Rochester, NY - Irondequoit Bay: Future Camp!

[DrPhil]

Hello everyone!  First let me say, this is a fantastic site... I've been reading thru everyone's builds and am picking up many great ideas.

My name is Phil, my wife's name is Pam.  I am an IT Manager and my wife is a licensed real estate consultant.  Computers are my profession, construction is my hobby  We are "in process" of purchasing 3/4 of an acre on the West side of Irondequoit Bay in Rochester, NY.  When I say "process"....... this has been going on since late September.  The owner's we are buying the land from, well, there is a cloud on the title....... right now everything appears to be moving along finally and we're hoping for final sign off on everything by the end of this month.

We got a great deal on the property, however, the major downfall is accessibility.  I do not have drive up access to the property.  There are camps to the north and south of our property, but ours is just open land (right now).  Electric, cable, & sewers are on site so I won't have to worry about those.  The big thing is, how do I get all of my building material to the property.  Most likely going with the post & beam foundation so I don't have to deal with getting a TON of concrete and block to the property.

Once we obtain the land, I'm going to talk to the neighbors to the south...... it looks as though I could drive across their properties to access mine, otherwise, everything will be barged over.  I will purchase all of the building materials, have them delivered to a barge, and then have the barge pushed over to our property.

Right now it is extremely overgrown.  Previous owners moved out of town a few years ago, so they stopped mowing the property.  I'll have to build a couple swales back on the property to help redirect waterflow around the property instead of thru it.  That should dry out the property nicely (its a little damp now 1- from being overgrown and 2- water flowing thru property from runoff from hill behind it).

View looking back into property...... This will all get cleared out.  Future home of camp.


Looking towards the water in the distance.  You can see Pam standing down the beaten down path I tromped down.  Weeds are literally about 8ft tall.


Trampled down the weeds to take a look at the water......  This will be a fantastic view once cleaned up.


Another view of the water.


Looking back into the property, towards where we will be building.


Once we finally have the green light on the property......  I plan on fully cleaning the property off.  I'll take down a few trees to allow for better sunlight as well as building a big swale along the backside higher up.

I'm sure it will be a while, but I'm HOPING to possibly set footers before winter..... and then start building the camp in the spring of 2011.  It is currently zoned residential, and being on the water, lots of red tape to go thru (thanks NY).  But, I know that going in..... just hoping for the best

~Phil  

[Redoverfarm]

  DrPhil.  And yes I have watched your TV series.  .

Building on property that is not accessable from land does have it's disadvantages.  But advantages as well being that there will probably be no uninvited guest.   Is there not road access to the property?  

[DrPhil]

No road access :-(  Basically I park about 10 camps down and walk along a sidewalk to get to the property.  The way I see it...... I'll just launch my boat at the public launch at the north end of the bay, and its about a 2 minute boat ride right to the property.  I'm going to try to sell my little 14' jetboat in the spring, and pick up a crappy 24' pontoon boat.  That would make a great mini barge to haul stuff back and forth on if needed.

There is a possibility of putting in a driveway, but I would have to get permission from 4 neighbors in the way.  I haven't talked to any of them, so who knows.  Maybe they would be all for it (they could benefit too and drive to their property as well)

Just hoping the "no driveup access" doesn't really bite me in the end.  Many of my friends think I'm crazy... but that just pushes me harder haha  I have a lot of vision and creativity....

[glenn kangiser]

to the forum.  If you can work something out that will be a bonus I guess as long as you know it may not be possible going into it and are willing to work around that.

[DrPhil]

My biggest concern is just getting all the lumber to the property.  I've allready inquired into barges.... I know there are a few possibilities now.. just not sure of the costs to utilize them.  Hoping to build a good repore with the neighbors to the south.

I have access to mini backhoes, trencher, bobcat, etc. from our construction department where I work so that will be a bonus (especially if I can put in a mini driveway / road).  I'm sure I'd have to get a permit for that too from the town (you need a permit for EVERYTHING I swear).  They won't want me carving too much into the hill and causing a massive avalanche.

There is just something about being on the water which is so peaceful......

[Bobmarlon]

Your site looks like it will be great, i drive through my neighbors
property to get my land.  Your neighbors could Be happy to help a guy who has access to aLl those machines.

[RainDog]

Fantastic looking site you're getting there! Looking forward to tracking your progress.

I once lived on an island off the SC coast with no road access, and although I don't know the facilities available in your neck of the woods, it was relatively inexpensive to have supplies, building materials, etc barged over.

Couple hundred for a car, for instance.

Hopefully you'll find similarly low costs in your area.

Good luck!

