Chesapeake Ranch Estates Beaches

[CalvertActiv]

If you live in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates and you like to use the bay beaches or walk the beach you may be losing that ability very soon. A few homeowners who made poor real estate choices are very close to being allowed to armor the cliffs. This will result in down shore erosion of driftwood beach and sea horse beach. Properties not armored are going to lose land even faster.
It seems a real shame that 4,000+ property owners may lose these amenities because of a selfish few. Not to mention the decrease in already low property values because you can't advertise private bay beaches anymore.

If this upsets you come to the upcoming member meeting and make your voice heard.

 

[cregardener]

If you live in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates and you like to use the bay beaches or walk the beach you may be losing that ability very soon. A few homeowners who made poor real estate choices are very close to being allowed to armor the cliffs. This will result in down shore erosion of driftwood beach and sea horse beach. Properties not armored are going to lose land even faster.
It seems a real shame that 4,000+ property owners may lose these amenities because of a selfish few. Not to mention the decrease in already low property values because you can't advertise private bay beaches anymore.

If this upsets you come to the upcoming member meeting and make your voice heard.

In addition, the removal of revetment from cliff homes (where it didn't save the homes) is going to be taken from south of Driftwood Beach all the way up to near Little Cove Point by way of heavy construction equipment. This will tear up Driftwood Beach and a huge portion of our 2.3 miles of shoreline, if not permanently destroy it. There are 5 cliff homes in CRE that are being bought out by FEMA (your tax money).

I've sent public notification by way of the Calvert Recorder, if they print it, to the members of CRE so the members know what will and what potentially will damage or destroy their beach(es). More information on the geological effects of this armoring of the cliff toe "project" will be available at the spring membership meeting March 16, 2013 at 10am at the clubhouse.

Thanks, Joann

 

[dan0623_2000]

Beaches

Has the Army Corp of Engineers signed off on this project?.

 

[cregardener]

Has the Army Corp of Engineers signed off on this project?.

But of course! They have such a great track record! cough*Louisiana*cough Doesn't hurt that cliff dweller project #1 used to work for USACoE *winky winky*.

The armoring of the cliffs will happen. This is simply to inform the property owners of CRE, that bought thier property with the understanding that they would be able to use 2.3 miles of Chesapeake shoreline for recreation purposes that they very soon they will not. Also, the beaches south of the revetment, along with the cliff houses on either side of the armored shorelines will see a dramatic acceleration of erosion. Seems the cliff dwellers leave that little bit of information out. I do not want anyone in CRE to be able to truthfully say, "I didn't know".

 

[cregardener]

Has the Army Corp of Engineers signed off on this project?.

BTW, all the "experts" signed off on one of the houses that is condemned and being bought out with our tax money and demolished by the county. So, how'd that work out again? How about we we learn about the other side of things from the experts nobody wants to listen to since the same thing keeps being approved and it doesn't work and our tax money ends up paying for it time and time again?

One of the other houses being bought out had illegal revetment dumped on Memorial Day weekend 2010. How'd that work out? It's being bought out with taxpayer dollars, the county is demolishing the house. There is a court order still on the little illegal dumping of revetment on that property.

I want the truth out there and I'll keep at it until everybody knows.

 

[CalvertActiv]

Four of the five houses that are being bought with FEMA funds have some form of shoreline erosion control. It obviously didn't help.
Two had reef balls in place.
One had riprap at the base of the cliff.
One had a HUGE armored break water.

Didn't help.

Why would they work now?

 

[dave1959]

Chesapeake Ranch Estates ... That place is nothing but a train wreck.

 

[somdfunguy]

the real question is how long before all of CRE is absorbed by the bay?

 

[bucketlady]

Very sad. I used to live in CRE and loved spending time at Driftwood and Seahorse beach. This will be a serious loss of amenities

 

[ladyhawk]

If you live in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates and you like to use the bay beaches or walk the beach you may be losing that ability very soon. A few homeowners who made poor real estate choices are very close to being allowed to armor the cliffs. This will result in down shore erosion of driftwood beach and sea horse beach. Properties not armored are going to lose land even faster.
It seems a real shame that 4,000+ property owners may lose these amenities because of a selfish few. Not to mention the decrease in already low property values because you can't advertise private bay beaches anymore.

