? on road widening

[tailwagging]

yesterday a man who live a few driveways down wanted us to sign a petition to widen our one car wide road. making all sorts off claims like it would raise the value of our land. by a hundred thousand (yha right in this economy)
first we moved to get away from development and to homestead. This would bring in people he happily informed us.
the other is that the state would take 25 feet of our side of the road and then a 15 foot right away plus they would have to move a line poll so there is another 15 feet to worry about. that would take the out most of our mini-cows area and leave to little to keep them.

it would take all but 3 feet of the next door's front yard and their septic tank. They may not be able to find another perk spot. they had planned on renting to own (option they would be getting after they have rented for a year) it but their landlord already signed the petition. For the next door down it would take out his well and maybe even the house but there again it is owned by the same landlord.
I called the landlord and asked him if he came out to see what those 25 + right away would do to his land before he signed it and he said no.


I have heard that the state will pay for the land. I have heard they will pay high and I have heard they will pay low. Unless it is enough for me to move again, way out we wouldn't sign. but will they pay the next door's landlord more because of the hassle and "loss of land use" it will be to him?? he maybe loosing one house outright but the one 3 feet from the right away will only be loosing it septic (and like i said it may not perk else where on the land.) would they be paying him for that house too? since it may be come unlivable??? in other words will he be "blanked over" or will he come out better??
And what can we do to stop this? or if not get the most out of it that we can? where should we start?

[watcher]

I'd say start a counter petition and see how many people you can get to show they want things to stay the way it is.

[tailwagging]

Thank you watcher.
from what I understand we maybe the only (beside one other that he hadn't visited yet) land owner that hasn't signed.
Like the next door landlord/owner didn't even know that it would affect he rentals the way it will.

[ronbre]

a seasonal neighbor who moved here from DETROIT only on weekends and an occasional holiday..tried to pass around a petition to have a seasonal road closed the bordered his property cause people were dumping trash on his property or killing his deer..

well for one thing..if they lived here year around..they wouldn't be leaving their proeprty unattended for people to trespass on..and another thing..the road was here long before he was and people enjoyed using it..it is a 2 track that cuts about 6 miles off the trip to town..but would we want it developed more..not really..it is fine as it is..

we too moved here to get away from people..when there were maybe 7 houses in the 5 mile stretch to town..however..now there are probabaly 5 times as many houses.

[ginnie5]

they're paving part of our road right now...The "road" we live on originally stopped at the edge of our property but when the utilities did some mapping they listed it as going thru our property so we can't close it. They sent a petition out a year or so ago to pave it..wanted the same clearances. We declined. Only ones to do so. Now they're pavng the road up to our property line. there was NO mention of paying us for loss of use or anything. Letting them do that would have either taken down the huge oak in the front or meant the loss of our garden. We're a small road...less than 10 houses total and they have a hard enough time keeping the main roads passable. Plus the people up from us fly down the gravel road now....I can only imagine what they'd do on a paved road. At least now hopefully they'll have to slow down once they leave the pavement.

[foxtrapper]

Originally Posted by tailwagging

Thank you watcher.
from what I understand we maybe the only (beside one other that he hadn't visited yet) land owner that hasn't signed.
Like the next door landlord/owner didn't even know that it would affect he rentals the way it will.

In that case, plan as if the road widening is happening.

[tailwagging]

OK it doesn't seem as bad as I thought. from what I gather (cell phone went out)The 25feet is from the center line so that would be about 5 to 6 feet on my land then 4 more for ditches. that would mean the line poll would stay and it wouldn't cut in to my cows much. it wouldn't hurt the next door either unless they want to move out the Mobile or build a new home BUT it would take all the shade trees near the cows.

What is better is that since it isn't the state asking for it, EVERY landowner must sign for it to be even considered.
AND
while at the courthouse I found out that my hubby CAN put up a small engine shop in the back weekdays he works for John Deere but his weekends are free (unless I need something)

[DaleK]

Hard for us to know without knowing your neighbourhood. If there's a bunch of farmland down the road and you want to keep it being farmed in the future, hate to tell you this but a one lane road is a big hindrance to that. Most modern farm equipment in North America is wider than one lane. A lot of farmland on the more narrow side roads here is being abandoned because we just can't get equipment to it safely. Instead the fields are being replaced by houses because cars CAN get there.

So around here at least, widening roads makes it MORE likely to keep the land being farmed.

