WV neighbours
argue over use
of Hydro land

Catherine Barr
Contriéuting Writer

EUGENE Wong and
Shakuntala Pond may
‘be neighbours, bur
“they are far from
being friends. ;
. The’ feuding neighbours
“have been fighting a bitter
backyard ‘battle in West’
Vancouver's ;
_2 Properties for approximately
:, four.years now.
(o> The “trench. warfare
involves a 20-foot strip of
municipally owned land: that
separates their respective
» backyards.
: Now, if they ¢
othe problem themselves,
“council is threatening to take
away the land! completely.
The land in question is aj

district utility lor. Essentially,
oie BC Hydro and its main-

“tenance workers have a legal.

right. to use ir.
“dt is, however a common
practice inthe municipality
to allow nearby homeowners
“to: plant, mow or maintain
. adjacent utility lands. In fact,
it is often seen as a benefit by
the district.
“The problem here is that
both owners want to use the”
land. ay ;
The, neighbourly conflict
seems to have started in April
1995 wheniWong began’ to
remove a large laurel hedge
that. was planted, along the
back of his property.
The hedg: ec acted a as askind

of -backyard’ divider” which; :

according” td Pond, had been .

there for over 14 yea
She said’ Wong ripped it
out? with very little regard

British *

i
can't solves

NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

EUGENE Wortg points { to an area of easement land
‘that is the subject of dispute with a neighbor in the

British Properties.

need , permission to take

down’ a hedge that was.on his

own: Jand. “We! took (the

hedge) out so we'could Bet 3,
better. use” of. our lot,” he?

said. Jl

Since . then,”
taken steps tocre¢laim, what
can best be described as his
10-foot, half of ; ‘the utility
property. i

This does not sit well with
Pond because, up until the

about. the’ jconsequences for. time the hedge was removed,

her. and -her yard. She called
this ,a. very “‘un- neighbourly
thing.to do. Ds

Car es Snowboards as well
Carries Skis with or. without

“38 SKE 7 Lagoa 8 boxes. :
fe Multi-User of Rack:

she had almost exclusive use

of the utility land strip.
“Pond questions: the rea-

soning ‘behind ‘altering, the

Wong has,

recognize

status quo and said she has
permission from the munici-
pality to use all of the utility
land in question. She believes
she has a right, by law, to

Oppose any changes.

But a recent: municipal
report indicated that district
seaff cannot find evidence to
support her claim.

The municipality does
thar = Wong
approached, the district with
ideas about building.a fence
down’ che middle ofthe atili-
ty land: ...

He has not been granted
permission. to proceed with

lus fence but, according to
the staff report, he was given
permission to proceed with
the installation of a hedge
just slightly north of the
existing hydro lines and
almost complete along the
middle of the 20-foot strip.

Since then, and depend-
ing on who you talk to, both
homeowners have engaged
in several nasty contranta-
tions.

A municipal staff report
outlines the basics:
@ Aug. 6, 1997-— Wong
claims thar the Ponds’ gar-
dener dug a trench on his
property. Pond admits that
gardener {made a mistake.
Both parties instructed to
cease all work and submit
proposals;
WM Aug. 11, 1997 — Wong
submits proposal to share
district utility lot equally by
installing a fence;
@ Dec. 2, 1997 — letter of
reminder sent to Pond asking,
again for proposal ideas;
B fan. 26, 1998 — letter

“from Pond promising sub-

missian of proposal soons

BM Nov. 5,°1998 — Wong
granted permission to planta
hedge instead of a fenee
along the north side of the
center line of the 20-foor
utility land strip. No propos-
al was ever submirted by
Pond;

@ Nov, 17, 1998 — phone
call trom Pond claiming thac

) Wong was “digging up ther’
‘property’; .

@ Nov. 18, 1998 — Wong
told by municipality to dis-
continue planting but hedge
was already installed; :
Wil p.m. Nov 18, 1998 —
Wong phones police to come
and investigate the removal
ofva large section of his new
hedge.

Meanwhile both parties
continue to blame each other
for ongoing /verbal abuse,
petty bickering and contin-
ued skullduggery, |

Wong said that his neigh-
bours: to the west claim to
have seen the Ponds, and not
their gardener, digging the

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first trench on his property.
Meanwhile, a second trench
lies untouched where the
new hedge bushes were torn
out,

“We have tried to remain
patient and we just get some-
thing new and more bizarre
from their side,” said Wong,
He further explained that in
the recent past, he has had
reason ta call the police more
than six times,

Pond denies digging the
first ditch personally.
Furthermore, she absolutely
denies allegations that point
to her as being the infamous
late night bush bandit.

“Why would we want to
cuta hedge that is not on our
prpperty anyway?” she asked.

She admits however to
removing a series Of survey
stakes placed along!the cen-
tre of the ucility kinds and
said she. felt justified|in doing
SO, !

“L took those stakes out
in front of him (Wong) and
gave chem back to him and
said, ‘Hey, don’ t do ‘some:
thing that you've been told
nor to’,”. said) Pond. “(2)

gave hima letter asking him . .

not to do that until we went
to council for approval.”

But Pond claims that the
abuse continued, “He taunt-
ed us,” she said. “He abused

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us for the misunderstanding.
He twisted the story.”

She further claims that /
Wong himself dug up his:
own newly planted bushes.
“He sets up his own scenario:
and then calls the police,”
said Pond. “f just chink he.
sets it up because it makes”
him feel important.” Wong
claims that it just isn’t so.

And as the finger pointing
continues, the trenches con-
tinue to sear the landscape as
they fil) up with water pro-
ducing more and more
muck.

Both parties have been
given one month to try and
solve the problems before
coming back before council.

“T's like we're fust going
around in circles here (wich
the municipality ),” said
Wong. “1 just feel like werve
been | victimized aver and
over.”

But, nor surprisingly, Mrs.
Pond see it differently.

She says it is a matter of
the law of the land. “IFT lose
the fand, then fine, Bue J
would like to fight for princi-
ple,” she said.

“If we don’t obey certain’
laws that we have then it will
be like a communist country.
Whoever thinks he has'a big-
ger say can come: around and
do whatever he wants.” 1. |

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