An update, a year late

I know I haven't written in a very long time.  I've thought about it many times but things just changed so much since Faith passed away and my heart hasn't been in things.  I think that was clear in the decrease of my posts and the shortness of them.

We still have Cash and Paisley.  Cash is healed from his accident, although his back has never looked the same since then and the vets think he will have arthritis and possibly hip dysplasia later in life.

We still have guinea and chickens, although we have lost a couple in the last year.

The county has completely torn up the front of the property, moved the drainage ditch closer to our home where the trees used to be, and ripped up our driveway.  They haven't started laying the asphalt closer, but that's due to the weather.

We survived the snow storm, and that is probably the only interesting thing I have to share pictures of.

Don't let them fool you, they barely shoveled at all

I am thinking we will do the garden again this year and so we cut up the fallen tree and hauled it out of the garden area before the storm hit.  Hopefully I'll get motivated enough to finish weeding and getting the area ready once the weather gets a little warmer.

Firewood

I came home from the gym this morning and decided it was time to start cutting up the trees that the county chopped down.  I knew it would be easier to cut them when they were still fresh, and I figured it was an eye sore.  I cut them into firewood size chunks with the chainsaw and then had the boys come out to help me.

We loaded up our little trailer and I'd drive them up the driveway to unload behind the house where our firewood pile is.  

The first load

 I told the oldest that he gets to split them with the ax and I went back down to get a second load with the youngest.

When I came back, I was suprised to see how much he'd split.

It has begun.... or ended depending on how you look at it

Last week someone from the county came and knocked at our door.  I was in the shower so the youngest had to tell the man to wait a few minutes for me to finish and get dressed.  I had no idea who it was until I stepped outside and he introduced himself.  He was the head engineer on the road-widening project and was in charge of overseeing the work in front of my house.

He told me they would be coming through soon to begin work on the land they took last winter.  I asked how long I had and he said about 10 days.

I took pictures that day as we were leaving our property just to remember what I had since it was going to be changing.  As you can see, from the road you can't see our house unless you're looking directly up the driveway.

The History of our Homestead

I've been trying to find the owners of our property since before we closed on the sale.  The last name was fairly common and other than finding information that the woman passed away a few years earlier, I've never been able to find anything.

Then last winter the neighbor told me that the son of the owner lives in a community nearby.  I did some google searching and found his wife on Facebook and sent her an email.  It went to her "other" folder and she never saw it.  Then, a few days ago she joined a community Facebook group that I'm in and I posted in the group and tagged her just to tell her that I'd emailed her.

She replied immediately that her husband (SW) and daughter were excited to hear about the property and that they would come by.  We arranged to have them come by today and when they showed up, I found out that she hadn't told her husband where they were going and this was hard for him.  I really felt for him.

SW was very friendly and just gave off such a good vibe.  They stayed for about an hour telling me all kinds of fascinating information that I would have never known.  I've recently started researching my own grandmother's history and family in West Virginia and learning about the history of my home and the families that are tied to it is just another amazing discover.

The property next door used to have a large house.  I was told this house was torn down just two months before I moved in.  I found out today that the house was actually a school house many years ago.  Back during the time when black boys and girls were not allowed to go to the local public schools, they would come to school next door to my home, in a two story school house.  The school house had a tall cinder block tower with a large bell that rang.  The tower is not there anymore, but the cinder blocks are on the ground where it once stood.  The house also had a well,  not a modern day well, but a hole in the ground where a bucket was lowered to pull water up.  Their septic system drained on my property, where my current garden is.  The people who lived there were related to SW as they were great-great-grandparents (or maybe a couple more greats.)  This house was the summer home for the relatives when they came to town.

Years later, SW's grandparents convinced SW's parents to move here and they finally did.  SW and his father dug out the basement, he told me about how they had to tear a hole in the basement wall when they had a new well dug and the water holding tank needed to be put inside the basement.

He told me that his mother had a garden in the same place that my garden currently is.

I showed him the old wood signs for Bennett Elementary that we found in the woods and he said that his father was an engineer and helped design and build that school.  He had even gone with his father to the school.  I found online that there was an original Bennett Elementary built in 1909, but a new one was built in 1969 and this is the one his father had helped to build.  In 1996 another replacement school was built and so the one that his father had helped with is no longer around.

He told me that the chimney was always leaking and so a new one was built, but he asked if the cast iron stove was still in the house.  It is not here, but I have found pieces of one in the woods.

He also gave me history about the eminent domain issues and that they had won the right to preserve the land and the rural crescent years ago but then a property owner a few properties away made a deal with the developers to let them use his land to build a road to the land they wanted to build upon.  I also learned about other relatives and distant relatives and properties around us.

He said that next time he will go for a walk with us through the woods, where a faint trail still exists, to one of the neighboring properties.

SW's daughter is beautiful, his wife was also a lovely person, and they all just seemed like a great family.  He wasn't ready to come into the house as he had a lot of sad memories about leaving the property and I respected that and I hope that there will be a "next time" like he mentioned.  I hope that he can feel some sense of comfort in knowing that we live here as compared to someone who might tear everything down and start over to just sell to a developer.

