Council tables proposed utility-easement ordinance after debate over shared laterals and mapping

The Sunman Town Council debated a draft ordinance that would formalize utility-easement and shared-lateral rules for sewer and water connections, but members paused final action to get clearer mapping and cleaner legal language.

The town attorney explained that some access rights may already exist by prescriptive easement — a legal concept where long use can create a right to access — but the council lacks records showing which shared laterals are town-owned and which are privately owned. "Those easements actually already exist by what's called prescription," the attorney said, noting that the draft ordinance’s language and scope require clarification before council adoption.

Council members emphasized the need to identify and map lateral lines in the downtown/business district first and to add neighborhood notification provisions. They discussed the practical limits of forcing access where property owners have built fences or placed permanent improvements and asked legal staff to refine section language about temporary easements and notice periods. Several members asked that the draft be changed so it applies only to town-owned shared laterals unless owners agree otherwise.

After extended discussion, a motion to table the ordinances (listed as 202608 and 202609 in the agenda) was made and seconded; the council set a special working meeting to complete mapping and finalize ordinance language before a subsequent reading and vote.

What’s next: staff will prioritize mapping the business/downtown district, revise the ordinance text to reflect whether it applies only to town-owned laterals or to broader classes of shared laterals, and present redrafted language at the special meeting (proposed for April 21). The council noted that if property owners disagree about access the remedy may be for them to seek a court resolution or to reach an agreement among themselves.