Code of the Exurbs

[Dan]

I wrote the following as part of the appendix for a comprehensive plan I'm working on. The subject township is a rapidly growing exurban community of about 3,500 residents. Have a read, and let me know what you think.

A.1 Code of the Exurbs

Inspired by the Code of the West from Larimer County, Colorado

Thousands of people in Cleveland and its East Side suburbs are spreading out to the rural fringes of the region, moving past the suburbs of eastern Cuyahoga and western Lake counties to settle in rural communities in Geauga and western Lake counties. These growing, largely rural townships – which includes ***** Township – are known as exurbs.

Continued decentralization of economic activity and the development of suburban employment centers have also made it easier for people residents to move further from the urban center. Technologies have made it possible to have many urban conveniences without living in an urban area. Desire for a rural lifestyle and dislike of certain urban and suburban features, such as congestion and lack of privacy, have driven many further out beyond the suburbs in search of a rural ideal.

It is important for you to know that life in the country, even in areas that are not far from cities, is different from life in urban neighborhoods or suburban subdivisions. Township government is not able to provide the same level of service that city and suburban governments provide. To that end, we are providing you with the following information to help you make an educated and informed decision to purchase a home or land in ***** Township.

1 The property

1.1 Growth management. Ohio state law grants only very limited powers to townships to regulate the amount of growth that takes place. Surrounding properties will probably not remain as they are indefinitely. Land adjacent to yours may be subdivided and developed at any time, subject to the township zoning regulations. The view from your property or the bucolic rural environment of your surroundings may change. You can check with the township zoning inspector or **** County Planning Commission to find out how the properties are zoned and to see what future developments may be in the planning stages. Understand that you will not be the last new resident in **** Township, the gates will not be closed behind you, and that you are contributing to the growth and urban sprawl which you may find upsetting and disruptive in the future.

1.2 Zoning. ***** Township adopted zoning regulations in 1949. Home-based businesses are strictly controlled. Even though there may be room for a certain type of use, and you feel it won’t bother your neighbors, it may not be permitted. Very large accessory buildings used for hobbies such as automobile restoration and collecting may not be allowed. Storage and regular parking of construction and business vehicles is not permitted. Consult the township zoning inspector before you buy a property if you plan a home-based businesses or a space-intensive hobby.

1.3 Easements. Easements may require you to allow construction of roads, power lines, water lines, sewer lines, and other utilities across your land. There may be easements that are not of record. Check these issues carefully.

1.4 Fences. Fences that separate properties are often misaligned with the property lines. A survey of the land is the only way to confirm the location of your property lines.

1.5 Homeowners associations. Some subdivisions have covenants that limit the use of the property even more than the zoning regulations. It is important to obtain a copy of the covenants (or confirm that there are none) and make sure that you can live with those rules. However, there are no covenants or homeowners associations in most areas of ***** Township. Your eccentric next door neighbor may be well within their right to paint their house fluorescent pink, fly Jolly Roger flags, or maintain an extensive display of tacky lawn ornaments.

1.6 Platting. You may be provided with a plat of your property, but unless the land has been surveyed and pins placed by a licensed surveyor, you cannot assume that the plat is accurate.

1.7 Lot splits. Most building lots in ***** Township were created by dividing a small parcel from a much larger tract. A survey alone does not necessarily guarantee that the parcel was legally subdivided and created, and thus buildable. Make sure the property you are considering buying is a legal building lot that was properly subdivided. Even if your lot was legally created, it may not conform to Health District regulations, and you could have a difficult time getting a septic system approved. You may not be able to subdivide your lot in the future, because of its size, shape, capability to handle additional development, or some other factor.

1.8 Rivers, creeks and streams. Buildings constructed in a floodplain will require expensive flood insurance. Building new buildings in a floodplain may not be allowed. Flowing water can be a hazard, especially to young children and small pets. Before you decide to locate your home near a river, creek or stream, consider the possible danger to your family.

1.9 Trespassers. Snowmobilers, hikers, hunters and bird watchers, all common in ***** Township, may stray onto your property, unintentionally or through willful disregard. It is extremely expensive to fence or secure a large lot, especially one with varied terrain or extensive vegetation. Fencing also disturbs wildlife migration patterns, and may be damaged by animals, falling trees or other natural acts.

