TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Donna Hartl and her husband were excited when in January they bought a vacant lot for $17,500.
The property is nestled between Isewood Drive and Richbarn Road in Brooksville.
“We really wanted to have some privacy, not be stranded out in the country,” said Donna Hartl, who moved to Florida from North Dakota. “We just felt this was the perfect match.”
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The real estate listing described the property as “your dream home’s canvas.”
The couple hired a builder to draft plans and did their homework with Hernando County government.
“I was getting the green light on everything,” Hartl said. “My property was being brought up on the GIS map at the county, I got my setback, what I could and couldn’t do. I could bring a modular home in, a mobile home, or I could do a single-family residence.”
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Back in January, there was a slender, wooden utility pole on the land, which they thought would sit just behind their new home.
When the couple arrived last month, they found a large concrete Duke Energy transmission pole, along with others up and down the area.
“A neighbor happened to stopped by and introduce themselves said ‘I don’t what you’re doing here, but Duke Energy has an easement over your entire property, and you’ll never be able to build here,’” Hartl said.
Hartl said she had numerous conversations with confused county workers who, at first, said they could still build, but after she reached Duke Energy, she was provided a document that was filed in public records in 1955, prohibiting buildings or structures within 100 feet of this right of way.
“We came back with our wheel and spray paint and it turns out you cannot build within 100 feet in any direction of that pole, which leads us to that tiny corner here of maybe 600 feet,” Hartl said. “And you can’t even build a small home because your septic and well have to be so far away from the home, so that leaves nothing.”
The property is zoned for agricultural or residential use, yet, the Hartls can’t build a residence.
Still, they are stuck paying taxes on this land used by the utility company.
When Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken asked Duke if it would be willing to own the property since it is the only entity that can use it, a spokeswoman sent this statement:
“Duke Energy Florida owns a variety of different easements and rights of way to provide reliable and increasingly clean power to our 2 million customers across our 35-county service territory. Rights of way and other easements vary in size and have different usage and maintenance guidelines, based on the voltage and type of line. These easements and their setbacks are in place to ensure the safety of our customers and our crews, while also protecting any current or future equipment contained within these areas to deliver safe, reliable power. It’s important to understand, Duke Energy Florida is not involved in the sale of real estate transactions that may include our easements. We always encourage property owners to do their due diligence to understand the full history and scope of the property, including understanding the terms of an easement, which may come with building, vegetation and other restrictions.”
Hernando County’s Assistant Property Appraiser said this large of an easement is very unusual and his office did not know about it until the Hartls notified them. Now, they have lowered the property value by 50 percent to just $6,691.
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