Meeting with an attorney

I haven't updated about the land situation.  A few weeks ago I met with an attorney to just find out what my options are and if there is even a reason to get an attorney.  I know I can't stop the county from taking the land, but I also saw that the money they offered me did not take into consideration that my property value would decrease which would be pretty bad if I ever decide to sell my house.

The attorney has had many cases like this before, and many with my county, and he has won.

I explained that if he can get me $2,000 more, but then he charges me $2,000 to $5,000, then I would rather just accept the money that is being offered.  There would be no point in doing something that will get me less money in the long run.

He went through all of the paperwork from the county and I learned the following things.

My mortgage, and apparently many/most mortgages, have a clause in them.  They say that if eminent domain occurs, the money that the county or state pays goes to the mortgage company.  I won't ever see a dime of it, but it will be put towards my mortgage.  In 20 years I will be happy about that, but who wouldn't want to see some of that money now?

The amount that was offered to me really doesn't include anything besides the land.  There was no compensation for my property value decreasing.  There was no compensation for my standard of living changing.  There was no compensation for the loss of the trees (that not only provide nature and shade, but also lower my electric bills in the summer and create a noise barrier from the traffic that is going to increase substantially after the road widens.)

The attorney said that he would work for me and would only charge me a fraction of any additional money he gets me.  Meaning if I walk away not earning any additional money, he doesn't get any money.  If I get $1,000 more with his help, he only gets a fraction of that $1,000.  I think that's a pretty good deal.  He also wrote a letter to my mortgage company on my behalf asking that his fee be taken out of the settlement, so while I won't ever actually see or get the money from the county, his bill will be paid from that money.

My attorney did tell me that this could go to another step in which the county takes the land while we are still trying to negotiate, and we end up going to court.  A jury of peers will be selected and then in one day we present the case, they see the land, and the jury decides what to do.  Obviously, I'd rather not go that far, but I also need to protect myself, my kids, and my animals from what will happen when they take our land and so many of our trees.

And now for pictures to help explain how much land they are taking.

Stake #1 marks the existing end of my property.
They will move the drainage ditch to be between Stake #2 and #3, closer to the house.
The trees and bushes between stake #3 and #4 will be cut down for the electric company to move their lines back.
The trees between stake #4 and #5 will be cut down for the "temporary construction easement".

These are stakes 4 and 5 where the trees will be cut for the construction area

This is the left side of the driveway, from the red line forward is where the trees will be removed for the construction area

Looking toward the house, the trees from the red arrow forward will be removed.  The red arrow is pointing at the tree in the BACK.

 I think the picture above does the best job of showing just how many trees are being removed between the road and our home.

You can see the two stakes along the driveway by the trees that show what will be removed there

I should also point out that while they are cutting down all of my trees, across the road where the large community is, they are going to build a very large "privacy wall" to protect those houses from the noise from the traffic.

The county negotiator and my attorney are coming to the house today, in an hour.  We will be looking at the stakes so my attorney, and then going back to their office a few miles away to try to negotiate.

The Land Plans

I had to do some editing, but here are the most recent plans that were sent to me.  My house is that polygon shape in the middle of the page (above the purple circle.)

The dotted line that comes out of the left of the house and down to the bottom of the page is my driveway, or was the driveway before it was paved and widened.

The red arrow points to the temporary construction zone that we will have on our property.  The orange arrow in the middle of the page points to the "easement" that they are planning.

The blue arrow along the bottom of the image is where the current road is.  

Those fluffly lines show where the brush and trees are.  Notice that the road is coming all the way to and into  the trees, and the construction lines will completely cut them down.... They don't come as close to the house as the picture shows.  The fluffy lines around the driveway were trees that were cut down before I bought the property.

The update on the property

I just received a phone call from the appraiser.  She wanted to make an appointment to come appraise the property and to show me what the changes are.  After we made the appointment I asked her if I could find out about the changes now, instead of waiting a week.

She said they aren't going to have an access road anymore.  WIN!

And then she tells me that she's still waiting on final confirmation that they will be doing an easement and not a right of way.

WAIT.

They are going to be TAKING my land.

They are going to be building a ROAD ON MY LAND.

But now they are going to call it an easement instead of a right of way.

WAIT.

Let me explain this.

Right of way = they take it, it is their land, it is no longer my land, and they pay me for the land they take.

Easement = they take the land, they build on the land, but they say it is "my" land so they don't pay me for it.

So they are putting the road on my land.  Cars will be driving down this road on MY land.  And I won't receive any financial compensation.

I told her that if it is MY land then "I'm going to put up No Trespassing signs and I will stand out there with a shot gun."  (Okay so I don't own a shotgun, but she doesn't know that.)

It makes no sense that I would be okay with them taking my land, putting a road on it (so I can't use it/enjoy it), and yet not compensating me for taking my land.

This makes sense to them though.