1.10 Building expense. It will be more expensive and time consuming to build (and maintain) a rural residence due to delivery fees, the time required for inspectors to reach your site, extension of utility lines, well and septic system installation, fencing installation, and construction of long driveways, among many other things.

1.11 Shooting and hunting. Unlike incorporated areas, firearms discharge is permitted in ***** Township. Property owners may practice recreational target shooting on their own property. Some property owners allow hunters on their land during deer season. Some varmints can be hunted throughout the year. The sound of shooting firearms may be disruptive, especially during designated hunting seasons.

2 Transportation and access

2.1 Retail and commercial services. A rule of commercial development is “retail follows rooftops.” Despite being a middle- to upper-income community, ***** Township is not a lucrative market for retailers, due to its small and scattered population. There are very few stores, restaurants or commercial services available in the township. Residents must travel far outside the community for shopping, medical appointments, entertainment, auto repair, and just about every other retail need and service.

2.2 Road maintenance. ***** Township maintains many long paved and gravel roads on a limited budget. The cost of maintaining roads is spread among fewer property owners. Road maintenance – patching, repaving, grading, plowing and salting – will not be conducted to the same level or frequency as in more populated areas, or areas with a larger commercial tax base.

2.3 Unpaved roads. During dry weather, gravel roads generate dust. During wet or snowy weather, roads may be sloppy. Snow removal is more difficult and less effective on gravel roads. Flying gravel may chip paint and crack windshields. Your car will not stay clean if you drive on a gravel road. You will experience an increase in vehicle maintenance costs when you regularly travel on rural unpaved roads. If your road is unpaved, it is highly unlikely that it will be paved in the foreseeable future.

2.4 Traffic volume. Long rural collector roads carry a wider variety of traffic than urban and suburban residential streets. Your road may experience heavy truck traffic, tractors and other agricultural vehicles, construction vehicles heading to and from jobsites in the area, motorcycle and classic car club outings, and other types of traffic not encountered on residential streets in urban and suburban areas. As the population of ***** Township grows, so will the amount of traffic on your road.

2.5 Commute times. ***** Township is at the far eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Commute times to major professional employment centers (downtown Cleveland, University Circle, Beachwood/I-271 corridor) will be long. A commute from ***** Township will probably involve travel on Interstate 90. Westbound traffic on I-90 between ***** and ***** is increasingly congested. Accidents and the resulting lookie-loos, snow, construction, and aggressive speed enforcement will increase your commute time. You should consider your commute time to your current place of work, and consider how your drive to work will be affected if you get a new job or your employer relocates even further from your home.

2.6 Public safety. Emergency response times (County Sheriff, ***** Fire Department, medical care, etc.) cannot be guaranteed. Response times are generally good, but some parts of the township have poor access. At night, houses on forested lots or with poorly marked addresses may be hard to find. Under some extreme conditions, especially during inclement weather, you may find that emergency response is extremely slow. With no central water system, there are no fire hydrants, making fire fighting difficult; your insurance premiums may reflect this.

2.7 Landlocked lots. Although rare, there are some lots in ***** Township that have no direct road access. There can be problems with the legal aspects of access, especially if you gain access across property belonging to others. It is wise to obtain legal advice and understand the easements that may be necessary when these types of questions arise.

2.8 School transportation. School buses travel only on maintained roads that have been designated as school bus routes by the school district. You may need to drive your children to the nearest school bus stop so they can get to school. You may also need to drive them long distances to a school for extracurricular activities.

2.9 Kids. With few neighbors and no youth center, children in ***** Township have limited opportunities to interact with their peers. You will also have to drive them to social activities, the mall, soccer games, friends’ houses, and everywhere else not within a close bicycle ride.

2.10 Public transportation. There are no regular ******** bus routes operating in ***** Township. Given the small, dispersed population of the township, it is unlikely that fixed bus routes will be established in the future. Dial-a-Ride is intended for the elderly and disabled, not commuters. You will depend on an operating motor vehicle for all of your transportation needs.

