Thanks to Fin for the good wishes in previous post.
And yes, I am communicating with them quite a bit. They want to meet with me. Their first stance was they don't want anyone back there. But they simply cannot assert that, it's not their property but boy howdy are they extracting a lot of money's worth of gas out of that ground.
I sent them a rather completely defined proposition of what I want to do this morning after the senior director over operations texted me back a lengthy statement of what their needs are in this situation.
His biggest issue is 24/7 access. Noted and granted. Fire trucks, salt water trucks and maintenance personnel all need access, I didn't need to hear that for I knew that already and outlined that to him today. I'm not ignorant of gas well operations, no expert but it is obvious people need to be able to access it whenever they need to in case of emergency.
He also guffawed at the idea of moving the gate. But the gate either will be moved or it will be an automatic gate - at my expense - for access in and out with keys needed. He apparently hasn't been out to that property in quite a while - he's more of a desk jockey than anything - and said he'd have to go out there with his gas foreman to assess the situation.
He sent me his email address and I sent him a lengthy, respectful and professional style statement. It contained my intentions to develop the front of the property and that both operations could operate in harmony without one greatly affecting the other. The operations could be mutually exclusive yet be in peaceful existence of each other.
Asserted again that I neither need nor want access to the gas operation. No need for it. And, that a driveway built around it could have barbed wire fence installed to keep people out. I would also agree to no trespassing signs on the fencing along that operation. They didn't ask for a barbed wire fence or no trespassing signs, but to keep from liability I want to ensure that guests stay off and out of that area altogether and the only way I can see that happening is fencing around the entire pad and their gate moved to the front of it.
But my insistence that that gate be moved will not change. It's 419 feet from the street and 951 feet away from the front of the entrance to their well operation. It would make no sense to me that they couldn't agree to simply move the thing. Their property remains gated and I have full access to the east side of the driveway, uninhibited.
The alternative, I just thought of, is to build a driveway directly beside their driveway. That would defeat their purpose in keeping people out of there and then they would have to install a barbed wire fence the entire length of the property. But they couldn't do that without my permission and I won't give them permission. We can make this work out without going to court, getting lawyers and turning this into a nightmare. I have ample room to build another driveway right next to the one they built. But in reality, anything they do on that property that is for access purposes is subject to the owner's wishes.
I've been reading Texas law and expert opinion on this subject, I felt I needed to arm myself with correct information instead of beliefs that may or may not be true. It is as I suspected and specific to oil and gas well operations: anything that goes on on that property is subject to the owner's approval. So, there is previous owner approval for the access where they have it. All fine and dandy, I need to read the specific wording of the agreement to see it states and what addendums and clauses may have been inserted into it
I then told him I was planning on building a recreational area out of the back 15 acres - namely walking trails and a pond at some point, hence the need to have access. It is unlikely that any court would agree with any gas/oil operation that the owner of the property is not allowed access to all of his property outside of the gas pad area unless, perhaps, it was agreed upon in advance. I also included my intentions of installing another driveway on the west side of the entrance. I'm afraid I'll just have to eat it and make the curved turn also an area where even long motor coaches can turn around. This way if one driveway is blocked there is always another way out of there. However, the only time I can foresee a driveway being blocked is if their equipment was stopped on it for whatever reasons or an RV was unhitching a car from the rear so they can back into a spot.
Most of my spots will be back in, the standard for the industry. Only a handful of pull-through sites will be made available and I will fetch premium prices for those. I may see about including camp sites - tent style camping - in the rear of the property as well. Give them a picnic table, a fire ring and a grassy area to pitch their tent. Sorry, y'all will have to figure out elimination of internal fluids and solid waste yourselves.
Okay, actually not. I think it's required to have a bathroom if you want tent campsites. It doesn't have to be anything fancy but they have to have access to one. I think. I've started reading a lot of rules and regulations on campgrounds only to find out I was reading a particular county's site, not the state site. I wonder what the state says about outhouses, lol. When I grew up, outhouses were the norm at state parks everywhere - and we went to a lot of state parks. A hole in the ground and that's that.
I have lots of ideas with this property. I am not concerned about the gas well, it's a bit of a "thing" in the middle of everything, but it isn't terribly ugly and I don't see it as a problem. I can foresee, however, if this gas company wants to make an issue out of things. They aren't against this setup, not at all from what I read this morning in the text. I ended the letter with the statement that I would rather come to agreement in peace instead of a strife filled, contentious, irritating relationship that will have both parties at edge with each other. And likely end up in court, a thing I want to avoid at all costs.
