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“Let me tell you, what a shock. I couldn’t believe it,” she says.

There was no warning that the city was relocating the fire hydrant from where it had been for the past 50 years – the same length of time Duclos has lived at her house – or that the hydrant would be plopped down on the edge of her garden.

There is a hitch, of course.

The hydrant is on city land, just like it was at its previous location between the properties.

And that’s exactly what she heard from the city. Three weeks passed since her first call to 311.

The city had to move the hydrant because of interfering tree roots and workers simply didn’t have anywhere else to put it, Duclos was eventually told.

“At least you won’t have any cars parked in front of your house,” a city worker said, according to an unamused Duclos.

So, she’s left with a hydrant in the middle of the yard and a smear of gravel where there grass was.

In an email to Postmedia, water services director Tammy Rose says the city had to move the hydrant because it’s old and corroding. Parts are no longer available for that style of hydrant, she says.

The city chose the location in the middle of the yard because it’s accessible to firefighters and city services. Rose says staff considered the underground utilities, large trees, tree roots, accessibility and visibility when choosing the new hydrant location.

Rose says the city’s procedures call for staff to return the excavated parts to the same grade as the surrounding area using top soil and grass seed. That work usually begins in May and continues through the fall.