2.11 Pedestrian and bicycle accommodation. There are no sidewalks in ***** Township. When roads have shoulders, they are usually very narrow and not designed for walking, biking or jogging. Pedestrians, bikes and runners may, unfortunately, be treated as an annoyance rather than a normal part of the landscape. Pedestrians may not receive the same level of courtesy and consideration from drivers as in urban and suburban areas, where they are more common.

2.12 Deliveries. Newspaper delivery may not be available in all areas. Prepared food delivery, such as pizza, is very limited. You may be beyond the delivery area of furniture and appliance stores or building and landscape suppliers closer to Cleveland, or be charged an extra fee for long-distance delivery.

2.13 Home services. You may beyond the working area for electricians, plumbers, HVAC workers, carpet cleaners, landscapers, plowing services, and other home maintenance services. The selection of tradespeople and others providing home maintenance services will be more limited than in areas closer to Cleveland.

3 Utilities

3.1 Water supply. ***** Township has no public water system. All water is provided through on-site wells. The cost for drilling and pumping can be considerable. Quality and quantity of well water can vary considerably from location to location and from season to season. Much of ***** Township rests on aquifers with low flow rates. Sulfur water and salt water may be a problem. Agricultural activities and increased residential development may have an adverse affect on your water supply. A power outage will shut down a well pump, and interrupt your water supply.

3.2 Septic systems. ***** Township has no public sewer system. You will need to use an approved septic system or other treatment process. The type of soil available for a leach field will be very important in determining the cost and function of your system.

3.3 Electric service. It is important to determine the proximity of electrical power. It can be very expensive to extend power lines to remote areas, or homes set back far from a road. Most electric lines in the township, as well as telephone and cable television lines, consist of unsightly overhead wires. It may be necessary to cross property owned by others in order to extend electric service to your property in a cost efficient manner; proper easements should be in place to allow lines to be extended to your property. Power outages can occur in outlying areas with more frequency than in more developed areas, and repairs can often take much longer than in towns and cities

3.4 Telephone service. As with electric service, it can be expensive to extend lines to remotely located homes. Rural phone lines may be subject to more interference and lower call quality than in urban and suburban areas. Calls to some parts of the Cleveland metropolitan area are considered long-distance. There are two telephone companies serving the township, and calls from one part of the township to another may be long distance. Technology upgrades and new services may be offered much later than in more densely populated urban areas. Broadband Internet using DSL may or may not be available.

3.5 Cable television. It can be expensive to extend cable lines to remotely located homes. System upgrades and new channels may be slower in arriving than in more densely populated urban areas.

4 Mother Nature

4.1 Snow. Welcome to the snowbelt! Because of its elevation and location, ***** Township is far more susceptible to snow than areas closer to Lake Erie or further west. ***** Towsnship can receive up to two to three times the snowfall as the rest of Northern Ohio; up to 80 inches (two meters) or more in a winter. Lake effect storms may dump up to a foot of snow or more on township roads, making them impassible. Clearing snow from long driveways and walkways is time-consuming and expensive.

4.2 Forested lots. Trees are a wonderful environmental amenity, but can also involve your home in a forest fire. Building in a forested draw is considered as dangerous as building in a flash flood area. Defensible perimeters are very helpful in protecting buildings from forest fire, and inversely can protect the forest from igniting if your house catches on fire. If you start a forest fire, you may be responsible for paying for the cost of extinguishing that fire. Proper stewardship of wooded land requires time, money, and physical effort.

4.3 Slopes. Steep slopes can slide in unusually wet weather. Large rocks can also roll down steep slopes and present a great danger to people and property. North-facing slopes or valleys see little direct sunlight in the winter, and there is a possibility that snow will accumulate and not melt until very late.

4.4 Soil. Clay soils found throughout much of northeastern Ohio become saturated with water, and thus muddy, throughout spring and early summer. You may require a sump pump to keep your basement dry. Dogs and cats will return from outside with very muddy paws. It is difficult to run a lawnmower through a soaked lawn, and you may damage your grass or create ruts in the process.

