Got to love developments in rural areas

   / Got to love developments in rural areas #11  
Back in the 50's my dad and a partner bought a 20 acre parcel right on the edge of town. They subdivided it into about 17 lots, put in a road, sold the lots, and used the profits to pay for their own lots and start their own homes. I was born in the early 60s. The back yards of the houses on the north side of the street were the city limits. There was a gravel road behind them, then farms. Today, the city limits have moved farther out in all directions and there are almost continuous houses for 3 miles up to the Michigan state line.

Similar thing for my grandmother. Around 1906 she lived in a "house way out in the country" on Johnson St. It was 2nd to the last house on the street. The last house was a farmer, and all farms after that. Now, that house is considered an inner-city neighborhood. It's closer to the center of town than the edge of town.

This happens everywhere.
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #12  
It makes me ticked off when folks from a more urban area move to the areas where I was born and raised. Sometimes will make a monetary donation, get on town or county boards and impose there will with B-S ordinances and rules a lot of times the rules and ordinances they impose benefits them and only them. I'm about preserving rural areas but leave me alone. I once lived in a subdivision the neighbors almost had a coronary when I started welding on my trailer.
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #13  
I bought my first 5 acre lot in 1979 when a farmer first subdivided a 25 acre parcel. Over the years, I managed to acquire all 7 lots of the original subdivision. One of the lots included a ramshackle home & barn. I tore the house down and fixed up the barn for storage. All totaled, I spent well over $200K to own the entire 25 acre tract. It's ironic when I think back that the farmer who sold me the first lot, offered to sell me the entire 25 acre subdivision for $22K !

To me, the value of having control of the land that surrounds my house is worth every penny of that $200K.
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #14  
I drive a road home generally after work a lot times (right around here you cross into a different county). The other day, on this road, signs all over the road stating "Save Conrad Road, STOP the development". Couldn't figure out what the deal was.

Then in yesterdays paper, found it...


Funny thing, what the paper doesn't tell you is all the McMansions with 5 acres built 3 or 4 years ago parked off the same road. I just find it funny people spend at least 700k on homes with 5 acres in a rural area and now are fighting more homes going up around them. I get it, but a part of me thinks "tough titties".

THIS is why we went in the hole and bought our land. I expect down the road that people may build across our rural road, and God knows how may houses could be built on that land, BUT...ain't no one building in front or in back of our house LOL

Coming from Lewisville, this smaller house went up at the beginning of Conrad road. I can't imagine why ANONE would buy a house with the height difference of ground no more than 20' in front of your home (it's like 5' wide flat in front of the house and then a hill...).

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If those people don’t want the land developed they can get together and buy it. The other option is what they have in England where all land use must be approved by the government and you need permission to cut down a tree. Pick your poison. The English model works really well if your primary goal is to maintain rural areas as rural. I do feel sad every time an old farm goes to auction in 5 and 10 acre tracts. But that’s how the heirs get the best price.
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #15  
I find stuff like this fascinating. Especially how things have been playing out in my neighborhood. Within the last few years, houses have started going for crazy money: 45646 Superior Rd, Houghton, MI 49931 | Zillow

That may not seem like too crazy of a price, but I can assure you that for this area 3 years ago, it would have been an absolutely apeshit bonkers price. And he'll probably get that price too- if for the only reason being that if you want a newish house on some land close to town, he's got the ONLY offering out there right now.

All those people who built 3-4 years ago are probably also sitting on some insane amounts of equity right now. And a supply of cheap homes nearby sounds like a threat to that.

Personally, I'd kind of welcome a big development in my area. Would love to see the tax base increase for better funding for roads (can I please get at least a tiny strip of a shoulder to ride my bike on?) and population density to bring things like water, sewer, and natural gas in. But I can afford to forego the NIMBYism, my backyard is literally locked in with a conservation easement on ~400 acres that will never be developed.
Price pressure is what drives everything. A farmer can’t keep farming land that Amazon will pay $50k an acre for to build a distribution center. When a new highway comes through and the land you own can be sold for 10 x what you paid you’ll sell and move farther out.
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #16  
I drive a road home generally after work a lot times (right around here you cross into a different county). The other day, on this road, signs all over the road stating "Save Conrad Road, STOP the development". Couldn't figure out what the deal was.

Then in yesterdays paper, found it...

.....

It's the same all over NC. In our area Wake, Durham, and Johnston counties have all over built with McMansions and high density housing (Read "townhouses").

We live in Granville county and the only thing stopping additional development is the South Granville Water system was built during WWII for the old camp Butner army base. Limited capacity and not too efficient. Now they will not allow any more development attached to it.

As a result of the over-development we are now subject to state "Watershed Regulations". The regulations apply to all properties in the designated areas and only allow landowners to disturb 1/2 acre (cumulative since 2012) of their property. It doesn't matter how many acres you have, 1/2 acre cumulative (22,000 square feet).

If you plant a tree or bush, you must get a zoning permit so they can count the disturbed property. If you put up a fence ... disturbed area for the fence posts. Any time you disturb your property it must be documented and counted for zoning.

In my case, I have 20 acres and I am allowed to disturb 1/2 acre cumulative total. One person tried to tell me that driving my gator over my property counts as disturbing the land.....

I just built a new house and put in a new septic system, = 16,000 sq ft disturbed.

I've lived here 25 years and have been planning this new house for 20 years. I finally get it built and now this bull-crap. Otherwise I'd pack up and move to the mountains somewhere ......
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #17  
Every one of these posts / replies relate back to 1954 . That's how long this has been happening at a rapid pace and possibly before at a slower pace .
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #19  
Personally, I'd kind of welcome a big development in my area. Would love to see the tax base increase for better funding for roads (can I please get at least a tiny strip of a shoulder to ride my bike on?) and population density to bring things like water, sewer, and natural gas in.
Be careful what you wish for. More houses=more kids in school, more/additional town services needed=higher taxes.
 
   / Got to love developments in rural areas #20  
Every one of these posts / replies relate back to 1954 . That's how long this has been happening at a rapid pace and possibly before at a slower pace .
The area here was first surveyed in 1839. Our farm house was built in 1846. If I look at the 1840,50,60 census, almost all names from one are not on the next. Speculation and land platts with town and rural lots have been here since the beginning. 1910-1925 saw a lot of development. One zoning restriction that I saw (1913), in a nearby fairly affluent area in "lake country", was "no livery stables allowed".
 
 
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