NEWS

Pole is shared pain for neighbors

But who’s going to pay to get it moved?

By EMMA BARTLETT and JOHN HOWELL
Posted 9/20/22

Steve Dionne has lived at 77 Crescent Avenue for 45 years. His neighbor Donna Miccolis has lived at 75 Crescent for 17 years.

They share one thing in common, which for years they would just as …

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NEWS

Pole is shared pain for neighbors

But who’s going to pay to get it moved?

Posted

Steve Dionne has lived at 77 Crescent Avenue for 45 years. His neighbor Donna Miccolis has lived at 75 Crescent for 17 years.

They share one thing in common, which for years they would just as soon be moved. It’s a utility pole that gives her about eight and a half feet and him nearly ten feet of a shared driveway. She’s hit the pole more than once.

“When there’s snow, there’s no room at all and if the car slides…” said Dionne. Miccolis nodded.

Dionne brought the situation to the attention of city officials and he says every candidate who has knocked on his door campaigning agreed the pole is poorly located. He offered to vote for them if they could get the pole moved. Elections came and went, but the pole stayed.

He didn’t stop with city officials. He also took his case to National Grid, now Rhode Island Energy. In January the company offered to relocate the pole at a cost of $3,331.12. Both Dionne and Miccolis estimate the job would actually total more than $4,000 once Verizon rewired its service.

“It’s not reasonable,” Miccolis said of the projected cost. Neither she nor he is ready to pay to move a pole that doesn’t belong to them and is rooted in a sidewalk belonging to the city. Dionne turned to his councilman for assistance and on Thursday the matter of the pole came before the City Council’s Public Works committee.

“There is a utility pole quite literally in the middle of their driveway,” said Councilman John Donegan who introduced the matter before the committee.

The pole is situated on the sidewalk but pretty much splits the driveway in half. He added that the utility pole could be removed for several thousand dollars at the residents’ expense.

“That’s just ridiculous,” said Donegan.

The pole won’t be moved unless the residents pay the fee. He said the residents and their neighbor already had to collaboratively reconfigure the neighbor’s retaining wall by taking part of it out and paving it so the cars can get around.

The Public Works Committee approved the move for this pole in the last several months, and it was after that point that the residents learned they would be financially responsible. 

Director of Public Works Richard Bernardo said this was a private matter between a resident and utility company and did not affect the City of Cranston. Bernardo added that he didn’t know what came first – the pole or the driveway.

“Under no circumstances – on any pole – does the City of Cranston pay for relocation or reinstallation of new poles,” said Bernardo.

Since the utility company, Rhode Island Energy, puts forward many pole requests within the city, Councilman Matthew Reilly suggested a possible moratorium on the company until they “do right by the neighbors” or looking more carefully at where the company wants to set up poles.

“We’re all in this together,” said Reilly. “Whether you’re a public utility, neighbor, city council whatever it is, we’re all expected to act how we’d want others to act around us,” said Reilly.

Bernardo added that he’s unsure how much the company could do through the Public Utilities Commission. He said it may not be as simple as the company deciding to spend public money on a request from a property owner.

Councilwoman Aniece Germain questioned who owns the sidewalks within the city. She said if the resident is responsible for the sidewalk, then individuals shouldn’t have a problem telling people to get off their property if they are on the sidewalk. However, if the sidewalk is the city’s responsibility, then the city has an obligation to make sure residents are safe.

Councilwoman Lammis Vargas suggested sending a letter on behalf of the Chair of the Public Works Committee or a letter from the administration concerning what was brought up at Thursday's meeting and asking the utility company to work with the committee. 

Bernardo agreed that the letter would be a good next step to try helping the Cranston resident; he said residents asking for pole removals happens quite a bit.

He said the only part the city gets involved in where poles are concerned is when a utility company sends a request for a relocated pole, the city goes out there to make sure it’s not in the city’s right of way for pedestrians and vehicular traffic.

“This relocating of utility poles because of personal interests is something we have not got involved with because it’s more of an issue between the utility company and the resident – so we’d be setting a precedent…” Bernardo said.

pole, neighbors

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