4.5 Topography. The topography of the land can tell you where the water will go in the case of heavy precipitation. When property owners fill in depressions or intermittent streambeds, they have found that the water that drained through those paths now drains through their house. Drainage is not considered during the lot split process, and construction on adjacent property may affect the drainage on your property.

4.6 Animals. Exurban living can provide you with some wonderful neighbors. Most, such as deer, are positive additions to the environment. However, even animals like deer can cross the road unexpectedly and cause traffic accidents, eat from your garden, or even crash through a sliding glass window. Raccoons and skunks are nimble, ingenious animals that will forage through trash, and possibly take up residence in your house or an outbuilding. Rural development encroaches on the traditional habitat of coyotes, rattlesnakes, bears, and other animals that can be dangerous, and you need to know how to deal with them. It is best to enjoy wildlife from a distance and know that if you do not handle your pets and trash properly, it could cause problems for you and the wildlife.

5 Agriculture

5.1 Protection of agricultural uses. Agriculture is still an important business in northeastern Ohio. If you choose to live among the farms of the far East Side, do not expect county or township government to intervene in the normal day-to-day operations of your agri-business neighbors. In Ohio townships, agricultural uses are permitted in all zoning districts, including residential areas. Ohio also has right-to-farm legislation that protects farmers and agricultural uses from nuisance and liability lawsuits. It enables them to continue producing food and fiber, and also preserves the rural character of the area.

5.2 Farm operations. Farmers often work around the clock, especially during planting and harvest time. Hay, the largest crop in ***** Township, is often swathed or baled at night. It is possible that adjoining agriculture uses can disturb your peace and quiet.

5.3 Airborne irritants. Fertilizers and herbicides are often used in growing crops and farmland maintenance. You may be sensitive to these substances and many people actually have severe allergic reactions. Land preparation and other operations can cause dust, especially during windy and dry weather.

5.4 Number two. Animals and their manure can cause objectionable odors. Freshly spread manure as a part of agriculture may also offend sensitive noses.

5.5 Weeds. Before buying land you should know if it has noxious weeds that may be expensive to control and you may be required to control. Some plants are poisonous to horses and other livestock.

5.6 Dangerous animals. Bulls, stallions, rams, and other livestock can attack human beings. Children need to know that it is not safe to enter pens where animals are kept.

5.7 Horses. In ***** Township, equestrian activities are increasingly popular. Stables, breeders and other equestrian businesses are common, as is horse ownership among residents. Horse manure odor, horse trailer traffic, and dust from riding areas may be objectionable.

In conclusion

Even though you pay property taxes, the amount of tax collected does not cover the cost of the services provided to rural residents. In general, those living in the cities subsidize the lifestyle of those who live in the country by making up the shortfall between the cost of services and the revenues received from rural dwellers. Without commercial and industrial uses to further subsidize services, and many miles of road used to service relatively few residents, there is not enough tax revenue to pay for the same level of services and amenities urban and suburban residents often take for granted.

This information is by no means exhaustive. There are other issues that you may encounter that we have overlooked and we encourage you to be vigilant in your duties to explore and examine those things that could cause your move to be less than you expect.

We have offered these comments in the sincere hope that it can help you enjoy your decision to reside in ***** Township. It is not our intent to dissuade you, only inform you.

[kms]

I love it! I laughed, but it is great information, and so true! These are all things I have told people who filed complaints, and I tell them to friends who move into new homes.

Honestly, even though I laughed at the way you said things, someone else might be offended. But, don't change the tone - some people need to hear it this way.

Oh, and you missed changing one of the township names to ***** Township.

[JNA]

Besides as an Appendix, are you going to make that list available elsewhere?

I have always considered "The Code" as a very complete Buyer Beware / Realization Listing.

[Suburb Repairman]

This is great! I've seen codes that have included narrative/commentary on five-acre zoning districts stating basically that you forego most city services and will have lower response times to the ones you keep. You can't expect the piggies to get to your house in under five minutes so you can file a report on your bashed mailbox.

