2blu442

Hi all
I just found out the 4 acre field behind my house is going to be filled with two story apartments. They're suppose to start breaking ground summer 2022. I've got a 6' fence around the area behind my garage, but the second story will look right down into my parts car collection. Rats. So that being said I need to get myself organized, collect and stash the parts I need for project cars, and sell the rest. I've sold more things here and on facebook when contacted by someone asking if I have such and such. But for this I think I may try creating one listing per car. You guys have been my main Oldsmobile community so I'll try offering things here first, then facebook, and then ebay. I'm counting 9 cars that will need disassembled and go away. Then piles of parts such as body panels, frames, drivetrain, etc. If I can't get it in a box and store it out of sight I might have complaints about my hobby. I only work part time so that will help, but there's also the rest of life I need to keep up with. I knew the day would come eventually, but I'm still not happy about it. John

no1oldsfan

Ugh. I hate urban growth. I grew up in what once was a dirt road dairy farm town. Now it is huge. Full of violence an bullshi# now. Hell getting old. Best of luck with all that.

CRUZN 66

I take it there is no "Grandfather Clause" in the town codes to save your hobby...

rocketraider

It's risky getting your local zoning board into it because they might try to declare your place a salvage yard and really stir up a mess. At the very least insist that the developer incorporate a buffer zone between you and the new apartments, or orient them so the occupants can't see into your property.

Damned speculators can't stand to see a square foot of land go undeveloped. It's why I bought an extra 6 acres adjoining me, to keep that from happening. It's worth the extra $60/year in real estate taxes just for that.

2blu442

I don't want to get into the political stuff, but just a little more information. They recently passed a bill in the state saying that zoning laws must allow multi-family structures in all neighborhoods in an effort to provide more low cost housing. So what had once been planned for a subdivision before the bottom fell out in 2008 is now available for up to 30 units per acre apartments. I can't blame the builder for trying to get as much as he can out of the land, especially if the costs of building supplies stays high for a while. I probably could have gotten away with it for a while longer if they were single story homes. But I have an addiction and knew that eventually I'd need to scale back! For years I'd surf Craigslist and when something interesting came along, if I had room it went home with me. I just need to do the downsizing myself before someone else tells me I have to. This way I can save some good parts and put a few bucks in the project car account. If I waited until the last minute some good parts cars might go to the crusher. Oh well, life is an adventure! Its still a fun hobby and taking stuff apart is actually easier than restoring something to me. I am going to take a lot of digital pictures though, to help me with the assembly of the project cars later on.

edzolz

Progress is a fact and low income housing is part of it.
A side story, when I got out of the Navy and moved to Richardson, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas), I could paint cars in my drive, there was empty land between it and the next suburb on the north. It was a small bedroom community named Plano. Some of our members live there now. The population of Plano was less than 15,000 people (now around 100,000). Now there is no empty land between Richardson and Plano, in fact there is very little open land all the way to the Red River. Growth will take over no matter what.

no1oldsfan

Hope it doesn't get as bad as Denver has. The average price here has hit 700k. It is absolutely ridiculous. 500k will get you half a duplex. One bedroom. Under 1000 square feet. They are ruining this city. Not that they care. Money money money.

Weezer

Sounds to me like you should've bought up that 4 acres. I can understand if the owner was asking too much, though. I like my open space, hate that I am part of two HOA's. Lucky for me that I managed to find a place with a big 7 acre common area behind my house (which cannot be developed, per HOA covenants), and I'm on a corner lot. So, only one neighbor that's too close for this country bumpkin, and they are a nice family that keep to themselves.

I would be looking to sell if the plans to build those apartments materializes. There always winds up being that one renter that causes problems.

2blu442

Would love to have bought it. But prices are crazy here, they were asking over $3 million for it. Not sure what it sold for. I love where I live, but will have to see what the future holds. For now I'm going to try and maintain my hobbies and make it look less like a salvage yard!

Weezer

Oh good lord, that IS crazy. Best of luck on your cleanup / concealment! Here's to hoping that the cost of construction materials will slow their progress down in order for you to get done what you need at a reasonable pace.

oddball

While we're feeling old, Plano is >280,000 people now! My parent's built their house here in 68, and the main roads switched to dirt just past their neighborhood. When I was a kid, most of the roads to the north were two lane asphalt. Now everything is 6 lines (or wider!) all the way through Frisco/Allen/McKinney. There's a handful of empty parcels still in the city - mostly along the Bush tollroad - and the Haggards still farm on a few hundred acres. Far NE Carrolton is still pretty open, but a few new developments went up in the past few years.
The city patrols for derelict cars. I got some nag notes - the car either has to be running and registered, or covered. Thankfully just throwing a cheap cover on it is good enough.

My Mom's family ranch is outside of Jacksboro. It probably won't happen in my lifetime, but we expect things to get built up there too. Bridgeport and Decatur have already grown a whole lot. With the crazy prices now I'm starting to look for something nice maybe out towards Lavon.

edzolz

Just after I graduated college in 73, a lady that worked at the same company had 80 acres of land for sale. It was located on north beltline road in Dallas county. She wanted $800 an acre. Just out of college, I had no money to purchase. Now that 80 acres in in the middle of Los Calinos. Was home of the Dallas Cowboys. Now sells for about $800 a square foot.

rocketraider

Well- your property value just tanked. Low income housing does that every where and every time it's implemented.

I will guarantee the lawmakers that passed this bill do not and will never live in the areas they've imposed this upon.

rocketraider

Only one if you're lucky. 120 apartments, there'll be dozens. There are two of these here that cops are called in there daily, sometimes multiple times, and at least once a month a tenant sets the place on fire displacing that entire building.

If a four acre vacant lot sold for $3m I'd say it's time to cut your losses, sell out, and find somewhere with enough acreage to buffer you from this mess. The developer sees opportunity and will get his money back. The damage he'll inflict on existing property owners is incalculable. Force them to live in the messes they create, you'd see things change.

Koda

Yeah, you're screwed. Section 8 people suck hard. There's graffiti, and theft, and noise at all hours, and drug trade. I lived for 9 years in the best apartment complex in the town near my plant, and there were fire evacuations, and drugs, and vandalism, on top of hearing people doing it through the walls at all hours. All they did was smoke up and get down.

I hate to be a downer, but you will not need to worry about complaints, you'll need to worry about theft and vandalism.

Like Oddball says, and every California company is relocating to Dallas suburbs like Plano, there are parts of the country experiencing mad growth. I grew up near Orlando, and central FL is almost unrecognizable from the early 80s.