Huntington Beach residents may lose access to parts of their property thanks to an old sewer line

Some homeowners in Huntington Beach may lose access to parts of their property because the county needs to dig out an old sewer line, a move that has frustrated many.

"They're saying they want to put a wall from here all the way across and we don't get access to this back," Andrea Rizzo said. "We don't get to have it back."

Rizzo had recently remodeled her Huntington Beach home to accommodate her disabled son AJ. It included the addition of an above-ground pool in the backyard on her property but it's within a sewer easement that officials say has existed in the neighborhood since 1959. 

Last month, more than two dozen homeowners got this letter from Orange County Sanitation District notifying them that all structures and improvements on their property located within the sewer easement must be removed. Officials said they need to access the massive and vital underground sewage pipe.

"A pipe needs to be serviced," Rizzo said. "We get that. It's just that it's such a bullying move in the wording."

OC Sanitation insists that homeowners have been warned throughout the years about the prohibition of fences, pools and other permanent structures on the easement. Officials also said homeowners were informed about the pipe through their titles.

Huntington Beach officials are trying to broker a solution that would help both parties.

"I never, in a million years, thought that I had to worry about the sewer company taking my yard," homeowner Beverly Uerling said. 'In most cases, the Sanitation District says it will pay for the structures to be removed."