Road tearout in historic neighborhood

[TampaTroy]

So there is a partial tearout of a road in a historic district in my town. My first thought was: Im there first thing sunday morning!
I drove by to check for trespassing signage; none.
Then I see that the tearout is happening right next to the county sheriff's department. This gives me some pause.
Working so close to the sheriff's dept. would put me under a microscope.
My concern is that the tearout could be considered a construction site and thus trespassing would be a felony. No warn-off, straight to jail, do not pass go.
I cant find any Florida statute pertaining to trespassing on a road work site. Any one know more about the subject?

 

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[albertapicker]

Did you call the construction company and ask?

 

[watercolor]

I can see your dilemma. . . more than likely, asking the construction company will get you a quick "No" (I'm sure Tom in CA will agree).

Around Chicago when they start pulling up sidewalk slabs & curbs and start scraping the ROW areas between the street & sidewalk, we can't wait until the work crews leave for the day. We've had LEO's pull up in their squads (almost every time) and ask us if we're finding anythig good. . . then after showing them a few of our finds, they say "cool" and wish us luck hunting.

If I was there, I'd give it a go first-light Sunday morning.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Wow, talk about over-thinking! It's a public road way, wait for the crew to leave then hunt it. Jeeze, they aren't going to throwing you in jail.

 

[gordonquixote]

From my point of view, right next to the Sheriff's department would be like hiding in plain sight. I would knock the back out of it.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Good answers you've got so far. I've hunted sidewalk & Street tearouts that are..... uh .... uncomfortably close to police stations like that.

And yes , I was told "scram" a time or two . But other times they pay you no mind .

street and sidewalk demo's rarely have anything more than a few barricades and ribbons at most . So I rarely ever been bothered.

 

[TampaTroy]

The problem with asking for permission to detect on public works projects is that nobody has the authority to tell you yes but everyone has the authority to tell you no. So, what's the point?
I usually don't worry about being on public property but Florida has harsh laws concerning trespassing on construction sites.
I will probably just go try it out and see what happens. I can probably talk my way out of any problems. I have no record to worry about and it's not like there's anything around that I could be trying to steal except a 10 ton backhoe.

 

[PaDirtDigger]

Only thing i dont like about spots like that is the gawkers and pointers.... Haha.... So i know i miss out on some stuff. Just remember to post up what you find!

 

[maipenrai]

Just put your vest and hard hat on!

 

[FollowTheBeep]

Just put your vest and hard hat on!

I agree. Just wearing a safety vest makes it look like you're supposed to be there. Look and see what the construction workers are wearing and wear something similar.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

follow-the-beep and maipenrai, that's known as "urban camouflage" haha

One time I got off work from my job driving a street sweeper. I'd inadvertently left my yellow vest on, when I stopped to check out an old 1920's vaudeville downtown theater that was being prepared for demolition. All the seats inside had been ripped out, and preparations being made to tear down the building, etc..... I met up with some friends there, and we went inside to look for coins . And in cracks and crevices around the old concession stands, ticket booth, drip grates in the floor, wedged in corners, etc.... all around the place we were finding coins.

After about an hour of this, I guess we must've been making a big racket with our crowbars tearing out boards and such to reach things. Because all of the sudden, we heard police loud-speakers from outside yelling: "Come out with your hands up!! We have the place surrounded!!". We all froze in terror. We made our way down the stairs through the doors, and out into the sunlight. A police man was standing there with his gun aimed at us! But the minute he saw my yellow vest, he lowered his gun and started laughing. Apologized and explained that they'd had a complaint from a neighboring business, that some "homeless people must be in there vandalizing the place". So he'd had to come check it out. He apologized for interupting us, and got back in his squad car, and left!

It turned out that upon seeing my yellow vest, he'd just assumed I/we were workers. Doh! In that particular instance, I had permission to be in there, but it was just funny that the mere site of a yellow vest, just seems to cause others to think you're legit, or a worker, or whatever.

 

[cudamark]

The problem with asking for permission to detect on public works projects is that nobody has the authority to tell you yes but everyone has the authority to tell you no. So, what's the point?
I usually don't worry about being on public property but Florida has harsh laws concerning trespassing on construction sites.

