create.
"I'm hoping that someone involved will step up, reach out to me and we can work on a civilized, mutual solution," said Dalton.
