Got a call from an attorney.
There was a property that I did some divisions for. The tracts were large enough so they didn't fall under the subdivision regulations. A couple was buying the southerly tract that has a creek running through it. It is on irrigated lands with two ditches with a headgate for the large one near the middle of the tract.
Irrigated lands like this are more valuable than dry lands. Not only can it provide valuable crops but the water rights themselves are also valuable.
Because this was only a series of allquiot part transferes no new water rights were requested.
The new owners are dudes and don't understand why the ditches "on their property" can't just be filled in so they can "enjoy" the property without the annoying ditches in the way. I tried to explain that even though the ditches had no formal recorded easements they most assuredly were protected from disturbance and the ditch company has a right to enter their property any time they need to. I guess I wasn’t correct when I argued against the new subdivision regulations thinking they were draconian when they required new water rights to be done even with larger tracts.
But filling in the ditches? Who would have thought someone would have wanted to do that?
So They Can Fly Low With Their ATVs.
Simple pleasures.
Paul in PA
i permit a few mcmansions on the water and always ask myself: who the heck would want to spend $3m plus on a home in a dangerous location? conclusion: people are idiots.
Some people...
> conclusion: people are idiots.
Yes, some truly are. I've seen folks pay through the nose for a parcel somewhere and then spend twice that much trying to shoe-horn a huge house on it and act like zoning ordinances and set backs are personal attacks.
Then there is the guy that can't understand the concept of a FEMA SFHA...then wants the local municipality to do something about it.
But remember, it is a free country. We have the right to be stupid. We have the right to proceed with life-threatening behaviour and sue anybody that wants to stop us.
I remember when I was young I thought the 'wealthy' folks were probably intelligent. Boy howdy was I wrong...Sometimes I think the more money you have, the dumber you get.
Around here
If you even THINK hard about filling a ditch EPD (state Environmental Protection Division), EPA, NRCS and probably several others would be all over you. You MAY be able to bridge or pipe a short section if certain requirements are met but you'd better get the permits first or plan on spending a lot of time and money in court.
Andy
when worlds collide.... who knew???;-)
Then there are the very wealthy and intelligent?.....In Jackson WY a landowner cut down the neigbors trees because he wanted a better view of the Tetons..... his reply "I'll just PAY for it".
Pablo B-)
There's a story of the powerful attorney and the ditch rider. The attorney wanted water to irrigate the lawns on his hobby ranch property. He stuck a pump into the ditch that ran alongside and inside his east property line. The ditch rider saw it and told him to remove it because he had no rights to the water.
The attorney refused and asked him just what are you going to do about it. The ditch rider took an axe and smashed the pump into little pieces. The attorney then put a pump inside a chain link fence and ran a hose to the ditch and continued to pump water. The ditch rider saw this and when he found the hose in the ditch and pumping water he sent a wire up the hose into the pump and ruined the motor.
Finally, the attorney decided to sue the ditch company; but, after researching just where he stood he thought better of it. He said he got laughed out of every attorney's office he talked to in town-none of them would touch it. Water law isn't his field.
Some people...
