country residential in the country

[rookie]

have a neighbour who is getting out in this hot market. Not many takers but the agent is really fishing for a big dollar. They came trolling my way, with an overtone that the place could get carved up into acreages .

Good greif. whats the likelyhood counties let any @#$%^ and his over ambicious real estate agent bring this stuff next door to real farms ?

Tough to answer i suppose........

[coppertop]

rookie it will depend on which county you are located in, and how far you are from an urban center in most cases. Most rural municipalities are reluctant to re-zone agricultural land to country residential or rural residential unless that land is close to an urban center or some recreational area like a lake or park etc.

Many real estate agents are marketing land as having subdivision capabilities, and some purchasers are mad as heck when they buy the land and then find out that the aren't going to be able to carve it up into small holdings.

In our county an entire country residential subdivision has been ordered to stop using their on site sewage systems and install holding tanks and have their sewage hauled to a county lagoon. The county is now requiring any applicant who wishes to subdivide in the area close to the above subdivision to do perculation tests prior to approving a subdivision.

There has been a huge increase in subdivision applications in our municipality over the past year, but now I notice that there are a large number of them advertised in the local paper each week, which seems to indicate that they aren't selling as fast as the developers thought they would.The maximum size of a residential parcel out of a quarter of land is 5 acres in this county, unless the land is re-zoned to country residential and an Area Structure Plan is approved by council.

If interest rates increase a significant amount over the summer it will likely have an effect on the housing market in many areas of the province, so subdividing rural agricultural land may not seem as attractive as it does now.

[Burbert]

In our area, AFSC are telling farmers to subdivide off, small acreages, sell them and then they can make their farm payments. Our county loves all the new development, and doesn't care about farming at all.

[cakadu]

Burbert, at least you're in a county that will allow for subdivision. Our county declared several years ago that agriculture land had to remain that way and we've been dealing with the first parcel out scenario since then. It's amazing how some folks can get the subdivisions so easily while others couldn't get one to save their lives.

On the quarter next to us, the original owner got 5 acres out, another person bought it and then he sold to his grandson. His grandson has now subdivided it and sold the bulk of that holding to his brother. In less than 7 years, there have been two parcels taken out of the one quarter.

Interestingly enough they had to drill 3 times in order to get enough water to do just the house, so if the brother now decides to build, how many times will he have to drill?

The other interesting point made for the second subdivision was that the seasonal creek that runs through both our properties (made necessary from the 160 miles of drainage ditch dug every year out here)itself became called a drainage ditch when the subdivision was applied for.

Now grandson number 1 brings all kinds of heavy equipment into the yard as part of his job/business and it has made an absolute mess of our road. In fact, they are out there repairing it right now. Seems to me the fellow should be getting charged accordingly.

[coppertop]

Linda, does he have a development permit for a major home occupation within the county ? If he does, he should have been required to enter in to a road use agreement which would ensure he paid for road damage.
As far as water quantity goes 6 or more parcels out of a quarter reguire a water study under Sec. 13.3 of the Water Act.

[Burbert]

Our county is so stupid, people just build stuff, whenever, anywhere they want. By the time the county finds out about it, all they can do, is issue permits/licences to allow, whatever has been done. I guess we are kind of open for business and development friendly eh.........

[coppertop]

That is the way our county used to be, then a few of the council's tried to bring orderly development, but the current one seems to feel everything should be approved. If the Planning Commission turns something down or puts sensible conditions on it, the Appeal Board will overturn that decision and let people do whatever they want.

[cakadu]

In answer to your question, copper, I don't know if he has a permit or not.

Our county has stated that they are going to take a harder line with building without permits....stop work orders, $1,000 fine plus whatever you'd have to pay in the first place.

Seems to me that an awful lot of development is happening around here and the acreages just keep happening.

[coppertop]

Given the number of people getting out of the cattle business and wanting to remain on their land, I can see the desire to subdivide growing. In this area people are phoning farmers telling them they have 'found' an ideal spot on their land for a subdivision and asking if they will subdivide and sell it !!!!! The trouble is that not many people are thinking of long term, and as more land is developed around cities and urban centres, agriculture will be pushed back onto less productive lands.

The Land Use Framework will need to address priorities in land use, and also address the issue of landowners compensation for the sterilizing of land by pipelines etc. This is a huge issue in resource based areas. Much of what people wish to do with their land is hampered by setback from pipelines etc.

[cakadu]

For many producers taking an acreage out of the land and selling the remainder will be their only access to any kind of retirement funds. It's also a way to keep a home if the parents are turning the farm over to the kids and the kids need to get a mortgage etc.

You are quite right about the Land Use Framework needing to address this whole issue, particularly when the land cannot be developed (if the owner so chooses) due to resource exploitation (which the landowner has basically no choice in).

By the way, today is the last day for comment on the Land Use Framework, so if you haven't yet filled out a form, it can be found at: www.landuse.gov.ab.ca

[coppertop]

Interesting situation in my area. A father and two sons sold land near Olds, and moved up here, bought a small feedlot and three quarters of land. They then started buying up every piece of farmable land that came up for sale, plus dished out over $350,000 for a huge silage harvester.
Now they are extremely overextended financially and have applied to subdivide a few acreages off one of their quarters. I highly doubt that selling those acreages is going to get them back in the black but I guess they felt the roll of the dice was worth it.