I started a thread a few months ago about doing dock riparian rights surveys in areas that require apportioning. Yesterday I was reminded of an area that I noticed a few years ago that had me wondering, how were these docks approved to be built like this? I was doing a survey near this area circa 2007, and these docks caught my eye on the county GIS aerials. Here’s the 2007 aerial:
The construction of these docks seems to defy logic. I remember wanting to hear the story behind these docks. The county must have approved this, because there is no way a dock builder is going to do this without a permit in this county. Did a surveyor do riparian rights surveys or did the builder “wing it”? Some of the docks are shared, so maybe the owners all signed agreements to do this? I remember thinking someone is going to get sued.
Well check this out, the 2011 aerial:
Yesterday I got another job in this area, and I thought it looked familiar, but where are the crazy docks? So I used the Google Earth timeline function. Now I really want to know the story behind these. Ouch! Those are some expensive docks that got demolished. FWIW, the two long straight docks in the middle were there back to at least 1995. The crazy dock on the left first appeared around 2004. The others were there in 2006. Looks like the two oldest ones were allowed to stay.
Cool observation, nice use of timeline to develop the story, I am guessing that maybe some bold developer took a chance on building the docks, got them built by hook or by crook, made his money on the real estate, and is gone on down the road.
Too bad....looked like in 2007 they had all their docks in a row......
:-O
> Too bad....looked like in 2007 they had all their docks in a row......
>
>
> :-O
Uggh...
:-X
People think that no one will ever see what they have done. I gave a fee for a survey on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for someone who was alleged to have built a small pond (lol) and a road thru approximately 4500±' of wetlands (bigger lol).
37°22'50.99"N
75°53'38.09"W
(Google Earth)
The pond was approx 4-5 acres. No permit, no problem...who will ever know. Right? Until he got a letter from the Army Corp. The remaining docks, I'm sure, had to go thru some type of corps permitting. (heck let's add a few more)
I have no idea of what the outcome was because the surveyor who got the job was 25% of my fee (nah...he ain't a lowballer).
I bet that must have cost a few bucks to remove the docks....have no idea how much it cost for the wetlands to be restored on the E shore.
Guess some folks don't realize the number of agencies using technology up in that thar sky.
After looking at the pics and hearing some of the story I wonder if the docks that have been dismantled actually just settled and the two that are still standing have decide to continue to fight because of their age. If there is a court case this could explain why some of the docks are gone and some are still standing. I'd be interested in knowing more for sure.
Sad part is they probably had a hell of a time getting a COE permit to just remove the docks and walk ways.
I was thinking the same thing, I plugged some keywords into LexisOne and came up empty. It probably didn't make it to appeals court if there was a law suit over this. Maybe next time I get a riparian rights survey I'll ask the county dock permit guy if he knows anything about it.