I’m interested in a farm that is very close to a proposed dam to make a lake for water conservation recreation and housing. The lake will not reach the property (it is slightly downstream and to the side of the dam), so I don’t think there are physical concerns. I tend to think this will increase neighboring property values, but would like opinions.
Is there something I should be concerned about or consider with purchasing a property close to a proposed rural lake?
Better yet, any suggestions on who I should talk to locally to get an unbiased opinion?
Property values and such are a mystery to me, but the first thing that comes to my mind is that there could be an issue with trespassers. You would want to make certain your property boundaries are clearly marked and even then you might get people wandering through.
Trespassers. Some relatives owned property around where Frances Slocum Park (and the mandatory lake) was built and it was a big-time issue for ages and still is today to some degree. Initially property values around that project went down a fair amount, especially on the down-stream side of the dam. Mostly because of fear IMHO; upstream property held its own. Now that its an older and established state park, values aren’t bad but like anything real estate orientated, it comes down to location, location and location.
The lake is not just being “put in”—it has been designed by engineers with all the details drawn on the plans. Go to you local goverment and look at the plans.
Don’t rely on somebody’s word for what will be built.
Open the plans , spread them out on a table , take pics of them with your smartphone. Examine them carefully–not just for the lake, but for everything around it. Where will the access roads be? The boat ramp? Where will the camping sites be located? How many parking lots, and will they affect you?
Look at ALL the surrounding properties–especially between your farm and the lake. But also on the opposite side of the lake farther from you.
Have they been re-zoned from, say, agricultural use to , say, commercial business use, or public recreation? (i.e–RV sites, camping, even a hotel). Are there new roads planned? Does it look probable that traffic will increase a lot over the next few years?
Your local government may have limited office hours Even if you have to take a day off work to see the plans—make sure you do so.
So did the values rebound then? I guess don’t really understand why they would fall. I would just guess that the property would be of more interest to people looking to move to a recreation area. Increasing demand.
People like to live near a recreation area, not in one.
It’s likely that building a signficant recreation facility will change the character of the district - increased traffic, spin-off businesses, and of course the physical development of the associated infrastructure. This won’t necessarily adversely impact the amenity value of the property you;re looking at, but you can’t make a judgment about that without investigating.
Some rebounded, some got better, some remain what I would consider a fairly good deal if it was anywhere except where it is. Property around recreational areas gets complicated; most of this before the lake was basic farmland and woods/wooded lots not suitable for farming. The not suitable wasn’t really good for development and the farmed areas were isolated somewhat once the dam went in and some of the old access/roads ended up basically under water. There were a couple attempts to do campgrounds or the like (FS is a fairly small park by State Park standards) but since everything was new the attempts were on the cheap and what they were offering was basically “you know it’s only going to get worse so bail out now” prices. And while dams aren’t what they used to be and this was no Hoover sized project by any stretch of the imagination, living just downstream just wasn’t something anyone building a million dollar home wanted to do. Things didn’t really pick back up until the Cross Valley Expressway project was done and eased access from NYC and Jersey and those people started shopping around.
Those plans that chappachula mentioned should specifically include a Dam Failure Inundation Map – take a good look at that and see if your farm is in danger in the event of catastrophe.
In addition, investigate where the local “mover and shaker(s)” are buying or selling land, or have in the recent past. That, as much as anything, will be what drives property prices. Local politicians and developers may appear to be buying on spec, but you can rest assured that they are aware of and are driving future development and are setting up now to maximize profits, if they have not already.
Being near a recreational lake is usually a positive for property values but development options will be limited by what the zoning of your property allows. I would review what plans they have made to control flooding and which way the water is running if it does flood over the banks.
This ^. Also, go and Google “Oroville Dam evacuation” and “Anderson Lake, Santa Clara” while you’re at it, for some examples of the kind of issues you might run into being downstream of a dam. Oroville Dam had a serious issue that required emergency evacuations of over 100,000 people on very short notice on Sunday. Anderson Lake is behind a dam that needs to be completely rebuilt and may fail completely in the event of an earthquake. Currently water is being let out of that lake as fast as possible to prevent strain on the system. (Yay - CA has water. Boo - the infrastructure has some issues.)
Hopefully your new lake is done correctly, but you might want to consider shopping around a bit more. There may also be impact to your homeowner’s insurance, a requirement to own additional flood coverage, or other financial impacts, depending on how close you are to the dam, where you are in the inundation map and other goodness.