You say yes, but you haven't closed on the property yet. No, I have not and it will be a bit before that happens. But I cannot possibly go into this situation without an understanding with this gas company before the 20% down is paid, the property closes and it's in my name. Remember, I can pull out of this anytime up until the closing is actually done. I want guarantees, in writing, I want an understanding, in writing of the relationship between the two entities - I will get an LLC created - of what is and is not acceptable - to both parties before I close on the property. The gate seems to be an area of contention, in fact that is the only real contention and 24/7 access. Yes, but understand I also want 24/7 access.
I also requested the code to the lock on the gate. I hate to cut another one of their locks, but they have no right to stop people from viewing the property as potential buyers and certainly now that I am under contract they need to either give me access or I will simply take a pair of freshly purchased bolt cutters and continue on - with the seller's agent's blessing - the practice of cutting the lock. I don't want to walk the thousand feet to the back every time. I still have some trudging to do on that property now that I looked at the satellite view again, I want to see if there are clear property delineations on the property lines on the east and west sides. The south side has an old, destroyed, barbed wire fence and there are surveyor markings on a tree. This is clearly, at least to me, the property line to the south. I realized after looking at the property maps on the county site that I did not go far enough east during that last trip in there to see if there was a fence or surveyor markings anywhere. I had seen much larger trees and assumed that was on the other property - but I was wrong, there is a chunk of those trees on "my" property.
I don't think I am jumping ahead of myself to do due diligence. I have learned a lot from looking at other properties and finding out things after the fact - but not too late after that fact - that would stop me from wanting to buy those places. I always stop and listen. What kinds of noises are there? Nothing, thankfully, or very light. In the back of the property you hear the sound of the water going down the stream and the sounds of birds chirping and that's is all I have heard the two times I have been back there. I am contemplating a trip there today. I would have gone earlier but I got busy with other things. It's just that it's pretty hot out there right now. There is a heat wave going on in Texas and the rest of the west for that matter. To the point that officials are urging residents in Texas to conserve energy for fear of blackouts. Good luck with that, people run their AC and they don't care. I have the generator and can run extension cords to my room and keep it cool - I have a window AC unit that helps make up for the fact that this room was an add on and tho it was connected to the central AC, there is insufficient cool air or warm air for that matter in the winter coming in here to sufficiently cool/heat the room. The rather large window AC unit makes up for that.
Anyway, just saying it's hot out there, but I have to go back to work tomorrow. I've been off 3 days - I did not relent on them fixing the da** truck. They were not going to leave it broken for months simply because it still works. My dispatcher sent me a run for Brownsville tomorrow - late load at noon unfortunately - it is what it is - but a good run nevertheless to start back up again. I've enjoyed the 3 days off excepting for cranky kids. The other brother is here for 2 weeks and they get into a lot of trouble and then they are cranky afterwards. I would like to go back out today and get a look at the portion of the rear of the property that I haven't seen yet. This time? I bought a $5 machete from Harbor Freight and I will soak my exposed skin in bug spray. The dogs I won't take, it's just too hot. Addler doesn't seem to mind the heat but I suspect he would overheat running around out there and Aspyn is a German Shepherd - pure bred with the undercoat, she loves the winter but summer time she's panting crazy.
Speaking of her, the pills are working. She was losing so much weight she was visibly malnourished, even tho she ate tons of food. She would down a huge bowl of food every day and still starving. The vet diagnosed her with some disease that is prevalent among Shepherds that their system cannot process food - then produced a $300 bottle of pills. I balked at that, figuring they would have the same available on line for much cheaper, they did and I got them. She gets a pill before every feeding and has put on substantial weight. Her habit of jumping over the fence has disappeared, a thing that was irritating me greatly and making me want to get rid of her.
But what she was doing was foraging for food. She was constantly hungry even tho her belly was full. The starvation was driving her to go look for more food elsewhere. Now that she has those pills, she isn't hungry all the time, eats far less food and isn't jumping the fence. The pills are $37 for a 100 day supply, btw, a far cry from $300. I just can't believe they tried to pawn those off on me at that price. Petmeds is an excellent source for dog/cat medicines, you usually still have to have them call your vet for approval. I spend enough money at the vet, thank you very much, they can approve it and tough.
Ok. It's 91 degrees, feels like 94. Yesterday the real feel was 105. I'm considering going out there - with a large bottle of cold water of course. No kids, no dogs and also I want to get my ATV going now that I have a place I can ride it lol.