I'm waiting for the plans to be emailed to me and for the meeting on Monday.  I will not allow them to take my land without compensating me.  It is that simple.

Meeting with the Project Manager

The Project Manager/Negotiator was at my home last night with the blueprints of the expected changes.  

I started by saying I didn't see why we needed an access road.  I pointed out that a nearby 4 lane road had rural residential homes, and far more traffic than we have, and those homes don't have access road.  I pointed out that we haven't had any issues with accidents because of vehicles pulling into our driveways.  He admitted that he didn't really know why the access road needed to be there.

I then pointed out that this dead end road they were going to build on my property was going to go over a stream.  And was 50 feet away from an easement on the neighboring property.  Why wouldn't they put this dead end on the property that already has an easement?  He agreed that it would make more sense.

He told me repeatedly that he understood my concerns and issues and could see exactly what I was talking about when I pointed out the 40+ year old Black Walnut trees, my parking space that would be taken, the privacy and noise barrier, etc.

He told me that these plans were not approved, they were only in the initial stages of this process and that he had a meeting this morning with the county.  He said he would point out my concerns and see what he could do.

I know I can't stop them from widening the road and taking land from me, my only hope is to stop them from taking even MORE land from me for this access road (that my neighbor and I don't want - and it would only serve us) and from cutting down the trees that provide us with a noise and privacy barrier.

The plans actually had a noise barrier wall across the street, protecting all of those new pretty homes from the noise from the increased traffic that this project will bring.  I pointed out that it was odd that they would build that wall for THOSE people, but then cut down my noise barrier.

He showed me how far back the right of way would be (the land they actually take from me) and it was 73 feet back from the edge of the road.  It would cut down the first 5 feet of trees in that area.  

He then told me that the electric company has to move the overhead lines back, and this would be 23 additional feet, and they would be cutting down all of the trees to do that.  

So now I wait.  My inspection is next Tuesday night for the appraisal on the land and the decrease in my property value.  He said it would be at least a week (if not more) before he would know anything about changing the access road and dead end.

(I will add pictures once I can figure out how to crop the blue prints he left next to each other so you can see the full road - and with my personal info blurred out)

What they will take from us

We went out to the stream today to collect rocks for two projects (I will share them once they are complete.)

All I could think about what "THIS is what they will be taking from us [when the county comes to take away part of my land]."

They are taking my dream away

After I purchased my property in 2011, a neighbor mentioned that many years ago the county had come to visit him and said they were thinking about widening the road in front of our house.  He had heard nothing since then and my property didn't have an easement in the deed, so I thought nothing more of it.


On Wednesday, the 6th, I received a letter in the mail the broke my  heart.

I did some searching on the internet and found information about adding two lanes, a 16 foot wide median, and a 5 foot sidewalk on my side of the road.  You see my side of the road is the country.  Trees, houses that are at least 40 years old, and mostly older retired people.  The other side of the street is a development that is a few years old, big houses with postage stamps for yards, a community pool, etc.  I have a lot of trees between my house and the road, so I don't really see the community except for when the leaves fall off in the fall and winter.

Why would they be putting a sidewalk on my side of the street?  Why can't they expand THAT way?

The next morning I called the number on my letter.  Things got worse.

He told me that they were planning to take 50 feet from the front of my property line for the road, and then taking more than that for an access road and sidewalk.  He made an appointment with me for Tuesday evening to come show me exactly what was going to be taken.

I was distraught.

I pulled up the image of my property and measured 50 feet from the front of my property line...

The mis-formed rectangle by the road is just the 50 feet section, they will be taking more.

The picture isn't the greatest because you can't see the driveway as it pulls in front of the house, and then also up the side of the house to more parking areas.  But you can already see the chunk that is being taken for some of the road widening.

I called the man back that evening.  I hate to admit that I broke down on the phone with him asking if he could meet with me sooner.  I pointed out that they are cutting down the only barrier that my animals and my family have from the traffic, noise, and neighboring community.  I explained how I am a single mom and I worked hard to move my children to the country and that they are destroying my dream.  I explained that my animals would no longer be safe with a road that close to our house.

He told me he would email me the plan that they had.

It looks even worse than what I had imagined.

Their construction crews will be cutting down EVERY tree in front of my house, including the 40+ year old Black Walnut trees.

Their crews will be 21 feet from my front door and 13 feed from our basement door during the entire project.

They are taking away two of my parking spots and half of my driveway.

They are eliminating all of our trees and privacy.

They are putting a dead end "turn around" on my property - where there is currently a stream.

There will now be a ditch right in front of my house and an "access" road that isn't necessary.

People try telling me that they will pay me for my land.  But they aren't going to pay me for the complete loss in property value.  They aren't going to pay me for the privacy that I purchased and they are taking away.  They aren't going to pay to find a way to keep my animals safe.  They aren't going to pay to replace the trees that have been here for over 40 years.  They aren't going to pay to find a new place for my guests to park.  They aren't going to pay to keep people from parking their old trailers and junked up cars in that "turn around".


I'm heart broken.