Bye bye big city!

81cutlass

Comic Book Super Hero
Feb 16, 2009
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Western MN
Looking good!

Going to be nice to have a little corner in the woods :)
 
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Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Spring, Texas
Looking good Jared! One step closer!

Looking good!

Going to be nice to have a little corner in the woods :)
Thanks friends. We can't wait to get out there. I reached out to the developer earlier today to get the story on the bridge. They say they will have it done by the end of the year. I kinda have my doubts but we'll see. That's the date in our property report and they say you can't start building a home until after the bridge is in service. It shouldn't hold us up.

Between now and the end of the year we plan to:
  • Perform/Prepare the survey
  • Buy the house plans and have any desired changes made to the plans by the Architect
  • Have the geo-technical investigation/report prepared (soil bores/analysis)
  • Meet with the custom home builder to start formalizing plans and hone in on the final budgeting numbers
We'll do all this with an eye towards getting the construction loan in place in the first quarter of next year. One day at a time though. That's it for now friends.
 
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Longroof79

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G-Body of the Month
Oct 14, 2008
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Jared,
We wish you guys speedy progress, and hope your plans come together without any unexpected snafus. We'll certainly be tuned in.
So far it looks like the wheels of progress are moving forward.
 
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Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Jared,
We wish you guys speedy progress, and hope your plans come together without any unexpected snafus. We'll certainly be tuned in.
So far it looks like the wheels of progress are moving forward.
Thanks Jack! Much appreciated and glad to have you along!

We went out to the land last Saturday to do some get ahead tasks for the survey. I uncovered and flagged some corners on the adjacent lots so I can make sure the boundary is in good shape. I know it is, but there's no way I'm not going to check it while we're out there doing the topographic (elevation and improvement) survey.

The big news is the bridge is under construction. As we approached the creek from the east we spotted the equipment and a stockpile of material....

20211009_104850_copy_1008x756.jpg


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Getting down near the creek bottom, it looks like they have driven some pilings in, if I'm identifying them correctly.....

20211009_105139_copy_1008x756.jpg


There is more material stockpiled on the east side of the creek. This is looking west, away from our lot and away from our section of the subdivision....

20211009_105254_copy_1008x756.jpg


There is also a line of lathes, painted blue on top, running down the south side of the road. I surmise this is marking the location of the section of water line which will connect the water line piping already installed in our section, across the creek with the existing development to the west....

20211009_105328_copy_1008x756.jpg


There's a fair amount of blue PVC water pipe lying nearby. We were pleasantly surprised by the progress. Perhaps they will wrap up construction by the end of the year, after all. We're all set to do the on-the-ground survey next Saturday. The weather looks pretty spectacular for it. Mostly Cloudy, starting off at 55°, with a high of 75°. I have the best Survey Crew Chief from my company helping us with the survey. He'll come with the truck, the equipment and the expertise. I'll be the Rodman (helper-grunt) and my brother will be the second helper. With the site underbrushed like it is and the nice weather, it should be a fun job. I'll update afterwards with some new pictures and with news on this week's progress on the bridge, if any.

I guess that's it for now friends. Thanks for tuning in!
 
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Longroof79

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Oct 14, 2008
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Jared,
I hope they keep it more in a rural setting and don't try to urbanize the landscape too much. Not to sound like too much of a tree hugger, it's almost a shame to see mature oaks, etc. being cut down. I've seen a lot of it in my town over the years, but I suppose that's what they refer to as progress.
I do enjoy having the trees around our property. Some folks would rather have concrete and no trees at all.
 
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Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Spring, Texas
Jared,
I hope they keep it more in a rural setting and don't try to urbanize the landscape too much. Not to sound like too much of a tree hugger, it's almost a shame to see mature oaks, etc. being cut down. I've seen a lot of it in my town over the years, but I suppose that's what they refer to as progress.
I do enjoy having the trees around our property. Some folks would rather have concrete and no trees at all.
Jack,

We're in a master-planned subdivision. It is all exclusively residential lots. At least within the subdivision, there is no danger of any commercial development. The deed restrictions are fairly strict as well so it should stay classy for the rest of our lives. We won't be able to have an onsite private junkyard but we'll have a nice shop and as many old cars as we want. In the end, it was a compromise but so far, I think we made the right decision. The properties that line the FM Road from the front of our subdivision back to the interstate highway are mostly all private ranches that have been handed down for generations. I don't see a lot of danger of apartments or Walmarts being built in the nearby vicinity.

