Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Public access to sewer and water?

[John Beutler (jabeutler]

April:

Speaking from some experience in Maryland, this is not a choice in most 
cases.  If you are planning to do a clustered community, the density may 
forbid well and septic development.  If your property is currently not in 
the sewer and water plans, it may take a very long time to get public 
service, even if the local authorities are favorable.

Every state has its own issues for water and sewer, and the more populated 
the area is, the more likely it is that you will be required to hook 
up.  States and counties also vary a great deal in their willingness to 
allow innovative systems, since they get to pick up the pieces if the 
system doesn't work.

Even when you think you have it locked down, it can be taken away.  Our 
project had a signed sewer and water contract which our county unilaterally 
abrogated in 2002.  So you would say, sue them -- apart from the cost, how 
easy do you think it would be to get further approvals if you're suing the 
folks who have the power to approve your project ?  So we are still waiting 
for the promised upgrades, force main sewer line, etc.   The good news is 
that all of this is under construction and will be complete in (maybe) less 
than a year.  Then we can line up and pay for sewer taps and start to build 
again.

I'm not sure a professional developer would have been able to do any better 
(we're self-developed) but  the complexity of these processes demands a lot 
of attention to detail and involves a lot of risk.  And each municipality 
has somewhat different rules and politics.

Bottom line - figure out which model might work in the locality you are 
working in, and then find someone willing to sell you land with the desired 
water and sewer situation.  And don't listen to realtors about what might 
happen, most are rather clueless about zoning and infrastructure 
issues.  Go to the courthouse and find out the real deal.  Talk to the 
planning and zoning folks.  Don't sign contracts until you know what the 
situation is.

Cheers

JAB

At 10:37 PM 8/10/2007 -0400, April wrote:
> Hi all -
>
> I was wondering if some of you could speak to the trade-off between 
> purchasing land with access to public water and sewer, versus purchasing 
> land that requires its own wells and septic systems?  I know this might be 
> hard to do, as I assume the costs vary across states, but the argument 
> I've been hearing is that it is incredibly expensive to purchase raw land 
> without access to either service, and so the high cost of locating within 
> distance to these community services is "worth it".
>
> I guess I just would like to know where the threshold is - there's got to 
> be numbers associated with these two things, such that a property can be 
> so inexpensive that it would outweigh the potential benefit of locating 
> within access to public water and sewer.  Anyway, I'm sure some of you 
> must have debated this before us, so I am hoping you might have some 
> insight, despite the fact that there are so few of us in New York State.
>
> Thanks (for this and the numerous other helpful responses I've gotten over 
> the past half year)!
> April
>
> April Roggio
> Capital District Eco-housing in Albany, NY
> ~ a sustainable cohousing community in the making! ~
> www.cdecohousing.org
> info [at] cdecohousing.org
> Next business meeting is on August 12th, 1pm - email me for directions!
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/

John Beutler
Liberty Village, MD
jabeutler [at] comcast.net
http://www.libertyvillage.com/