Frugal Village Forums banner

Just got a certified letter....

6K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  CocalicoKate 
#1 ·
...a company has purchased the lot behind our home and wants to build 90 houses on it. I am freaking out! There are six such lots near our house and this is the smallest one and the worst location so we rather thought the possibility of this one being developed was remote. This happened at our last house too. A huge part of why we bought this place(and paid more than I wanted too)was the incredible view and the feeling of open space and peace and quiet.
There is supposed to be another letter coming announcing the public meeting but I'm already feeling defeated. I just don't anything I can say that will stop construction. Any house put on the property will obstruct our view. There will be a ton of new lights at night, more cars and people and dogs. The noise from the construction vehicles alone is making me anxious.
I don't think there is anything I can say at the meeting that won't sound incredibly petty, after all, I have no right to the view. But it was a big reason we decided on this house and this part of town. We wanted to be out of the cramped city. I will go to the meeting or at least write a letter though.
Has anyone had this happen to them? How did you cope? Did you protest? Did you move?
After having a mini-panic attack, I calmed down a little thinking about how long it took to find this house. I turned down hundreds and hundreds that met my criteria and then we saw 30 in person before feeling that this was the one. Even with a new house obstructing the view and ruining the open feel, this house is still better than anything else we turned down.
Maybe I should look into planting some tall trees..... :( ~
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Yes, this happened to us. We bought a home on a quiet street at the edge of town The house faced a wooded meadow and a lake. And then one day we saw a bulldozer parked under the trees...... and we got that sinking feeling. They took down all those beautiful trees, filled in the lake, and started building tickytacky houses, all scrunched in close together. Traffic increased, noise increased, problems increased. Like you, I had no right to the property, but in my heart, I felt like the view was mine! So we moved....
 
#5 ·
sell your property to the builder?
 
  • Like
Reactions: QM
#7 ·
~I can't believe I did not have a sleepless night over this. The flu and Nyquil might have something to do with that though. Strangely I'm not panicking this morning.
Something I thought of is that the property behind us actually slopes away from us. So if they build the first house at least 50 feet in from their property line, our loss of view will be minimized. Now they won't be able to do this unless they build only 2 houses per acre(which is what our neighborhood is)instead of 6 houses per acre as per their proposal. Or they could do it if they put the road leading into the development at our property line. I don't like that idea at all.
So I priced out some quick growing trees appropriate for our climate(about $800-1000). I looked at properties available nearby. I ran through the possibility of renting this place out and moving.
My thoughts at this moment are that this place, even with a restricted view and more neighbors and a less private backyard, is still much better than anything we turned down.
But since all the homes they are building in our area are in the $275-400K range, the new development may very well bump up our property value enough to sell and settle elsewhere.
It's so true that the things we know about life never really become truths to us until we experience them first-hand. I already knew that we really own nothing in our lives. Things come and go whether we want them to or not. The things we think we have a right to can so easily go away.
I think the worst thing I felt when I read that letter was unsettled. After our break-in at our old house, our painful cross-country move, the house-hunting that disappointed us on the first house we were in contract with and then led us to this one, this letter is just more of the same. The feeling of the other experiences came rushing back in. Maybe I'm finally getting enough experience in loss and change to cope with more stuff. That actually feels pretty awesome.
I gave all my kids and my parents staying with us big hugs after that letter came. People are the only "things" that really matter. :sun:
If my nerves can't take the lack of privacy in my yard, we will move. And we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and not before. I don't want to worry about things that might not happen. For now I will try to relax, take pictures of the view while I "have" it, and lighten the moving load by selling/donating/trashing, JIC. ;) ~
 
#8 ·
Me too...I'd feel the same. Agree with Ladykemma...maybe sell to the developer and go looking again. I guess it comes down to how important the view is to you. Weigh the pros and cons. Me...I don't like close neighbors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nuisance26 and QM
#9 ·
we were the first house here....now there are 4 others and a church. It is a bummer but we didn't have the money to buy all the other property so knew it would happen one day. We do have 2 acres and are the last ones on the road so it helps. Some of the neighbors protested when the church built because it blocked their view. They bought the land knowing full well the church planned to build some day though. We went to one meeting but not to protest, just to listen. We do not think people should protest against others building houses on their own property. Lucky for us out view wasn't blocked.
 
#10 ·
This is currently happening in my city...but not my neighborhood. Walmart is building a warehouse in the city it is right beside a housing complex. The residents complained LOUD and LONG about it...but city council is still allowing Walmart to do it.....I feel for the residents.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NikoSan999
#11 ·
My aunt had a problem with neighbors behind her, and she did plant trees to block the view. Not sure what kind they are, but they do a wonderful job of giving her privacy. They also muffle the sounds.
 
#12 ·
I feel for everyone this has happened to. We don't have any houses across the street from us, we see trees and the river. I'd freak it I learned that there was going to be construction across the street.

I hadn't thought about property values increasing as a result, though. I'd wait and sell.
 
#13 ·
My vote - get it off your chest, write it out and send it in. I'm sure you're not the only one to not be happy with the news. You could also cite that one of the major reasons you chose this home to raise your family was b/c it was undeveloped land. Of course, the almighty dollar will probably win but at least its out there. Again, I don't think you're alone in not wanting this new 'sub division' being built near you.
 
#16 ·
If they are saying they are going to put in 6, but you say there is some by-law that says 2... maybe they are going to build 2 3-unit townhouses?

They never give up, unless they find someplace easier and cheaper.
 
#17 ·
These things DO take time but . . . what happened here in this village was that, initially, a landowner nearby offered her/his land for construction of 16 individual houses . . . everyone was aghast! . . . then it all went quiet, because, apparently, the local planning people (whoever they are, at county level) realised that the land in question plus the neigbourhood access roads could not support the infrastructure required for 16 separate dwellings.