It's a large subdivision that's roughly 4 miles from north to south and 2.5 miles from east to west. We're all the way in the back, up against a state park and the national forest. It's about 5.3 miles to drive from where we will live to the exit out onto the FM Road. From there, it's another 4 miles out to the interstate. It's a good mix of rural (location) with suburb (planned subdivision with City water, fiber optic, etc. It's about a 30 minute ride to the grocery store.
 
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Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Spring, Texas
We got the on-the-ground survey done last Saturday. We were out there at 6:45, before sunrise. By 7:00 we were surveying. We finished up around 2:20. We pushed hard, all day. My friend and colleague, the Survey Crew Chief from my work that helped us with this, is a dynamo. He never stops moving. Sean and I were worn out, trying to keep up with him. He did a great job. I greatly underestimated the number of trees left on the site. I figured there might be about 60 left after the underbrushing but I think we tied over 200. We only tied those 4" in diameter, at eye level, and larger. We have a lot of nice, big oaks and a lot of big pines. We have a lot of sweetgums too. Most of those will probably go, in the end.

Now it's on me to process the data and prepare the survey drawing. No sweat. This is what I do for a living.

I don't have too many pictures but do have a few. We pushed pretty hard all day and didn't really stop, once we got going. Here's a pic from about halfway back, in the lot (1.5 acres - 240' wide at the front, 420' deep, about 60' wide in the back (pie shape). This is roughly 180'-200' back, looking back towards the road. You can see my brother's truck and the company truck in the background.....

10-16-21_02.jpg


They've made some progress on the bridge. They've poured concrete in the pilings, set the bent on top of them and have set the southern most grade beam....

10-16-21_06.jpg


And here's an early morning look at the construction site from the top of the hill, to the east of it. Our lot is behind, me, over my right shoulder.....

10-16-21_09.jpg


I have no idea why the Broker working for the developer billed this bridge as a suspension bridge. Obviously, it's not. It's not a suspension style bridge and is little higher than the existing temporary road (low water crossing....

10-16-21_05.jpg


I guess it was just a salesman being a salesman. Based on the steel that is sitting on the ground out there, it looks like the bridge will be three sections long (approximately 3 time longer than the steel they have placed thus far). The floodway elevation in that vicinity is about 295'. By the time you get to 300' you are out of the 500-year floodplain, because the creek bed and floodplain are so wide and there is so much drop along the creek. It looks to me like the bridge roadbed will be outside the 500-year floodplain so we shouldn't end up where we are flooded in during an extreme event storm. Our lot elevation is around 345 so we don't have anything but being "trapped" in the subdivision to fear.

I guess that's it for now friends. We may go back out there next weekend to do some maintenance on the kudzu. It's already sprouting back up in the cleared area out front. We're going to need to spray it or take the weedeater to it. We also need to pull down the flagging off the trees. We tied a piece around each tree to note that it had been tied in our survey. I'll update when there's more to report. One step closer!
 
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Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Spring, Texas
Good job choosing your lot. Looks like you will be high and dry. Around here so many people overlook the importance of drainage and end up either building the house to low or on a lot that requires a sump that runs constantly.
Yeah, we won't need any flood insurance. Because Land Surveyor. It's amazing to me how many people don't think about it/don't understand it. After learning what I have in my career, there's no way I would buy home with a storm inlet in front of it, much less one that backs up to a creek or drainage ditch, or has some other sort of drainage issue.
 
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ck80

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Feb 18, 2014
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That kudzu is going to be a real pain to get out of there, it'll just take lots of constant vigilance (because one nearby lazy neighbor and I'll keep coming back.)

One thing I can say from experience, the more trees that are left the "bigger" the lot feels on the ground. Something about perception and the canopy. The same land cleared feels so much smaller.

Sounds like you have a decent mix of trees to keep though, and sounds like you did well on the location... never want to be the subservient parcel to a neighbors drainage when they screw around on their lot. Doesn't matter what the law says about redirection of flow, it's a pain to actually enforce and gain relief when they decide to just do something.
 
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