Day 149

We knew that when we bought the farm, the four lots zoned residential and subdivided directly to our west would most likely be sold to prospective home  builders sooner than later. During the house hunting process, we had become familiar with the GIS mapping system online that shows property lines and  information about the landowner. Soon after we made our purchase, we saw the landowner switch into our names in this system, which was kind of satisfying. In our investigation, we also saw the lot furthest to our west had also changed names from the previous owner. Soon thereafter, the next lot over had also changed ownership. We knew that it was only a matter of time before the two lots right next to us were also sold.

Action started pretty quickly after we saw the change of ownership. The westernmost lot (I’ll call it #4) got mowed and cleared and before we could blink an eye, heavy machinery was on site and the building process had begun. However, rather than digging for the beginning of the home construction, we saw trucks bringing in dirt.

Lots and lots of dirt.

Around 550 truckloads according to our sources.

Building so close to a wetland was certainly something that required a bit more planning and filling. While we weren't necessarily thrilled about so much fill being brought in, we had to somewhat blindly trust the process and hope it would not interfere with our plans to improve the land we had put so much time, energy, and financial resources into already.

Our other neighbors didn't share that optimistic approach to an expanded neighborhood. The same neighbors who inadvertently got angry at us for working on our land shared some discontent with their previously clear view being blocked by a larger pile of dirt and a soon-to-be house. But, at this point, there isn’t much to do but hope for the best. 

As mentioned earlier, I did meet the owner of lot #4 when I found him checking out a tree stand on our property. Since that unfortunate introduction, our paths haven’t crossed. 

But that will certainly change soon. It looks like the house is just about ready.