My son is looking to buy a lot on which to build. He found one he liked. It’s really overgrown, and in the center is a miniature wetlands (about 10’x15’) It’s in a developed area, houses on both sides. It has rained the past few days.
No water (e.g., stream, pond) nearby. Likely a problem? And what kind of professional would we consult for an expert opinion?
I don’t have an answer, but an addon question: Would a wetland that size be subject to environmental regulations?
I don’t see how. I call it a wetland only out of courtesy. It’s more of a large muddy puddle with grass growing out of it.
I have an area like that, behind my house. It’s in the side yard of the guy who lives behind me (his property is perpendicular to mine), and is about 3x the size of what you describe. There’s tall grass around a willow tree and next to that, when it rains, is a rather large pond where ducks and geese hang out all day.
When it doesn’t rain, the pond dries up quite quickly and the guy mows the area. Since it’s so far away from all the houses around it, it doesn’t cause any problems with foundations.
I don’t find my yard to be particularly buggy because of it or anything. No more so than my parents’ yard that butts up against the woods.
It’s a wetland potentially subject to environmental regulations IF it’s wet every year for long enough the the plant species in it are types that normally occur in wet places. There’s an official list of which plant species those are. Plus, the soil also needs to be of a type which reflects being wet a lot of the time. There are consulting biologists who can look at the plants and the soil and tell you if you have a jurisdictional wetland.
However, even if it is a wetland, if it’s really not connected to any other wetland, it’s probably exempt from regulations. And one that small is probably covered by one of the automaticNationwide Permits, even if it is regulated.
Well, the lot is not well-drained. Which may be an issue when it comes to building on it. Possibly a problem that could be solved, or worked around, but at a minimum he needs to know what the solution/workaround would cost before he decides what to offer for the lot (or whether to offer for it).
Time to talk to an architect/engineer/surveyor/builder, I think.
Is there a sewer hookup or does it require a septic tank and lateral field?
How big is the lot? Would he be putting the house on top of the wet area?
No water nearby. What about elevation differences? Is the area largely flat or is there a slope?
I would check with the town hall, specifically deed history, and the department of public works, engineering department. I would find out where the water table is, and whether this is legally classified as a wetland. If not, and if it is not groundwater and merely a lack of infiltration, this may be feasible if you want to pay for remediation. If so, look into how much it would cost to excavate, haul-off, permits, and import engineered fill. I’m guessing that the cost of remediation is so high that the land is not worth it.
It might make fitting the house on the lot more difficult: it did for us because the house had to be X distance from it. (2 acres, but a lot is hilly, there actually is a stream too elsewhere etc). I believe there were permits and inspections to make sure the setbacks were correct before building could go forward.
And from a practical standpoint even after you meet the setbacks for the house there are some drawbacks, especially if it’s going to be near the house:
[ul]
[li]Mosquitoes love love love wetlands[/li][li]So do spring peepers - they’ve driven me to throw rocks into the water to startle them quiet[/li][li]They overflow - ours creates a cute little “waterfall” down the hill…and drains into the road. We had to put a drainage pipe under the driveway to keep from flooding the road. The neighbors did too, since they also have wetlands on their property[/li][li]You can’t tell now how wet it’s going to be. For real, the first spring we wondered if we could put goldfish in it, but over the course of the year and with varied rain and snow amounts it goes from bone dry to up to 3’ deep[/li][/ul]
The big things would be the percolation test for septic, and maybe an Army Core of Engineers wetlands permit that may require mitigation measures if you need to alter the wetland.