Private utility lines shall be valued by accepted appraisal techniques by the appraiser with the assistance of ROW PD upon request. Upon the discovery of utilities that are acquired or impacted by the acquisition of property, the appraiser’s initial task is to determine whether the utilities are privately or publicly utilized. A public utility is a publicly, or cooperatively functioning line, facility, or system for producing, transmitting, or distributing products or services directly or indirectly for public use. Private utilities do not provide products or services for the use of the public, but rather serve or benefit the private use of a small selected group. The acquisition and/or adjustment of publicly or privately utilized utilities will be addressed in the following process:

Public utilities impacted by the acquisition of property will be adjusted by TxDOT’s utility adjustment/accommodation program.
The owners of privately utilized utilities acquired or impacted by the acquisition of right of way will be compensated by the acquisition policy of TxDOT.

The valuation of private utilities should follow the typical appraisal process of appraising the contributory value of the improvements in the part to be acquired and the cost to cure adjustment value as damages to the remainder property. However, in the situation of a parcel that requires an adjustment value for further curative work outside of a parcel that does not have a remainder property, such as a whole acquisition, the cost to cure of adjusting the private lines may be included as an improvement value. Privately utilized lines that are owned by parties other than the fee owner of a parcel may be appraised by typical methods with the appropriate values distributed to the different ownership interests of the property.

In the consideration of damages to the remainder property for utility issues, the appraiser should remember the legal requirement the potential damages of remainder properties should be compared as cured and uncured. The appraiser is to use the valuation of the remainder property that will produce the least amount of damages. However, the appraiser and ROW PD are advised to exercise discretion in the consideration of offsetting the damages of remainder properties with utility curative work by the enhancements of the remainder property. It is not the policy of TxDOT to leave remainder properties without the resources to reconnect their utilities. If health and safety issues are involved, cost to cure values for the adjustments of private utility lines are normally a special damage and should not be offset by enhancements for the remainder property.

ROW PD will assist the appraiser and provide information concerning the location and reconnection of private utility lines. This assistance will be especially helpful to the appraiser when permits and licenses are issued for utilities that may identify or restrict a new location for private utilities. If a curative adjustment is complicated, or if the appraiser requests assistance, it may be necessary to obtain the services of a technical expert.

If a parcel

has been acquired

and there is an overlooked private utility line requiring adjustment, the overlooked improvement shall be designated as a new X-parcel and added to

TxC

by the ROW Program Office. A new appraisal will be performed for the missed improvement, and the owner of the improvement will be compensated. Form is executed to eliminate any property interest on the parcel being acquired. ROW PD should contact the ROW Program Office to have an X-parcel added to

TxC

.

However

, if the original parcel

has not been

acquired and there is an overlooked private utility line requiring adjustment, the appraisal will be updated to reflect the missed improvement at no cost to TxDOT.

The cost to adjust the utility may be determined by staff appraisals, bids, estimates, or actual costs incurred, and/or with concurrence of the ROW Program Office.