The county stopped the work of three utility companies digging in the Highland Estates neighborhood Tuesday.
Neighbors have experienced numerous power outages, water service interruptions and traffic problems since at least June.
That was when Comcast crews began digging to lay new internet cables at the same time High Valley Water Company was replacing water mains in the neighborhood. Then Utah Broadband sent in a crew to lay its own cables too.
Highland Estates homeowners say the result has been nothing short of disastrous.
Countryside Circle resident Vonda Barber said Comcast workers have caused more than one outage at her house, and one time they disconnected her neutral wire, which normally helps limit the voltage electronics receive.
“When Comcast came in, they dropped the neutral on my home; took out all my power; fried two breakers; fried my hot tub, my massage chair, two ceiling fans, three lights,” Barber said. “It fried a lot of stuff.”
Representatives of Comcast have not responded to KPCW’s requests for comment.Mailboxes mysteriously destroyed
Then there were the mailboxes: someone knocked over four of the neighborhood’s gang boxes—each with 16 mailboxes and two parcel containers—Friday, Aug. 11.
Dawn Pencil, who sits on the Highland Estates Homeowners’ Association board, said residents think one of the work crews is to blame. However, they don’t have the evidence to prove it.
“It's our theory, our working theory, that one of the trailers backed into it and kept backing into it, probably because they couldn't feel it,” Pencil said. “Because it had to be something long to kind of take all that out—we actually had people go measure, and the first impact of where the mailboxes are hit coordinates with how tall those trailers are.”
Pencil said replacing the boxes will cost $15,000. Until then, residents are picking up their mail at the post office on Park Avenue in Park City.
The HOA has filed a report with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, but Chief Deputy Kacey Bates said no suspect has been identified, in part because no one saw the incident happen.
“I went and talked to the foreman of one crew,” Pencil said. “And they're like, ‘Oh, no, totally had to be the other crew.’ I went and talked to the other crew, and they're like, ‘No, no. We weren't even working on that road that day.’ And the water company is like, ‘We don't work on Fridays.’”Digging hits power and water lines, leaves potholes
It’s also unclear which crews are leaving unfilled potholes on Highland Estates roads after digging.
Water and power lines have been marked before digging begins, but according to Barber, either markings have been imprecise or workers haven’t followed them.
“And I discovered that from High Valley Water when they were in front of my home and hit the power line again,” she said.
The water company’s work has come with planned and unplanned interruptions. Barber said in at least one instance, the water didn’t shut off when the company said it would, instead shutting off days later.
“Hearing anecdotally, Countryside Circle is having like the biggest issues,” Pencil said. “But it is because of the age of the infrastructure there.”
When crews from High Valley Water go to replace pipes, the pipes crumble.
“It's well-intended, but it's also causing issues,” Pencil said.
Representatives of High Valley Water KPCW spoke with said they didn’t want to be quoted.
But numerous people knowledgeable about the process of replacing the water mains say the water company believed it had to hire the contractors that quoted them the lowest price. That’s because the money came from infrastructure funding in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Residents said Comcast did not notify them about their work in Highland Estates, but Utah Broadband has left fliers on people’s doors. Because of the fliers, Utah Broadband said it’s being lumped in with the other issues going on at other construction sites.
“We understand the impact these projects have on the residents in a community and will continue to work hard to minimize that impact,” Utah Broadband President Taunya Martin told KPCW.Summit County issues temporary stop work order
The chaos culminated in a stop worker order from Summit County Engineer Steve Dennis Sept. 5.
“We actually served the stop work notice to all three work groups on Tuesday to draw attention to the degradation over the past couple of weeks; to project safety as far as covering open trenches, open excavations, proper signage, lit up barricades at night, and so on,” Dennis said. “As well as quality, and making sure that the county right-of-way is being put back per county standards.”
Dennis said they also reminded the work crews only emergency construction is allowed after Oct. 15, due to winter conditions.
He told KPCW it was unusual to have three major projects going on in one area at the same time.
“If this type of situation arises again, the county will evaluate the project schedules and potential overlap of the projects during the permitting process,” Dennis said.
The stop work order only lasted a day, and the county convened a meeting of the work crews and residents Sept. 7. Pencil said Dennis was trying to hold the companies’ feet to the fire to do better.
Comcast did commit to being more communicative at the Sept. 7 meeting, but one sticking was marking their trucks. Some crew members thought there would be more safety in anonymity.
A worker said a man had tried to run him over with a bicycle, shouting an expletive. And Pencil said he had the tire mark on his pants to prove it.
All the residents KPCW spoke to condemned the alleged attack.