Then, surprise-surprise, a different alert notice came out: planning application for only 9 dwellings. Then, again, it all went quiet. And finally - the land-owner built two dwellings on her/his land and nothing more has been said; end of story.

Despite my cynicism, therefore, with regard to county planning orders and the like, it seem that in some cases, the whole picture IS taken into consideration but only if local residents put forward their views in a clear, concise manner - and follow up on this.

Best of luck!
 
  • Like
Reactions: nuisance26
#21 ·
~We got our fourth certified letter two weeks ago saying they were moving into the final stage for approval. *sigh*
I'm most worried now how much noise the construction will make(getting new windows in early spring to help combat this)and where to plant the Thuja(had our utility lines flagged out and it's going to be a bit tricky).
We'd break even on selling our house at this point(losing the original closing-not down payment- amount though)since we've been here two years and the cost of real estate has rebounded. This was never our planned forever home though. We planned to stay here 10 years(so 8 more)until we move out to our 35 acres full-time. We may even turn this place into a source of rental income instead of selling. Depends what real estate prices and rental rates are like then. Right now our house would rent for 150% of what we're paying in MIT which isn't quite the 200% recommended. A few more years of rental increases/inflation in our county will probably get us there. It's been running 10% increases for the last three years anyway so three more would get us there.
So yeah, still trying not to worry too much about it(although making some plans anyway)until the machinery and supplies and workers actually arrive.~
 
#22 ·
I'm a realtor who works with developers (kinda not by choice, I like my small town but the head agent I work with picks the clients...). Developers often buy land 3-10 years before they actually start building on it (at least in the areas I work in). It might look like less sometimes but I've seen developers use numbered companies to buy property and stay "under the radar" while deciding if they actually want to build in an area. You likely CAN'T do much in the way of stopping the developers (it's not impossible but it's hard and developers put a lot of money into being chummy with the small town councils in areas so they meet less resistance) but it's not necessarily impossible.

You might have more luck researching what kind of green space, traffic plans, etc are being considered (try to have green space near your house and the streets further away...). If you kick up a fuss, you can probably argue that your enjoyment of the property is being impacted and see if the developer will pay to have large trees or tall privacy fencing installed. If you *can't* stop the house from being built, try to see if there's a solution where you would still enjoy your house and then lobby for the developer cover the costs. The zoning of your area is a factor too...if the land next to yours was slated for "future development" when you bought it (your realtor *should* have looked into that), you could be out of luck but if there are any areas of Environmental Protection nearby you could try arguing they will be negatively impacted (or that the developer needs to take certain measure to ensure they're protected...that raises the cost of development and can turn some developers off a plan). Talk to the town, go to the meetings and ask for as much information as they'll give you. Good luck!!!
 
#23 ·
~The work started about 10 days ago. It hadn't bothered me until yesterday. Up until then they were concentrating their efforts on the development entrance area and making the giant pile of dirt they always like to do. And since I have that little hill behind my house I couldn't see the trucks unless I went upstairs. But yesterday they ran a trench digger behind our house to install a dirt catcher fence and cut my underground internet/phone line. They were super nice about it but I had to go out there in the middle of my homeschooling day and inform them of that, and then they had to dig around to find the wires(and they were marked incorrectly so it took a while), then I had to ask to borrow a phone to call the utility for repair, navigate a voice menu in the wind and finally get a rep who had an almost impossible to understand Indian accent, meanwhile the two workers at my fence grew to 8 as others came to see what the hold-up was, then I had one of the original two guys contact the company to instruct me where to forward any bill for the repair. Than of course I had to wait around 4 hours for the repairman to come not being able to work on my garage or basement projects. And the house was already clean so nothing to do there. With no phone or internet I couldn't even complain to anyone. Ever feel like God is testing you? :p Although, I did pray and ask for patience and then made an aside remark that I'd have to hope the weather would turn nasty and they'd have to stop until spring. It clouded up and started snowing an hour later so they all left. Wasn't on the forecast. Ha!

But yeah, most of the time I tell myself I'm overthinking everything and that I'm surely worrying over nothing and then I keep being proved wrong. Two years ago I was all a worry over someone running a red light and crunching us in our old minivan and one of the kids would be killed and this year someone ran a light and nearly killed DH. And then worrying that my anxieties over machinery noise and lack of privacy and disruption of my routine would affect my productivity and now that's happening too.

I guess I'll just keep telling myself that all the things that really test my anxieties usually end up being good for me in the end and try hard to believe it will turn out that way this time too. And shop for land to build a tiny house to move to. :D ~
 
#24 ·
Nuisance...I thought you already had the land bought? Anyway thought I remembered you saying that...probably wrong. If not where would you like to end up at .. state wise???
 
#25 ·
~We're looking to buy in CO so that we can use the property on weekends and vacations and make improvements at those times before we move there full time. CO allows a well(water rights are really crucial!) and irrigation of one acre at the 35+ acre level. CO also has a nice property clause that allows home burials on acreages of 35+. There are no natural burial grounds yet in CO so this is pretty cool. I don't think many people take advantage of it but I sure would.~
 
#26 ·
We just built a new home in the country. With a background in Real Estate Law I was certain to not only ask what would happen to the corn fields across the street behind a row of trees that were absolutely fantastic this fall, but I also checked with the local planning commission to see if there was anything in the works down the road.

You could always plant a number of Arbor Vidie (sp?)to block any unpleasant views. They would also give some soundproofing too.

If you do decide to move remember to not only ask what will be built behind/next to/across from you but also check with the local zoning/planningoffice. Sorry you are going through this
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top