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Comprehensive Plan Recreation and Open Space Element <br />• Utility Rights -of -Way and Easements <br />In addition to transportation rights-of-way, corridor open space also includes utility rights-of-way <br />and easements. While utilities are often installed within road rights-of-way, there are other <br />circumstances where separate utility corridors are provided. Like road rights-of-way, utility <br />corridors also serve open space functions. <br />Utility corridors include rights-of-way and easements for drainage, electric utilities, gas utilities, <br />telephone, water and sewer, cable, and others. Most of these areas are easements within <br />subdivisions. Usually ten to twenty feet wide and located on property lines, these drainage and <br />utility easements must be kept free of structures. Therefore, these areas serve an open space <br />function. <br />Even more productive as open space areas are several utility corridors which extend the length of the <br />county. There are several of these located in unincorporated Indian River County. The Houston <br />Texas Gas and Oil Company Easement and the FP&L 240 KV easement both parallel I-95 and run <br />west of the interstate, extending the entire length of the county. Although the easements vary some <br />in width, the gas easement is generally 50 feet, while the transmission line easement is 170 feet. In <br />those areas where they abut, the easement is 210 feet wide. In the south county, an AT&T easement <br />which is 33 feet in width runs north/south west of Old Dixie Highway. <br />Other corridor open space is included within the system of water control district canals which exist <br />in the county. Created for the purpose of providing drainage functions to landowners, the six <br />independent water control/improvement districts which exist in Indian River County maintain <br />extensive systems of drainage canals. Usually paralleling and abutting roadways, these canals are <br />rights-of-way owned by the various water control districts. <br />The largest of these water control districts, the Indian River Farms Water Control District, has over <br />200 miles of primary canals. For the main canals in this system, the right-of-way is as much as 200 <br />feet. Together, this canal system provides a substantial amount of open space in the county. More <br />information on the drainage canals is included in the drainage sub -element of this plan. <br />The final type of corridor open space is the FEC railroad right-of-way. Measuring 100 to 110 feet in <br />width, the railroad right-of-way runs north/south, extending the length of the county and paralleling <br />US 1. Like the other examples of open space, the railroad right-of-way provides a substantial <br />amount of open space in the county. <br />Pastoral Open Space <br />The second major type of open space is pastoral open space. Defined generally as open space area <br />set aside for conservation, natural resource protection, or passive use purposes, pastoral open space <br />Community Development Department Indian River County 31 <br />