Just curious, theres about 4' of old copper in my basement before my main shutoff. To turn that off you must have the town open the buffalo box on the driveway.

Should a homeowner have access to that valve?
Is it a good idea to have a key of my own to shut off the water from outside?

SOme of you are plumbers I know, do you have your own key or do you have to call the cities to do this?

there usually is a small amount of tubing in any basement before the shutoff. some have more some have less.
i have my own 6 ft long curb key.
you as a home owner don't want to be messing with the underground stop. if you break it, it will cost a bunch of money to fix it.
if you are worried, have the town shut off the water and you can install an additional shutoff nearer the wall.

Most municipal Public Works departments will get very feisty when even plumbers touch 'their' property.

here it is not their property if it is located inside your property line. if it is on the sidewalk or on the street they don't even allow licensed plumbers to touch it.

quote; here it is not their property if it is located inside your property line.

The curb stop/Buffalo Box, is normally NOT on your property so the city can terminate your water supply, if you do not pay your bill, without "trespassing".

God forbid something happened, but if the entrance pipe burst there would be extensive damage before one could call to have someone shut it off.... I assume then the fire dept. would be able to do so?