Yay. The realty sites are already showing the property as "contingent" "under contract" etcetera. It doesn't take them long. I like that they say that for it hopefully discourages people from taking a real, hard look at any given property. I have to say that I am kind of unhappy with myself initially dismissing this property. I know, I had Finklea and Finklea with those towering pine trees is a beautiful site to behold. But, realistically, Finklea would have cost more to develop. The water line was at least 200 feet away, probably more like 300, an underground water transmission line would have had to have been installed just to get water to the property. Same with electricity - not so far away but still have to run it across the road and the same with the cable. Water is running right through the front of the property and so are power lines.
I only need a contractor to dig down to the line, install a saddle, install a line running up to the meter that they install and then the rest is my doings after that. The power company installs a pole and runs power to the pole for access. I don't have to run across or under any streets. That will save a ton of money. The cable is on the other side of the street, I don't know what they will do. Run it across the power lines most likely, that appears to be what they do out here. It's underground but that won't stop them from getting it to me. I need that cable for more appeal. Sewer I have not ascertained yet if there is sewer available or if it's strictly septic. If septic, I expect 15 to 20 k expense. I expect at least 15k expense for electricity and that's for a limited number of pads.
I am not going to concern myself with any utilities beyond ascertaining that they are there and likely calling the entities to ensure I will have access until after the closing. This isn't going to be a race to the finish line. I'll need to get bids on several things right off the bat. All utilities will have to have the basic installation to the property performed by an authorized general contractor. That will be expensive, yes, but nothing near as expensive as what I outlined above with the Finklea property. BTW, if the Finklea property did become available now? I'd likely turn it down. This property is 25 acres, 12 more than Finklea, is in the country yet close to the city and is close enough to the Interstate and highway 59. It's a very appealing neighborhood and it has trees. Not pine trees but good enough. The tallest trees on the front of the property are mostly 25 to 30 foot. Nothing grand but they offer shade and that nature feel to it well enough. Oh, and this property is like 3 miles from the house. Next visit I will take odometer reading on vehicle and get exact distance, but it isn't far.
And I will visit the Bridge and Road division of the county in person to ascertain what, if any permits I will need. Probably the one the state requires for new construction for construction over 1 acre. I guess they come out and monitor what you are doing and if it's going to affect the ground water by disturbing the soil too much. Minimal soil will be affected tho, it's only grading it level and that won't take much, the front of the property is fairly level as it stands. It appears to have good drainage during any rain storms. If a septic system needs installed, that is all by a state approved contractor that is licensed by the state, I need do nothing but tell them where I want the thing. They get the permit and they do the soil testing to determine what kind of system to install. Preferably one with a leach field versus those types that spray the water above the ground. That takes up space and isn't exactly appealing.
In reading other people's woes of their attempting to build an RV park in Texas, they are encumbered by county or city officials in their county. Different counties have different rules/regs concerning these things. Initially, when I first read all of these statements about the red tape these people were running into, I had second thoughts about what i was intending to do. Until I came to the understanding that it's specific to the area they are doing it in. Some counties have stringent rules on construction of new RV parks, there are none here or if there are, the county doesn't know about it - I called and asked specifically - and I can't find anything online besides endless rules to be found in other counties. There is also a similar named county in Mississippi which also really threw me off at first. They have obnoxious amount of rules - it's unbelievable. You might as well not even try to build one there - now I understand when I'm reading these rules, I need to really identify what county or city they are referring to. I put in a Google search specific to my county and then realize the results - are not specific to my county.
But, I do read their rules anyway. There are some good ideas in all of that jungle of regulations. You can be inspired by anything, even things that may mostly be negative in nature. Along the lines of what not to do or something you just may not have thought of. I have done unending research on this subject in the last several months. Experts, city, county, people that own parks already, RV'ers that use the parks, all kinds of information from a myriad of sources. It's been a fascinating adventure - when you are attempting to engage in something you really have no first hand knowledge about, you naturally dive into a sea of information and start reading, reading, reading and taking it all in. Taking notes, writing down names and phone numbers for future reference, how to do this, how to do that, etc.
Ok, this post waxes long. Lots of thoughts in my head, have to write some of it out and then? Read all of it and attempt to understand that my reasoning and information and thought processes at least seem to be on the right track. You may see more book length entries in the future, lol.
I think I will go over there and probably do another live Facebook streaming video after I get into the thick of it.
G'day.
