LENGBY, Minn. — There is a land controversy in Polk County, one that is catching homeowners by surprise.
In some cases, homes are being built in the wrong spot.
Residents blame the county, but the county says the property owners are really to blame.
“I don’t own my well, my septic, or part of my retaining walls now,” said Darrell Donnell, as he stood on the back porch at his home in Lengby where he’s lived for the past 18 years.
“It made me sick to my stomach,” he said.
Donnell was given the news when he was originally denied a building permit to upgrade his home. It turned out he couldn’t do the project because his neighbor really owns most of his backyard.
“The property line should be this tree line here,” said his neighbor Al Olson as he pointed to a map. “Now it shows I own part of his garage.”
The two aren’t alone.
A few miles away, a homeowner is in a court battle. It turns out the home she built over 30 years ago is really on her neighbor’s land.
“Why should she have to concur those costs when these were not lines or anything she’s changed, it’s how the county has surveyed it that has changed those lines,” Olson said.
Polk County engineer Rich Sanders said the county has done nothing to change where the landowners lines are.
He admits they have been using new technology to get a more accurate picture of the property lines. In some cases they do move a few inches, but denies claims that some have moved 75 to 100 feet.
Sanders said the issue around Lengby boils down to County Road 4, which land owners have been using to measure their property lines. But that’s wrong.
“They assumed and were confused where it was and therefore this whole thing has become the hornet’s nest that it is,” Sanders said.
The homeowners claim resolving the issue will cost them thousands of dollars in orders to bring in a surveyor and legal costs.
Sanders admits there have been similar issues in Polk County before – and across the state.
“You don’t know it until you want to get a permit to build, or improve your septic or well, or go sell the place,” Olson said.
“They hold your property hostage until you clean this mess up. It’s not our mess. The county created this mess,” Donnell added.
Since the issue stretches far beyond Polk County, lawmakers plan to examine it further when they return to St. Paul early next year.