Really? Even unposted sites? Around here, if they want to keep you out, they put a temp fence around it completely and post No Trespassing signs on it. Most of the time it just has caution tape and "Danger" signs warning you to watch what you're doing so you don't hurt yourself due to potential hazardous conditions and/or your own clumsiness.

 

[huntsman53]

I may be wrong but sidewalks and the tearouts of these are Public Right of Way. Unless the City or County has a specific Rule or Regulation (sorry, I can't remember what they are called for Cities) and nothing in the By-Laws of the Historical Society there, then no one has the right to tell you to leave or arrest you if you are metal detecting after work hours of the construction crews. Just make sure to fill in all of your holes and remove all trash and junk you find. If you leave no evidence that you were there and don't make more work for the construction crews, then you should not have a problem.


Frank

 

[Peyton Manning]

no cop is going to want to do a report on that unless you tick him off.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

no cop is going to want to do a report on that unless you tick him off.

And I would agree with that. However, it seems to boil down to "caution level" and "risk assessment". There are others you will see/read posting on forums, who .... in a case/question like this, would put out various imminent threats/fears of "arrest", "tickets", "jail", etc.... for something as silly simple as this. And at a certain point, you have to sit back and look at a post like that and say to yourself: "While ANYTHING is *technically* possible" (a plane might crash on your house tomorrow too), yet .......... seriously now .... c'mon ........ the cops have much bigger fish to fry.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Another consideration to take into account when it comes to sidewalk tearouts guys: Is that the business or home store front affected by the road or sidewalk work, HAVE to have access to their front doors. So I've seen sidewalk work like this, is downtown store-front districts, that .......... even though they have ribbon or "sidewalk closed" type signage, yet ....... people go in and out of the store front doors. Since the stores are not going to close-for-business that day. Thus the workers will make a short-term temporary gravel step or slope, leading into each store front. And then tear it back out the next day when they prepare to put in the concrete.

 

[Coinhawk]

I was watching a youtube video of a couple guys hunting a tearout street in a small town.

I'm new at this hobby so I have no valuable advice to offer, but I did want to point out that the voice of the majority in this thread seems to agree that with a common sense approach and a respectful attitude if confronted, you probably won't have much trouble.

I am pretty sure the felony tresspassing on construction sites law is for people stealing construction equipment, copper wire, etc. Not for a history enthusiast sweeping a metal detector on the ground.

Could a cop interpret it still as a felony and arrest you? Sure. Would he or she? That's up to you.

Another thing you could maybe do is be consipicious in your set up before you hunt. Stand in plain view of the Sherriff's office while getting your tools laid out, belt loops, batteries, hat, etc. Give them the opportunity to ask what you are doing before you step foot into the construction area so that if they say you can't, all you've done is loiter.

And most important of all, if you DO get the hunt done, post what you find!

 

[GaRebel1861]

I like the idea of wearing the yellow vest. Add a white hard hat and a clip board and you will look like you belong there. Good luck!

 

[G.I.B.]

My concern is that the tearout could be considered a construction site and thus trespassing would be a felony. No warn-off, straight to jail, do not pass go.
I cant find any Florida statute pertaining to trespassing on a road work site. Any one know more about the subject?

It's not a felony unless posted as directed below.

Misdemeanor at best, but they will likely just tell you to leave. It's not worth the paperwork.


(d) The offender commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if the property trespassed is a construction site that is:1. Greater than 1 acre in area and is legally posted and identified in substantially the following manner: “THIS AREA IS A DESIGNATED CONSTRUCTION SITE, AND ANYONE WHO TRESPASSES ON THIS PROPERTY COMMITS A FELONY.”; or
2. One acre or less in area and is identified as such with a sign that appears prominently, in letters of not less than 2 inches in height, and reads in substantially the following manner: “THIS AREA IS A DESIGNATED CONSTRUCTION SITE, AND ANYONE WHO TRESPASSES ON THIS PROPERTY COMMITS A FELONY.” The sign shall be placed at the location on the property where the permits for construction are located. For construction sites of 1 acre or less as provided in this subparagraph, it shall not be necessary to give notice by posting as defined in s. 810.011(5).

 

[swamp yankee]

Wearing "urban camoflage" - an orange vest makes all the "aggie crackers" including kops leave you alone for sure , just don't forget a hard hat too to complete the outfit....