Barrier guarding gas line called insufficient
MIDDLESEX TWP — While Butler County Judge Michael Yeager has not yet ruled on who owns a strip of land that has caused a dispute among three neighbors, one side says a barrier erected near a gas line on the land is insufficient.
George Miller, the attorney for the Bonifate and Pracht families, said Yeager ruled in September that the Tisdale family must build a barrier around a People’s Natural Gas meter after the Pracht family complained that a vehicle striking the line could cause a disaster at their nearby house.
The Tisdales had a barrier erected as ordered, but Miller says the structure is insufficient and can be moved manually. Miller said the barrier is too short to stop a car bumper.
“To put this little effort into it, it really just boggles my mind,” Miller said.
Miller said he sent a petition to Yeager about a week ago claiming that the barrier installed by the Tisdales is in contempt of court. The petition also asks that the Tisdales be ordered to pay Miller’s attorney fees.
Miller said Yeager’s order was to install a protective barrier, and the one installed would not protect the gas lines should a vehicle run into them.
“Our position is that words have meaning,” Miller said.
But Jeffrey Myers of the Myers Law Group in Warrendale, which represents the Tisdales, said the barrier complies with Yeager’s order.
“The plaintiffs wanted a barrier in consultation with People’s Natural Gas, and that’s what was installed,” Myers said. “People’s Gas has no problem with (the barrier).”
Myers said he was told by People’s Gas representatives that there are many gas meters out in the open without protective barriers.
Miller said he was told by People’s Gas representatives that the company does not have standards or specifications regarding protective barriers around gas meters.
Regarding the 50-by-400-foot strip of land that borders the three neighbors’ properties and whose ownership is being disputed in Yeager’s court now, Miller wonders whether the Tisdale family is refusing to agree to a 50/50 split because the family plans to subdivide or sell their large plot, and they do not want access to be cut off from the end of Oakwood Drive.
The land is along Ferguson Lane, which is a private drive where the Tisdale farm is on the north, and the Bonifate and Pracht homes on the south. Oakwood Drive, which is in the Keithwood plan, ends at the unowned land.
Miller said The Bonifate and Pracht families want the land divided into two parcels, with the Tisdales taking ownership of one half and the Prachts and Bonifates owning the other half.
Yeager has not yet ruled on the land, but Miller expects a ruling in six months to one year.
Myers said he is “comfortable with where we are legally” regarding the land dispute.
It is not known when Yeager will rule on the barrier.
