Gonna lose all my ducks, veggies, fruit trees, and maybe chickens too

[lovemychicks]

This is the only forum I knew, so I post it here and hope you can give me some advices.

A few years ago, I purchased this house and started planting fruit trees and vegetables close to my property line, and I also dig a pond last year. I have ducks and chickens, and I mow the lawn to the property line every other week. I like everything look nice and clean. Everything is fine, human and animals all enjoy this enviroment until I received a letter from town saying that the place I have my veggies, fruit trees and pond is WETLAND! I am not supposed to do anything with it! I am so confused, and no one told me that it was wetland since I bought the house. The soil is clay and it doesn't look like wetland to me at all. The map they gave me was signed by a certified soil scientist about 7 years ago. He was the one who determined my wetland area. It takes 1/3 of my backyard out.

Town will send someone to mark the wetland soon, and I don't know what will happen when they come. Will they ask me to fill the pond, cut all the trees, and remove my vegetable garden? I am so sad when I think about this, and my family and I spent so much time and joy there. We are trying to be self-sufficent, and now I may lose all of them. Please let me know what I can do to keep them. I don't want to destroy the nature, but the vegatable garden and friut trees have been there for four years. Wouldn't it be a disruption if I have to remove everything?

Will wetland change? The test was done 7 years ago. Should I require a new soil scientist to do the test again?

If it is still wetland, although I highly doubt it, can I get a permit to keep my plants and pond?

I need to find a solution before they come to mark my property. Thanks a lot for your time and advices! Any idea welcome!

 

[debilorrah]

Well that situation just stinks! I don't much about wetlands, but they certainly should have said soemthing when you purchased thep property!!! Let me know what happens....

 

[WriterofWords]

Since it was not marked that way in your purchase contract, fight it. Have it resurveyed by a person you hire, not your town. They shouldn't be able to do that to you with no warning. Look for ulterior motives.

 

[Imp]

Wow tough one in this day and age. I think you need a real estate lawyer. Good luck

Imp- seems to me if it is a garden/orchard/pond now it is no longer a wetland.
Make them prove the boundries

ETA- you may have some sort of recourse if it wasn't disclosed to you when you purchased.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I'm curious, because our property is considered wetlands also, but did you do all of this work on YOUR property, or the town's? If it's your wetlands, they really have no authority to tell you what not to put there, but if it's theirs, then I think they have the final say. Also, if this is your property, you most likely would have needed flood insurance. Did you have a survey done on the property when you bought it? Wetland property also, and no one will tell you this, can be re-evaluated every six years by the EPA, so after 7 years, maybe they want to have it re-evaluated so they can build on it.

 

[only one lay]

get a lawyer -even if for just advice about the way to fight it by the rules. And then fight to change the rules so you win.

 

[jerseygirl1]

This whole thing sounds odd, the town cannot take your property because the EPA said it's wetlands - iYou may need to contact the EPA and find out, not the town. If the town said it's wetlands, that's not good enough.

 

[swampducks]

There's a whole nasty thing out there on wetlands both at the federal and state levels so if the OP has any chance in hell of surviving this a good lawyer is a must. And unfortunately, living in CT makes it worse. They love eminent domain there. If you could get someone like the ACLU to go to bat for you, you'd have a better shot.

Good luck.

 

[lovemychicks]

Many thanks to all of you. Let me clarify something.

The wetland is going to be marked by the Conservation Commission, and I just found out that our town's conservation commission was established 2007 and became functional last year. The reason I pointed this out was because the map they are referring to was from 2002. It also comes with a declaration and grant of private conservation easement in favor of the town. This agreement was signed by the developer and the town in 2002 as well, and I never saw this declaration when I purchased the house. I must say I am very ignorant about real estate. I paid a fortune in 2005 with sky-high market price and high mortgage rate. I've tried very hard to survive here. Now they suddenly told me that the area is wetland. The area is definitely inside my property, I have been very careful about this because I knew I shouldn't cross the line. Here is what they said, "a private easement is not open to the public. The landowner can walk the property but any intense disruption, for example mowing or cutting or ATV use, is prohibited. “I have no idea how mad they will be when they find out I have veggies, fruit trees, pond, and poultry there. I think I really need a lawyer. I will contact EPA Monday. I guess Conservation Commission members are going to just mark the land as the map says.

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
I don't know about CT and their enforcement of eminent domain rights, but I do know many people who've had serious entanglements over the "wetland" legislation. If you are determined to have a wetland area on your property (and this is HIGHLY arbitrary; it appears to vary greatly depending upon the person doing the surveying/determination), you MAY be allowed to use it IF you purchase TEN TIMES the amount of wetland area in question for use as a wetland in a nearby area. A farmer my father knows had a soggy spot directly in the center of one of his prime fields used for soybeans. The EPA demanded that he buy or rededicate TEN ACRES of property to make up for the less than 1 acre of wetlands he supposedly destroyed by putting a cultivated field around it. Despite the fact that he didn't mow or plant the wet spot itself, it is now devoid of its natural growth tendencies (i.e. a mudhole surround by a thicket of blackberry vines & whatever other scrub & weeds would grow there) . There are other cases where the investigator/surveyor was much more sensible. According to most of the EPA determinations, if it's an area that stays moist when the surrounding area is dry, it's considered a wetland. Hmmmm.... I guess that means that my leaky back faucet has created a wetland by my back steps...