We have a problem here of people moving out to these exurban "ranch" (will someone please explain to me how a five-acre lot less than a mile from a Blockbuster Video can be a called a ranch?) and then bitching about the roads.

"Sir, I am sorry that you can actually feel a bump in your Mercedes going down the road to your house. You wanted a more rural life, now you have it! Take the good with the bad."

We tried to put a similar statement to what you wrote in our comprehensive plan, but we were forced to tone it down a little.

[boilerplater]

Ha! That's great ! One of my pet peeves is people who move to exurban areas and then are surprised by the obstacles, nuisances that they run into. My office was involved with a design for a large estate for a wealthy couple, 30+ acres, and they seemed intent on removing all wildlife they found annoying from the property. They put a tall, deer-proof fence around it then hired professional hunters to kill the ones stuck inside. They had the undergrowth removed from the forest, which would reduce bird habitat. The guy seemed to have a phobia of birds.

Q: Are "looky-loos" and "forested draw" local expressions? I've never heard them.

[Cirrus]

I love it. Especially the part about understanding you will not be the last new resident.

... But in the second paragraph:

Continued decentralization of economic activity and the development of suburban employment centers have also made it easier for people residents to move further from the urban center

Might want to fix that.

[Cardinal]

Great work, Dan! I agree that the tone is exactly what is needed. It is light, readable, straightforward, and not at all report-ish. Still I wonder how many people will read it and not learn a thing. Sorry, but I can't underestimate peoples' capacity for stupidity.

I might add a little more comment on snow and country roads. They may not be plowed for hours, and when they are, you can expect that there will be snow and ice on them until it warms up enough to melt. That half-hour commute can quickly become an hour each way, in the dark, and that 4WD SUV does not mean you can still do 65 MPH (in a 55 zone).

[nighthawk1959]

Dan, you have created a masterpiece!! This should be required reading for anyone who is relocating for any reason. With minor changes,[weather, location, etc ] this would fit anywhere.

[Zoning Goddess]

A very comprehensive review of the "perils" of rural living!! Didn't we have a thread recently about a similar (though less detailed) brochure produced somewhere out west, complete with a "scratch and sniff" whiff of manure?

[Kovanovich]

This is excellent and you should be congratulated. It reminds me why I, in effect, decided not to become a planner. I would have ended up with a job like yours, where I would have spent most of my time approving new shopping centers.

[mgk920]

I would add a line or two in the 'Utilities/Telephone' section about the likely spotty nature of cellular phone service in rural/exurban areas.

Also, I would add words about the time, money, effort and attention to safety needed to maintain the landscaping found around the typical exurban house. Some of the ones around here have lawns that literally take hours to mow, even with the largest riding mowers, and then you have the rest of the weekly maintanence chores (trimming, fertilizing, etc).

Otherwise, I agree, these are sage words for those bright-eyed, ignorant, 'dreamhouse-in-the-COUNTRY' types. Now, if they'll actually consider those words....

Mike

[nighthawk1959]

Now if I could only figure out how to copy this down and print a copy for my board! Like they would get it!!!

[nighthawk1959]

Dan, May I have your permission to distribut this un-modified? Thanks

[gkmo62u]

Dan:

Its pretty good. Though I am sure some will be offended. Nothing wrong with telling it like it is, as long as people understand choices, they should be free to live wherever.

Editorial: section 1:1 I think bucolic and rural mean the same thing, so no need to use both.

Also even though it is clever, If it is going to be a gov doc, I would remove unecessary or inappropiate qualifiers (such as "expensive" flood insurance)...

[Dan]

Originally posted by nighthawk1959

Dan, May I have your permission to distribut this un-modified? Thanks

Go right ahead! (Sorry I didn't see your followup earlier.)

[jordanb]

Home-based businesses are strictly controlled. Even though there may be room for a certain type of use, and you feel it won’t bother your neighbors, it may not be permitted. Very large accessory buildings used for hobbies such as automobile restoration and collecting may not be allowed. Storage and regular parking of construction and business vehicles is not permitted.

It's funny how many people move out from the city because they feel like they have no space in their apartments for hobbies. But of course, out there, you have all the space in the world but you're not allowed to do anything with it.