Winona Lake Street Superintendent Thomas Miller

WINONA LAKE — A Winona Lake couple is crying foul and blames the Town of Winona Lake for what is becoming an increasingly heated dust-up between neighbors over faulty sewer lines.

“We have encountered a sewage nightmare in Winona,” said Rob Coppes during open public discussion time at the monthly meeting of the Winona Lake Town Council Tuesday, July 17.

Coppes and his wife Randa own an investment property on 1600 The Pass in Winona Lake. According to Coppes, an issue developed with the property’s sewer line. Coppes, a contractor by trade, said he investigated the issue and found that the sewer line was shared by the neighboring property at 1606 The Pass. He added that the investigation pointed to that neighboring property as being the source of the issue with outdated sewer pipes known as Orangeburg pipe.

“Weed Septic advised us that this problem would probably persist because the Orangeburg pipe will continue to degrade,” Coppes said. “After more failures, we attempted to discuss the situation with our neighboring homeowner, who does not reside at 1606 [the property is listed online as owned by Sally Bailey], inviting her over to meet, review and hopefully agree that each owner co-pay for a permanent solution to update our shared line. However, she chose not to cooperate with us and suggested we go to the town and get our own sewer line. So, we went to the town of Winona, seeking advice and to discuss the sewage problem.”

Coppes said the town officials he talked to advised that the town no longer allows residents to share a line and Coppes said he was advised to install a dedicated line independent of the neighboring property. He added that the town officials advised he use a utility easement, “specifically between two utility poles on the property line between the two neighboring properties.” Coppes said his goal was to make sure everything was done correctly.

“This solution was discussed in detail on multiple occasions between the town and us and an approved contractor who ended up doing the work for us,” he said. “A couple of days before the work began, on May 9, 2018, we went to the building commissioner to apply for a permit, because we are people who like to do things by the book. We like to follow rules. We assumed there would be a permit necessary for this process.”

The Coppes were told that no permit was necessary because the work was considered a repair.

“The street superintendent [Thomas Miller] happened to walk by the building commissioner’s office and was asked to join us,” said Coppes. “The street superintendent told the building commissioner, in our presence, that he’s been to the property, has spoken to us in detail about the [20 foot] easement that exists and to utilize it for our new sewage line.”

Coppes said that both men approved the details of the project and also said he was told that notifying neighbors isn’t necessary. He said that he attempted to contact neighbors anyway and said the renter at 1606 The Pass was not home when attempts were made to make contact. The Coppes paid $3,500 for the dedicated sewer line and Rob Coppes told the board that the new line is working efficiently. However, he said having the work done caused more issues with the neighbors.

“The town has received, and we have received, a combined total of three threatening legal letters representing 1606 The Pass homeowner, claiming various damages and trespassing and that the easement does not exist, which was news to us,” Coppes said.

Coppes said he and his wife feel the town let them down, and also mentioned an ironic twist to the neighboring homeowner’s apparent perspective on having a joint sewer project.

“Winona has basically turned their back on us and said they have no interest in this,” said Coppes. “We would never have executed this work without the direction, permission and approval from the town. The easement was proposed to me by the town of Winona. Now we are being threatened by the 1606 homeowner with having our sewer line disconnected, paying the neighbor for an easement, pay the neighbor’s expense to tap into our sewer line, which she wants to do now. The homeowner wants to piggyback on our sewer line now and wants us to pay for it.”

According to Coppes, the dispute has forced him to hire an attorney and additional cost will be involved in paying for a survey of the properties to be done. However, he said the neighbor is demanding more, to include having the Coppes pay for her attorney fees.

Town Attorney Jim Walmer told Coppes that he and his wife would have to engage in the neighbor dispute independent from the town. Town Council President Bruce Shaffner told Coppes there would be further discussion of the matter, but did not promise a resolution.

“Winona has thrown it back into our laps and left us to fend four ourselves,” said Coppes. “When people make mistakes, the right thing to do is own up and make it right. It’s what we teach our kids.”

Ink Free News contacted Miller today, Wednesday, July 18, for input. His response was, “Really can’t comment.”