This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ogden • Homeowner Robert Peterson has drained his backyard swimming pool four times this year of putrid water that flows in from hillside runoff.
Peterson blames Ogden city for installing a drain on his property and then not extending that drain to the street, as it had agreed to do in 2009 negotiations through the state Property Rights Ombudsman's office.
"This is Godfrey's catch basin," Peterson said of his unusable pool, focusing his frustration on the city's chief executive officer, Mayor Matthew Godfrey.
The trouble began in early 2005, when a section of road above his neighborhood began to slide. Peterson lives south of Weber State University, just west of where Country Hills Drive connects to Skyline Drive. By April 2005, the city closed the road and began researching how to fix it.
That fall, the cash-strapped city launched work to stabilize the road and hillside by installing a storm drain system at the back of Peterson's property — without his permission, Peterson said.
Work crews confused a chain-link fence low on the hill as his boundary, Peterson said, noting that his land actually extends well beyond the fence, almost to Country Hills Drive.
"I used to have a rock wall, bandstand and fire pit back there," Peterson said of the area adjacent to his pool and a weathered bath house. "The city took it all out. They basically have taken my property."
Assistant City Attorney Mark Stratford met with Elliot Lawrence of the state Property Rights Ombudsman's office in March 2009 to strike a deal with Peterson.
"The storm drain was on Mr. Peterson's property," Stratford said Thursday, adding that piping to the street was never installed, "and that's what needed to be addressed."
Peterson had initially refused to give the city an easement along the north side of his property, Stratford said.
"By the end of the meeting [with Lawrence], [Peterson] said he would be willing to allow the easement in exchange for the city mitigating the damage to his property," Stratford said Thursday.
However, the city took no action because Peterson "hasn't yet signed an agreement with us to give us the easement we need to do the work," Stratford said. "We're still willing to work with him, but we just haven't heard from him."
The ombudsman wrote to the city and Peterson in April 2009, outlining an agreement that had been reached in March and asking them to contact him if the settlement was formalized or if more work was needed on his part.
Brent Bateman, lead attorney for the state Property Rights Ombudsman's office, said that to his knowledge, the deal was never formalized.
Stratford said he could not remember if a contract — which would have included the easement — had been sent to Peterson, or if Peterson was waiting on the city to follow up.
Peterson maintains that the city never sent him the contract. "It seems like everyone is playing loose with these records," Peterson said, "and I don't quite understand that."
Max Thompson, who lives across the street and north of Peterson, said he understand's his neighbor's frustration. While sitting out on his front patio recently, Thompson noticed the foul-smelling water flowing in the gutter.
"It smells like rotten eggs and it's only when he needs to drain his pool," Thompson said, adding that the unhealthy situation "must be taken care of, there's no doubt. I told him that I'd be all over the city."
twitter: @catmck —
What Ogden agreed to do
Install an underground drain system to divert water to the street. Peterson would give the city an easement to maintain it.
Install vegetation and a drip irrigation system on Peterson's hillside.
Install fencing at the toe of the hillside and a rock wall by the pool.
Remove the bath house and fill in the pool with dirt for use as a flower bed.
Source: March 17, 2009 Ombudsman's letter to Ogden City and Robert Peterson. This agreement was never formalized into a signed contract.