Greenlight Networks Easements

An easement is a legal right to use another homeowner’s land for a specific limited purpose. In other words, when a homeowner grants an easement to Greenlight, the homeowner is providing Greenlight the legal right to use the property. The legal title to the land itself does not change. Ownership of the property remains solely with the home owner.

To be able to connect neighborhoods to our fiber-optic network, Greenlight Networks needs to run our fiber under portions of properties in the neighborhood in order to access the utility poles on a home owner(s) property. The need for easements is based on the configuration of utility pole lines.

​Easements required/needed depends district specific. This is determined by the Pre-Construction Team and Engineering. ​Information about specific households that we need an easement is to NEVER be provided to any customer. A home owner will be contacted directly from our Pre-Construction Team.

Providing us with an easement is done through the Pre-Construction Team on an individual basis. If a customer would like to express their willingness to give us an easement, in the event one is needed, you can reach us at easements@greenlightnetworks.com.

Greenlight will need to bury conduit on the property. The conduit is buried at a depth ranging from 12″ to 36″ depending on the nature of the property and installation method. To minimize disruption to the property this is typically accomplished by digging pits (approx. 2 square feet) and forcing the conduit underground along the path. The pits are back filled, graded and reseeded to return property to its original state. Simplified, we drill the path underground rather than dig (trench) the path in order to minimize disruption to the property.

• Greenlight Networks is considered a utility, therefore we are granted access to work on or around utility poles that are located on private property through the original easement granted to the pole owners (RGE & FTR in Rochester, FMC & FTR in Fairport/Perinton).
• It is a common misconception that homeowners own property all the way up to the street. Unless they live on a private drive, there is a portion of the land (usually 10-15ft from the street) that is owned by their municipality. This is called the public Right of Way and we require permission from the municipality rather than private landowners to dig in this area.
• ​It is also possible that we may have been granted an easement by a previous homeowner, because our easements run with the property in perpetuity.