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Mon 14 Feb, 2005 09:52 pm
My mother owns 9 lots of land in the city next to us which are all about 1/2 acre each. My father bought these lots many years ago when the city was just a tiny town and he got them dirt cheap. Since the town turned into a city, the taxes on the land have increased quite a bit and continues to rise every year. My mother has been wanting to sell some of the land for several years, but since the city hasn't run the water and sewer in that section yet, she hasn't been able to sell them, even though there has been interest from several people. As it stands, you need at least one acre of land to build on land where there's no city water and sewer, so she'd have to sell 2 lots to anyone who would want to build and she would lose a ton of money doing it that way.
Anyway, she recieved a letter recently that the owner of the cities most popular inn is requesting a zone change to allow multi family units to be built in that area. Moms land is located behind the inn and falls into the zone change. We both agreed that this would be a good thing for her and it would get the city to move faster in getting the water and sewer to run down in that area.
Mom gets a phone call today from one of the residents in the area who recently built a 2 million dollar house down there, requesting that she send the zoning request back going against the zoning change. He told her all this garbage about how it would decrease the value of her land if this zone change goes into effect and he had her believing him.
I told her that this guy was only looking out for himself and certainly doesn't have her best interest in mind.
We are headed to the town hall tomorrow to talk to them about it, but I'm interested in your thoughts on the matter.
What do you guys think?
You are both right IMO. His land may be decreased in value because he wont have the other McMansions around him. Youd be right becase your land value would increase.(remember however, here in the states when someone extends services by a petition or a PUC franchise request for water lines. That person will probably charge you footage toconnect) If the city line costs 500K a mile for water and sewer lines , he may charge you an outrageous per foot amount to go the next 100 feet to your doorstep. He, in essence , becomes the water company (unless its a govt entity, like a water authority).
Could your million dollar neighbor spring to buy your lots ?
I havent a clue what an acre goes for in New Brunswick, but over the border in Maine , it can go for less than 500 an acre to over 200K for a waterfront acre
Best solution is farmerman's, of course.If Mr. Mansion owns the property, he needn't be concerned about it being occupied by the rifraff. In a similar vein, cities around here have a nasty way of installing such amenities as sidewalks and sewers, whether desired or not, hitting the property owners with a special assessment to cover the improvements, and finally raising the assessed value of the property because of the increase in value due to the improvements you didn't want in the first place.
Do you have time to investigate these possibilities before making a decision?
It may be time to consider selling, in spite of prevailing prices.
We've been stopping into the town hall every few years for several years and they have suggested that if possible, we should hold onto the land until the city finally decides to run the water and sewer on that road. We don't pay for the water and sewer to go down there unless all the land owners there got together and decided to cover it. Our previous Mayor who was the Mayor for several years up until last year has bought a good chunk of land right behind ours 2 years ago and we know that he has some major plans for the land he bought and knows things that we don't know.
The man that is requesting the zone change has already paid out of his own pocket for the water and sewer to run in front of his hotel all the way around to where it's very close to our land, so it wouldn't take the city a huge amount of $ to bring it the rest of the way and it would benefit the city big time, since it's growing rapidly.
This land is the only available land left in the city, so they are bound to get their asses moving in the near future.
Town hall tells us that the water and sewer will be going down there, but the question is when.
Mr. 2 million dollar house said he'd call back, so I'll ask him if he's willing to buy the land. Very good idea, farmer ;-)
I figured if they change the zoning to allow multi family homes, it would give the city the push it needs to get us connected down there. It would be very much to their benefit.
I know that the hotel owner paid to have the water and sewer run as close as it is, but I don't think he can charge us to connect to it. I remember talking with someone from the heath department about that a few years ago and I believe he said that anyone can tap into it once it's there. I'm going to get into that tomorrow as well.
There have been 3 mansions built in that area in the last 3 years and they are none too happy about this new zoning issue. I understand how they feel, but they shouldhave known that building in city limits would bring progress right to their door steps.
They are all ocean front properties, but they could have gotten ocean front property with several acres of land much cheaper in the more rural areas like mine and they wouldn't had to worry about a city building up around them. I can't understand what they were thinking.
We are sitting on 5 acres of land right in front of the ocean and we only paid a few grand for the land.
These guys paid over 100,000 for an acre and a half of land and now anyone can build around them. Go figure!
Oh, and thank you very much for your resposes farmer and roger :-D
I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.
Tell yer mum to patrol the perimeter with a shot-gun and corn-cob pipe fulla terbacky and Maui Waui. She should also concentrate on traditional foods such as 'possum-pie', beaver tails and moonshine - THEN she should ask 'Rockerfeller' how much a condo in San Francisco costs. Hopefully he'll get the idea....
LOL Mr. Still.
We went to town hall today and unfortunately, it's not good news for mom. The commercial zoning would just be for a small area that doesn't include moms land and it happens to border her land, so this would decrease the value of her land tremendously. It looks like Mr. Mansion was right about everything he was saying, so we have a bit of a battle on our hands.
They tell us that the votes are pretty much 50/50 as it stands and they say that we can make a difference at this point, so I'll be sitting down tonight writing a letter to explain our very valid reasons for not wanting this to take place along with a letter to the mayor.
They said that the city considers my mothers land as prime land and they are not crazy about the zoning idea themselves, but they need good reason to vote against it.
Since my mom is way too laid back to make any noise herself, it looks like that'll be my job.
Wish me luck.
Quote:Since my mom is way too laid back to make any noise herself, it looks like that'll be my job.
I wouldn't take anything less than 25% of the gross - the old dear ain't gonna be taking it with her, is she now?
I don't want anything out of it. It's my mothers land and I simply feel obligated to protect her.
My mom is inerested in selling at least half of it because the taxes continue to rise on it every year and it's getting to be too much for her. She's having trouble selling it as it is because the water and sewer doesn't run down there yet. This is something that the city is considering, but if this zoning request is approved, it defeats the whole purpose of everything.
They tell us that our voices will me strong in the rezoning issue because moms land borders that property. Mom may have a hard time speaking up, but I don't. I just got finished writing a letter explaining our reasons for objecting to the proposal and I made sure I stressed how negatively it would effect the city itself.
The city's probably primarily interested in any tax benefit they can pick up in all of this, so make sure you've addressed that in your letter.
A friend of mine just sold a chunk of land she and her ex bought in N.B. about 30 years ago. No water etc ... she made back about 20 years in taxes she'd paid.
Beth
I did stress that and I also stressed that since it's a growing city running out of land, it would have a huge negative impact all the way around. I also am sending a copy of the letter to the Mayor.
If this rezoning goes into effect, my mother will be lucky to get back the money she spent in taxes on them in the last 25 years.
One good thing is that this is the second time this request has been made and it was denied the first time and we didn't throw our 2 cents in that time, so we'll see what happens.
I'll copy that letter on line when I get the chance, so you can see exactly what I wrote.
could you petition on a "conditional use" basis, to make an agricultural project , like cranberries, and then sell it so that itd be plans approved without you having to do anything? Im not sure about Canadian conditional use definitions
I'm not sure, but chances are, this zoning request will be denied. The rich guy that called my mom called again and wanted to come over and talk to us, so he came over with a petition , which mom signed. After talking with him, we realized that there are several people against this rezoning and I highly doubt that it will go through. There's a meeting on the issue on March 17 and we'll be there.
I also emailed the Mayor about the water and sewer and he emailed me back saying that it was top priority and there will be a meeting about the issue sometime at the end of this month or the beginning of March.
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