Gas Co-Op and Utility Right-of-Way for Rural Properties
Natural gas infrastructure is a critical aspect of modern living, providing homeowners with essential resources to heat their homes and power their appliances. While urban areas have a more rigorous and structured approach to installing gas infrastructure, rural areas tend to have different systems in place. In rural areas, gas co-ops are a common arrangement for natural gas utilities, providing homeowners with access to natural gas utility resources while accommodating the nature of rural development.
Typically, urban areas use utility right-of-way plans, created by an Alberta Land Surveyor and registered at the Land Titles Office, to install gas infrastructure. These are carefully planned out and located to ensure that natural gas resources are distributed efficiently and effectively to all the homes. Utility right-of- way plans provide the exact location that grants the special rights to access and maintain the gas infrastructure. These are registered on a parcel's land title, and the Grantee and Grantor have special rights and obligations relating to these right-of-way locations. These locations are also shown on a Real Property Report (RPR) along with any associated encroachments.
In contrast, rural properties typically use gas co-ops, an alternate arrangement for natural gas utility installation and management. This less predictable system usually ties new gas infrastructure to the nearest existing pipes, and as such, they can end up anywhere on any property affected by the co-op. There is no right-of-way located for this, and in fact, it is often the case that the utilities location is ambiguous, though the situation is improving in the modern era. This system allows the gas co-op operators to install pipes in the fastest, cheapest, and most convenient way possible. Given the unique low-density nature of rural development, this is quite reasonable, there is little need for additional efforts of plan creation and registration when there is so little landowner benefit, as long as a mechanism exists to protect the infrastructure.
A blanket registration can be used in these rural locations. Registered on the title, this registration encumbers the entire parcel subject to the access and maintenance requirements of the gas co-op. It registers the rights of the co-op operators to access the entirety of the parcel to access and maintain the pipes wherever they might be. An Example of this is shown below.
If your property has a gas o-op registration on it, you should be aware of the rights and responsibilities associated with that registration. These details can be accessed by obtaining a copy of the registration in its entirety from the Alberta Land Titles office. While a specific location for the utility right-of-way is not available, it is important to appreciate at minimum that the Gas Co-op has legal access to your property and that you would have gas co-op pipeline infrastructure on the property.
From the perspective of Real Property Reports (RPRs), the registration will be shown within the title block. Due to the previously mentioned blanket registration nature, there is no right-of-way location to identify on the plan portion of the document. The further implication of this is that Land Surveyors do not identify the structures on the property as encroachments into these types of registrations on a Real Property Report (RPR).