[Michael W. Smith]

Since it's only the neighbor trying to get the State to do this, I don't think you have much to worry about. Most states are in financial trouble and they don't have the cash to keep up and maintain the roads they do have, let alone spend extra money to WIDEN a road!

[Michgranny]

When they widened my road, I had to pay for it! I did not want it!

[tamsam]

If the property values go up, how much will your taxes go up? Just my thoughts. Sam

[tailwagging]

The road is a dead end with only 14 families most are still paying on their homes so their names aren't on the deed but don't want the widening. On three side are woods and then forth, woods with a old vermiculite mine and the interstate.
The man told me the value would go up 100 thousand and told others only 15 thousand.
we will not sign. we don't want it.

[Riverdale]

Originally Posted by tailwagging

The road is a dead end with only 14 families most are still paying on their homes so their names aren't on the deed but don't want the widening. On three side are woods and then forth, woods with a old vermiculite mine and the interstate.
The man told me the value would go up 100 thousand and told others only 15 thousand.
we will not sign. we don't want it.

I would tell the person "Buy it for the price you say it'll go up. When the check clears, you can have it."

And Michael is right, most states (and counties) cannot afford to upkeep the roads thay have now. The county next to me (Montcalm) reverted over 10 miles of paved road back to gravel, because they could not afford the upkeep of these roads (I used to drive one daily, and it is far better being gravel, one of the ptholes this spring was ½ the size of the bed of my Ford Ranger).

[SteveD(TX)]

Originally Posted by tailwagging

The road is a dead end with only 14 families most are still paying on their homes so their names aren't on the deed but don't want the widening. On three side are woods and then forth, woods with a old vermiculite mine and the interstate.
The man told me the value would go up 100 thousand and told others only 15 thousand.
we will not sign. we don't want it.

"The man" who told you the value would go up 100 thousand doesn't know what he's talking about. Unless the local authorities want this to happen, it probably won't. Don't worry about it.

[texican]

Don't sign.

I 'wanted' my road to be a county road for ten years... county repeatedly said NO! Then after I developed my road, and secured my bona fides, I didn't want the county to ever maintain it. Made 10K one summer, for a six week oil company easement.

Now, THEY want to maintain it, so some folks on the other side of me, can unrestrictedly access their property. Now I'm telling them NO! The county has 'oiled' the road right up to my property line.

I don't want my taxes raised, for any reason. Idjit's using the increased property values argument to me have lost their case pretty quickly. Increased values are only for 'tumbleweeds' that will never put down any roots, that buy and sell repeatedly, searching for a happiness they'll never find.

[tailwagging]

Oh I hear yha!

[mamagoose]

I would definitely not agree to give the government reason to raise the value of my property so I could pay more in property taxes unless I was not planning on staying there. I'd rather drive slowly through potholes since I don't like to leave home anyhow.

[jennigrey]

Our neighborhood's gravel road isn't county maintained. We have a sort of road co-op that consists of all the property owners. We pay annually into a road maintainance fund. Lots of our neighbors want to pave - a movement led most aggressively and vocally by the folks who have their places up for sale. "It'll raise our property values!" is their rallying cry. Only a good thing for those wanting to sell or who can afford to pay higher property taxes!

We are the most staunchly opposed and have earned some emnity over our refusal to capitulate. If the road gets paved, I have to shoe my horses or not go out as often. The steep hills will be even more slippery in winter. Not to mention the fact that everyone will drive even *faster* than they do now (although it's hard to imagine, given that some of our neighbors do mach 2 as it is). They want $8,000 from each landowner in order to pay for paving. Where on earth am I going to come up with that kind of money??? Blood from a turnip, pal. "Borrow it!" they say. "Look! We've already found you a lender!" they say.

You might want to look into retaining the services of a lawyer. In our case, I don't think the paving movement can gain much momentum, given that it isn't the state trying to do anything and the road isn't county maintained. Also, the right-of-way verbage on the road contract states that no permanent structures may be built in the right-of-way. I'd say that paving constitutes a permanent structure.

[tailwagging]

Ours is already paved just only 11 or 12 feet wide. There is enough room to pull over to let others pass so it isn't a big deal.

[fantasymaker]

If your thinking about a petition remember while only the folks on your road will "benifit" from the money spent everybody in your area will PAY for it.
Id bet a petition "DONT WASTE OUR MONEY ON TAILWAGGING ROAD"
will get a LOT more signers than the one you mention.