WTF kind of country do we live in where someone who is IN THE COUNTRY with proper water and sewer cannot live in thier camper? How can they decide how you can and can't live? That's why you leave the city so you can live your life as you see it. Junky as you want to be, or clean as you want to be. What if you wanted to live in a tent?
At Home In The Woods
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dcyrilc
Elite Member
That's one of the disadvantages of a larger government... less freedoms. I am quite familiar with this type of thing. Our land was rezoned to residentual about 15 years ago (we've had and farmed it for 25 years). When we tried to put a house on it 10 years ago, we were told that it would be a change of useage and we would have to get rid of the farm and put 16.5 of the 17 acres into native growth protection. The county said we could use the remaining 1/2 acre for the house. I guess our county hasn't heard of a farmhouse.
OP
Obed
Elite Member
TheGoose,
We had considered moving our camper onto our property in Anderson County (which is zoned agriculture) and waiting a while before building. So I called the Anderson County zoning office incognito and told them we were interested in buying ag zoned land and wanted to know what would be required to put a camper on the land.
The zoning officer asked if we would want to hook up utilities on the property. When I said yes, she said that we couldn't hook up utilities for a camper anywhere in the entire county unless the camper was in an RV park. Keep in mind, half of Anderson county is mountainous and is sparsely populated in the mountain regions. But no campers are allowed by the zoning office. I did not check the actual Anderson Counting zoning ordinance like I did for Knox County where we got evicted. I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson County zoning office is making up their own laws just like the county that evicted us. However, soon enough we'll be in the house and hopefully the camper issue won't be an issue.
Obed
dcyrilc
Elite Member
Hopefully everything will go smoothly and the issue with the trailer will end up being a non-issue.
OP
Obed
Elite Member
One piece of property for sale that we looked at had a house, barn, and 20 acres. It was an estate. The county had rezoned the property to residential but there was a grandfather clause to allow existing ag properties to continue to be used for ag. When the owners died, the out-of-state heirs sold the animals. Unknown to the heirs, after the property had no farm animals on it for 6 months, it could no longer be used as a farm. The property then became useless to anyone wanting to buy it other than a developer. However, the lay of the land was not ideal for development so the property was having a tough time selling.
dcyrilc
Elite Member
Our issue is similar. We are a bottomland farm. As long as we continue to farm it, it is usable land. However if we cease farming it, it's wetlands. And yet, in the last 15 years, they have raised our taxes to nearly $10K per year since it's zoned residentual.
We have looked at the variences for Ag taxation, but if you ever want to remove it or you sell it, you have 90 days to pay the difference in back taxes plus penalties or it must be put into Native Growth Protection.Here in western Washington, wetland preservation is a huge thing to the different counties and ours is one of the leaders in this. The county south of us passed laws that if you have rural land of 5 acres or more you must put 50% of it into Native Growth Protection to permit anything.
Our south property line is now 650 feet from the city limits and we have an elementary school diagonal from our northwest property corner (used to be a gravel pit). I figure it will be about ten more years and we will be in the city. Then we come under different rules and will have room for about 100 buildable lots and it will be time to sell and leave Washington. Raw city lots around here sell for between $100K and $150K so we should have no problem buying elsewhere to retire and raise our cattle.
CurlyDave
Elite Member
Unsolicited advice:
Talk to a good real estate lawyer about this NOW and do whatever you have to to preserve this option for yourself.
We used to have a a law where a property owner could subdivide in OR, but it got voted out and now he can only divide into four parcels. Essentially the real estate interests & professional property developers are very good at having laws passed which prevent mere property owners from doing real estate development.
Wow. I'm just astounded at these reply's. I have already seen the change that a big city brings as Houston (suburbia) inches closer to our home. Interestingly, Houston has no zoning. Which is why it is so spread out and disorganized. As our county sits south of 5 million people the growth is coming this way. For now, I enjoy living in our small town and living a rural way of life.
dave1949
Super Star Member
Me too Goose. Hard to fathom how this could come about. When I read these posts, I get more of an appreciation for New England-style Town Hall government and Maine's voter referendums which can veto state laws or force the legislature to make laws agreed to by the majority in a referendum.
Not perfect systems, but it seems like individual communities have more say in such things. Zoning is a dirty word in the little town I live in, we don't have zoning. Still have to comply with state rules about wetlands, or buffers between building sites and lakes/streams which are reasonable for the most part.
Cyril - Get on US Route 2, drive east to Farmington, Maine, I'll show you some unzoned land
Dave.
bake321
Silver Member
Cyril
Don't overplay your hand. I did in Phoenix AZ and saw a million dollar potential gain go bye bye. "A bird in the hand". The way this country is going nothing is for certain anymore.
Cary
Don't overplay your hand. I did in Phoenix AZ and saw a million dollar potential gain go bye bye. "A bird in the hand". The way this country is going nothing is for certain anymore.
Cary