Published
Utilities in a county right-of-way have assigned places: five feet for dry, three for wet.
Anything built inside the county’s right-of-way needs this permit first
Most people meet the right-of-way permit through a driveway. But the permit is broader than approaches: it covers every construction activity inside the county’s roads and rights-of-way, and the code lists the categories by name.
“A right-of-way permit issued by the Fremont County Public Works Department is required for any construction activity within any of Fremont County’s public roads or right-of-ways. This pertains to activities such as placement of utilities, service lines, private approaches or irrigation facilities. Fremont County reserves the right to require boring of the roadway, rather than trenching through the existing pavement, when trenching may compromise the integrity of the road surface.”
— Fremont County Development Code, 2011 Edition (Ordinance 2011-04), Appendix B, section 1.09, amended by Ordinance 2020-07. Consolidated through Ordinance 2026-03. Retrieved 7 September 2026
Three things in that paragraph carry real weight. The permit reaches utilities and irrigation lines, not just driveways. The county can order the road bored rather than trenched — the same logic the state applies to US-20, from the state-side crossing rules. And the section was rewritten recently enough to carry a 2020 amendment, so it is not a forgotten corner of a 2011 code.
The 70-foot line that decides which set of rules applies
Section 1.09 splits into two regimes at a single threshold: whether the public right-of-way is at least 70 feet wide. Wide rights-of-way get granted easements inside them. Narrow ones get setback rules instead.
Where the right-of-way is 70 feet or wider, utilities are granted easements within it:
| Kind of utility | What the county grants | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Dry utilities | a 5-foot easement | Adjacent to and within the right-of-way lines |
| Wet utilities | a 3-foot easement | Adjacent to the outside edge of the shoulder |
The county defines its own terms, and the definitions are worth reading precisely:
- Dry means electricity, gas, communications, and other utilities that do not transport water.
- Wet means water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and steam.
- Power and gas are not to be placed within the same 5-foot easement.
- Water and sewer are not to be placed within the same 3-foot easement.
- Potable water and sewer lines must maintain a minimum separation of 10 feet from each other.
That last figure is the one that surprises people buying ground for a cabin row. Ten feet of separation between drinking water and sewer is a public-health distance, and on a 70-foot right-of-way it has to fit alongside everything else the corridor carries.
Narrower rights-of-way get setbacks instead of easements
Where the right-of-way is less than 70 feet, section 1.09.020 switches to clearances:
- All new above-ground utilities must be built at least 15 feet from the shoulder of the road or 24 feet from the centerline, whichever is greater — and still within the right-of-way.
- Underground dry utilities should be placed near, within 4 feet of, the right-of-way line rather than along the shoulder. The code gives its reason: so the lines are not disturbed or paved over if the road is widened.
- The minimum width of right-of-way for existing county roads is prescribed to be 50 feet, but the code acknowledges many existing county rights-of-way are 60 or 66 feet wide.
The 4-foot rule is the quiet piece of foresight in the section. A line buried under the future lane of a widened road gets dug up twice; a line at the boundary moves once, or never. The county wrote that preference into the standard for exactly that reason.
The 2020 amendment, and why the date matters
The consolidated code prints a footnote against section 1.09: amended by Ordinance 2020-07. The 2011 Edition as consolidated runs through February 2026, so this is a section the county has touched within the last decade rather than one carried forward unchanged. When Public Works answers an easement question, this is the version they are answering from — a point worth confirming on the record, the same way the driveway-permit question is settled before the machine is booked.
Clearing the corridor — and the wildfire clause inside a road standard
Section 1.09.030 deals with how much of the right-of-way gets cleared, and it does not say “all of it.” Grading should be confined to the area necessary for a properly drained road surface and a clear safety zone, following the AASHTO Roadside Design Guide.
Then comes a paragraph no other county road standard in this portfolio carries:
- Where a road passes through timber or brushy vegetation that creates a wildfire hazard, the entire right-of-way is treated as a fuel reduction area.
- Trees and brush are thinned to a density where crowns do not overlap or touch.
- Ladder fuels are removed, and construction slash is removed from the right-of-way along with the other fuels.
A road corridor built to this section is a shaded fuel break by law. For a cabin road through timber, that clause is the difference between a cleared scar and a maintained defensible line — the road-side cousin of the clearing zones around the cabin itself. An operator who bids the road without pricing slash haul-off has not read this section.
What to do with this before anything is scheduled
- Establish whether the work touches county right-of-way at all — utilities, a service line, an approach, or irrigation all count, not only driveways.
- Get the right-of-way width on the record. The 70-foot threshold decides whether you are working inside granted easements or under setback rules.
- Sort the utilities into dry and wet before layout, because the two categories sit in different places and carry different separation rules.
- Check the 10-foot potable-water-to-sewer separation early — on a narrow corridor it is the figure most likely to force a redesign.
- Place underground dry lines within 4 feet of the right-of-way line so a future widening does not exhume them.
- If the corridor runs through timber, read 1.09.030 as a fuel-reduction scope and put slash disposal in the bid.
- Ask Public Works whether the pavement will require boring rather than trenching before the trencher is booked, not after.
The section is short, recently amended, and almost entirely numbers — five feet, three feet, ten feet, seventy feet, fifteen, twenty-four, four. That is unusually checkable for a county code, and it means an easement answer from Public Works can be compared against something written down, which is the same discipline the culvert question calls for before bids are taken.
Common questions
When is a Fremont County right-of-way permit required?
For any construction activity within any of Fremont County's public roads or rights-of-way. The code names placement of utilities, service lines, private approaches, and irrigation facilities as examples.
Where do dry utilities go in a county right-of-way?
Where the right-of-way is at least 70 feet wide, dry utilities — electricity, gas, and communications — are granted a 5-foot easement adjacent to and within the right-of-way lines. Power and gas may not share the same 5-foot easement.
Where do wet utilities go in a county right-of-way?
Wet utilities — water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and steam — are granted a 3-foot easement adjacent to the outside edge of the shoulder. Water and sewer may not share the same 3-foot easement.
How far apart must potable water and sewer lines be?
Section 1.09 requires a minimum separation of 10 feet between potable water and sewer lines, in addition to the rule keeping them out of the same 3-foot easement.
What changes when the right-of-way is narrower than 70 feet?
New above-ground utilities must sit at least 15 feet from the shoulder or 24 feet from the centerline, whichever is greater, and still within the right-of-way. Underground dry utilities should go within 4 feet of the right-of-way line.
Why should underground dry utilities be placed near the right-of-way line?
The code's stated reason is so the lines are not disturbed or paved over if the road is widened. A line under the travel lane gets dug up twice; a line at the boundary does not.
How wide are existing Fremont County road rights-of-way?
The prescribed minimum width for existing county roads is 50 feet, but the code notes many existing county rights-of-way are 60 or 66 feet wide. The width on any given road decides which easement rules apply.
Can the county make me bore under the road instead of trenching?
Yes. Fremont County reserves the right to require boring of the roadway rather than trenching through existing pavement when trenching may compromise the integrity of the road surface.
Does the whole right-of-way have to be cleared when a road is built?
No. Grading should be confined to what a properly drained road surface and a clear safety zone need. But where the road passes through timber that creates a wildfire hazard, the entire right-of-way becomes a fuel reduction area — crowns thinned so they do not touch, ladder fuels and construction slash removed.