[SouthernTier]

Dr. Phil:

The ice looks plenty thick for all those ice fishermen I see out there this time of year from the 104 bridge.  Perhaps you should consider dragging the material to your site behind a snowmobile some February.

Would be hard to plan in case of a thaw, but it has been done before.

[fishing_guy]

Water access lots are extremely popular on Lake Vermillion here in Minnesota.  They are either island lots or unaccessible shore lots.  Barges are very common.  As are snowmobiles/ice roads in the winter....

Good luck!

[kenhill]

wonder if there are wetland issues with redirecting water flow?  We snowmachined in all our lumber 11 miles to our site using equinox brute tobaggans.  Inital haul was 20,000 lbs of materials.  You can also use a 4-wheeler and trailer if you get permission from property owners you have to cross.  Mow down all that growth with a DR or Swisher brush mower!

Good luck.  I went to college in Geneseo and grew up near Geneva...now in Alaska

[DrPhil]

Well, I did call the town allready and DEC to confirm that the land is not considered "wetlands" which is good.   I know if I got crazy with redirecting waterflow I'd again.... need a permit.   I "technically" even need a permit to take a tree down because this is considered a "wooded lot" zone.  They are concerened that if you take down too many trees, it could cause a landslide down the hill into the bay.

Do you think a weedwacker with those stiff plastic blades would be a good option for taking down those tall weeds???

I know around Rochester, waterfront property isn't something you come across, especially for what I'm paying......  sure, its hindered a little with the "no driveup" thing....but when life hands you lemons, you make beef stew!!!!!!

[RainDog]

Is that river cane? Can't really tell. If so you'll need more than a weed whacker to cut them, and keeping the growth back will be a major hassle. I've used long handled lopping shears or machetes to cut them off at the base, but of course they come right back up, even through heavy plastic. Might have to use poison to kill the root system in the areas you want clear, and then hold it back with buried landscape borders. They're great for controlling erosion, but invasive as all heck.

That's if it's river cane. Can't really tell. 

[DrPhil]

Honestly I'm not sure if its river cane.  At one point (about 4 years ago) it was all nicely mowed.  I'm "thinking" its just severly overgrown grass..... maybe a few cattails down by the water.  I used a 2x4 with some rope to tromp the path down.  Worked great for knocking the weeds over, minus a few blisters on my hands hahah  <Note to self:  GLOVES next time> haha

[SouthernTier]

Well, I did call the town allready and DEC to confirm that the land is not considered "wetlands" which is good. 

Hopefully it won't be a problem.  I would point out though that I am guessing they may have just consulted the listed wetland maps and saw that you were not in one of the listed wetlands.  However, when it comes to building permits, places can be considered wetlands even if they are not listed.  I have heard anecdotal stories of people who checked the wetland maps before buying, but then found out later they couldn't get a permit because of wetlands.  There are also National Wetland Inventory maps that are similar, but not identical, to the DEC wetland maps.

According to the DEC resource mapper (http://www.dec.ny.gov/imsmaps/ERM/viewer.htm), the whole shoreline of Irondequoit Bay is in the "Wetland Checkzone" which is defined as "New York's freshwater wetlands maps only show the approximate location of the actual wetland boundary. They are not precise, regardless of how closely you zoom in on the map. The "check zone" is an area around the mapped wetland in which the actual wetland may occur. If you are proposing a project that may encroach into this area, you should check with your regional DEC office to make sure where the actual wetland boundary is. If necessary, they may have a biologist come out and perform a field delineation for you to help you avoid impacts in the wetland or the regulated 100-foot buffer zone."

Like I said, hopefully this won't be an issue.  But just so you won't be surprised later.  but looknig at hte topo (assuming you are on the east side, south of the bridge, judging by the photo), it seems like the hills are steep enough that there'd be no wetlands once you go ashore a bit.

[John_M]

If you only have water access......what are your plans in the winter?

[DrPhil]

In the winter, we can just walk to the property. It is only going to be a camp (unless I can build a true road to it).  Summer place mostly.

[John_M]

So you would take a boat in the summer?  Kinda cool!

[DrPhil]

Most likely just launch my boat at the north end of the bay, 2 minute boat ride right to the property.....

Or, I can park about 10 camps NORTH of the property, and walk down a side walk to get there...... that is about a 3 minute walk.....

[db4570]

As SouthernTier suggested, bringing stuff across the ice might be really efficient, if you time it right. A friend of mine and a couple of his crazy buddies used to race their cars on Irondequoit bay. They had big heavy beater Impalas and such. With a pickup truck you could haul a ton of stuff.

All warnings about being absolutely certain about the ice thickness and condition definitely apply...

David