Yes, you haven't heard about much progress on the land we purchased back in February but that is mostly because there hasn't been any real (visual) progress to speak of yet. This lack of progress has been due to a few hurdles we have encountered.
The first bump in the road we ran into was that when the county came out to inspect the location we had chosen to build our pole building. The inspector felt that the particular which we had chosen for the structure was possibly a wetland. As a result, a lady from Environmental Services came out and tested the soil for saturation and her initial findings were that that particular area was indeed a Type 1 wetland. For simplicity sake, a Type 1 wetland is basically an area that supports wetland plant growth and is wet for a short time in the spring but dries up substantially in the summer months. Yes, to be considered a wetland it doesn't even need to have water above the surface and it doesn't even have to look like a wetland. Take a look for yourself. To me, it pretty much looks like a field. Shows you what I know, huh!
It is a LONG story but basically Duke called the county and yelled at them and then I called them and smoothed things over. I got Environmental Services to agree to come back out two weeks later to recheck the soil saturation. We thought we had a good shot at it drying up enough but since we had so much snow and such a fast melt this spring, it was still saturated around 10 inches below the surface and it needed to be greater than 12 inches. The good part is that with a little research I found that with a Type 1 wetland we are able to impact the wetland up to 2000 sq feet without having to replace the wetland at a 2:1 ratio. In the end, we had to move the stakes for the shed 30 feet to the West (Duke wasn't really happy about that either but he'll have to live with it) and didn't have to pay any other fees, etc. To me, that was a pretty favorable outcome because at least they weren't saying we couldn't build at all.
We have now chosen our building contractor but are teetering between building a stick frame structure (which requires a block foundation so it is a little more expensive) and a pole barn. The contractor thinks we would be better off doing the stick frame, and that is what Duke initially wanted to build, but Duke has reservations about the cost since this is going to turn out to be one spendy shed in order to get it just the way he wants it.
On a positive note, last night we found out that we do not need to get a permit to have the driveway put in, as long as we use the approach that the township put in when they tarred the road years ago. That is a bonus because Duke has someone lined up to come out early next week to do the dirt work for the driveway and to push in and cover up and old house foundation that is in the woods (for safety reasons). I personally would have rather used the original approach that was used many many years ago, but since it had been abandoned and would need rebuilding, we are opting to use the newer one to avoid all of the red tape we would have to go through to get a second approach approved by the township.
Sorry if I am boring you with all of this land/shed mumbo-jumbo. Hopefully throughout the post you were a bit entertained with these pictures I took of Audrey when we stopped by the land a few weeks ago to just look around. Check out this deer trail that is running smack through the middle of where our shed will be. I am guessing a garden will be out of the question for me unless I put up a BIG fence. On the bright side, maybe Duke won't have to go up to the Shack anymore to deer hunt!
Speaking of wildlife, let me tell you about a funny story from this very day. When Audrey and I got to the land and were standing back by the old fence line all of a sudden taking some pictures, we heard a turkey gobble loudly and ruffle it's feathers. Audrey turned to me with a look of fright and said 'What was dat?' I smiled and told her not to worry because it was just a Turkey in the woods. She responded by running to me so I would pick her up and she exclaimed, "Mama hold me! That chicken gonna get me!" This is how she looked for pretty much the rest of our visit to the land:
God help us if we now have to fear man-eating chickens!!!