a house in a barn

[knabe]

Do they allow this in texas?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=440771&in_page_id=1770

commenter at end has it wrong  "Greenbelts are confiscation of property. If you want to control property, buy it."  buying property with a greenbelt does not give you control of property.  In CA, easements are all the rage.  if there is no incentive to make money off the land, we don't have america.

example

http://www.byronculverandassociates.com/about.php

properties like this finance state's revenues to pay for compensation for government employees.  In San Jose Ca, the average total compensation (including health care and salary) went up 100% from $70,000 year to $105,000 from 2000 to 2005 with no end in sight.  Salaries are over two-thirds of the budget.  they then complained this wasn't enough.  two average city empolyees exceed the state average family household income by approximately 300%.

 

[cowz]

Interesting articles.  There are alot of illegal homes in our state, too.  A lot of people build apartments in their barns to house hired help.  Mainly the horse folks.  Have you ever heard this old saying?  "The bad news is that we have strict regulations.  The good news is that we have little enforcement!"

 

[red]

Mineral & water rights are going to be hot topics in the near furture.
Totally off this topic but a friend of our just called me from Argentina. There is a huge agricultural truckers strike going on there. this is their harvest time. He also said it's raining about every other day. Could be an indicator for soybean prices going up?
GaryBob, he also said cattle are really something down there.

Red

 

[DL]

Did I miss something here - this guys sounds like an arrogant idiot

 

[knabe]

you are right DL! 

i got it off fark.com and most of the comments about him were hilarious.  without enforcement, there are no property rights.  That said, there are two sets of property rights, those for government, which are easily greased, and those for individuals.

 

[garybob]

In Sur Tejas, close to the border, where my friend Ana lives, it is permitted. I asked her why her little, pink casa was  on cross ties. She told me that her taxes were lower, because it was assessed as an outbuilding, and not a permanent structure. I personally, don't think it's a problem. She raises two kids by herself. I also know that the Maintenance Mgr at the Plant lives in a Red Metal Barn that has been fixed up rather nicely( dolled up to the Nines!!!!!). I think people should be allowed to do as they please, as long as nobody is getting hurt by their actions.

 

[red]

In Sur Tejas, close to the border, where my friend Ana lives, it is permitted. I asked her why her little, pink casa was  on cross ties. She told me that her taxes were lower, because it was assessed as an outbuilding, and not a permanent structure. I personally, don't think it's a problem. She raises two kids by herself. I also know that the Maintenance Mgr at the Plant lives in a Red Metal Barn that has been fixed up rather nicely( dolled up to the Nines!!!!!). I think people should be allowed to do as they please, as long as nobody is getting hurt by their actions.

Here in our county if it's on cross ties it's not considered a perment building. you can't imagine how creative sometimes people get on building!
How would the do the places that were old barns or made into houses now? We have a lot of people that while they are in the process of building living in a barn type structure.
Good comments Gary Bob, just sometimes people take advantage of situations.
Red

 

[garybob]

I don't understand the negative response to consaervation easements. Clearly, they are needed, in areas of high levels of urban sprawl.

 

[knabe]

easements tend to raise property values of surrounding areas by making land more scarce.  they also have severe development restrictions including no ponds, berms, limited grazing, in essence, a level of beaurcracy that the taxpayer or contributor to land trusts pays for and whose salaries are, well quite high.  In CA, you currently can't put in stock ponds, a dam etc for watering without extensive permitting even though they ATTRACT currently endangered species the spotted salamander and red legged frog.  I am currently trying to hook up our development to city water which is good for a couple of reasons.  it reduces salt accumulation in the ground by using better water and provides revenue for the city.  alas it is 500 feet near a tiger salamander breeding area which requires a biologist to take a survey of the area that the salamanders migrate to and be onsite during construction to see if any are killed and an abatement fee charged.  I would put a pond on my own land for them, but declined because when the find them on your property, you can't graze cattle there because a cow might step on them.  not sure what the raccoon fine for eating one is.  there was also a recent meeting between the soil conservation service and ranchers called "cut the crap" focusing on such issues.  also a study that showed prarie hawks actually THRIVE in areas where grazing by cattle occurs.  hmm, maybe the state, (taxpayer) will pay ranchers to put up stock ponds instead of hasseling them. 

finally, back to easements.  the only solution is a static population, creating a relatively static demand for development.  Since our economy is founded on growth to cover limited profit from gains in efficiency, this won't happen.  we are a petri dish, ever increasing our numbers, decreasing our areas to grow food.  it's tough because our governments revenue is based on growth as well to pay for entitlements which are not pegged to inflation, but have an inflation all their own, typically double inflation.

 

[cowz]

I don't understand the negative response to consaervation easements. Clearly, they are needed, in areas of high levels of urban sprawl.

I don't think conservation easements are bad....they are just a mixed bag.  I'm all for slowing down development and urban sprawl.  Here are a couple of real scenarios that influence my thinking on them.

1.  My neigbors father had a sawmill and post treatment plant on their ranch.  The parents passed away, left the kids with trust funds and a deeded hunk of the place.  The EPA came down on them HARD for contamination from the post treatment operation.  Long story short.  One of the kids no longer wanted to ranch, had enough money, wanted to live on the place.  This one panicked, contributed $ towards the cleanup, deeded the land to a conservation easement to the Audibon Society.  Life was great for a decade until the management of this conservation easement changed.  Now life and the management of this land is difficult and very restrictive.  Sometimes the recipient of these easements love to paint agriculture as the evil axis.

2.  In the early days of granting conservation easements, people were very trusting.  When you are used to the freedoms of being a land owner, sometimes you don't think of the possibilities of changing needs when giving away the place you live to a conservation easements.  Many of the ranchers who did this to preserve land now are very elderly, yet cannot build an additional residence on the land for family members or hired help to come and assist with the operation.  Now we know!

3.  In Colorado, a prominent Charolais Breeder, Dr. Culver of Boulder Valley Farms, near Boulder.  (This town is the hotbed of financial EXCESS and the biggest magnet of the counterculture in the west)  ooops, did I say that?  Sorry, Freudian slip.    Anyhow, this man had the foresight to do an AWESOME conservation easement in the middle of a very productive farming valley.  This used to be irrigated hay meadows, sugar beets and alfalfa.  Outside of this place the only thing that grows is condos and BMW's.  He worded his conservation easement to say that the property would remain in agriculture production. 

My point is that conservation easements can be a wonderful thing if carefully thought out.  What kind of these do you see down south and back east?

 

[red]

We have alot of conservational easments or agricultural easments being put into practice here in Ohio.
There is one family that put part of a farm into the program. This farm lives between Columbus & Maysville. Right off of ST Rt 33. For those of you that know Ohio, that is a huge area that is being heavily developed. The city or state is trying to repeal the easement so they can build on it. Should be interesting battle.

Red