If this upsets you come to the upcoming member meeting and make your voice heard.

Wow.. I guess they will never learn past lessons.. If they did the research I did, they would find that mother nature wins every time.

The only thing they will accomplish is the destruction of other shoreline properties that are not on the cliffs including the beaches, maybe 5-10 more years before they might have to shore it up again (although I'm sure they will sell it to somebody else before that happens...) and of course higher fees for the rest of us due to more maintenance to the roads and beach areas that are affected..... Oh but they will blame all of it on the ships going up and down the bay like they always do... forget the hurricanes and other storms that come through...

I can't believe the board doesn't just say NO...
They must have "friends" they feel sorry for.... And I doubt that the Army Corps of Engineers will sign off unless of course one of them happens to own one of the properties in question.... It will be interesting and entertaining to say the least.. (It has been so far...)

June

 

[cregardener]

Wow.. I guess they will never learn past lessons.. If they did the research I did, they would find that mother nature wins every time.

The only thing they will accomplish is the destruction of other shoreline properties that are not on the cliffs including the beaches, maybe 5-10 more years before they might have to shore it up again (although I'm sure they will sell it to somebody else before that happens...) and of course higher fees for the rest of us due to more maintenance to the roads and beach areas that are affected..... Oh but they will blame all of it on the ships going up and down the bay like they always do... forget the hurricanes and other storms that come through...

I can't believe the board doesn't just say NO...
They must have "friends" they feel sorry for.... And I doubt that the Army Corps of Engineers will sign off unless of course one of them happens to own one of the properties in question.... It will be interesting and entertaining to say the least.. (It has been so far...)

June

The current board has voted no for bringing heavy equipment on the beach. Then the homeowner retains a lawyer who promptly sends letters and hangs the threat of lawsuit over our heads. The 1st homeowner used to work for ACoE, so there ya go. It's all politics and $$$$$ and the other 9,900 residents of CRE pay the true price. It's not that entertaining but rather sickening the level of greed people are capable of.

I will never, ever vote yes.

 

[mitzi]

Very sad. I used to live in CRE and loved spending time at Driftwood and Seahorse beach. This will be a serious loss of amenities

I lived there for awhile in the mid 80s. I loved sitting on the beach and/or driving alongside the bay to get to my place. It was really the only thing I liked about living there.

 

[flhtsteve]

The current board has voted no for bringing heavy equipment on the beach. Then the homeowner retains a lawyer who promptly sends letters and hangs the threat of lawsuit over our heads. The 1st homeowner used to work for ACoE, so there ya go. It's all politics and $$$$$ and the other 9,900 residents of CRE pay the true price. It's not that entertaining but rather sickening the level of greed people are capable of.

I will never, ever vote yes.

Except you will vote for the one thing that most DRAMATICALLY decreases ALL Property Values. The one item that ties never ending Taxation to all properties. The one Item that ensures all property owners assume maintenance and liable for the Associations now PUBLIC Roads.

Properties in CRE are forever in DEPT for the Easements, Maintenance and liability of roads that were once private.

Property Values in CRE will not be affected by any amenity. Property in CRE is cheaper than the rest of the County for a reason… And the beaches or any other amenity will not change that.

 

[CalvertActiv]

Except you will vote for the one thing that most DRAMATICALLY decreases ALL Property Values. The one item that ties never ending Taxation to all properties. The one Item that ensures all property owners assume maintenance and liable for the Associations now PUBLIC Roads.

Properties in CRE are forever in DEPT for the Easements, Maintenance and liability of roads that were once private.

Property Values in CRE will not be affected by any amenity. Property in CRE is cheaper than the rest of the County for a reason… And the beaches or any other amenity will not change that.

The members apparently want this one item because they voted to keep it...
Most people are happy having paved roads, snow cleared quicker than most county roads, etc.

 

[cregardener]

Except you will vote for the one thing that most DRAMATICALLY decreases ALL Property Values. The one item that ties never ending Taxation to all properties. The one Item that ensures all property owners assume maintenance and liable for the Associations now PUBLIC Roads.

Properties in CRE are forever in DEPT for the Easements, Maintenance and liability of roads that were once private.

Property Values in CRE will not be affected by any amenity. Property in CRE is cheaper than the rest of the County for a reason… And the beaches or any other amenity will not change that.

You are entitled to your opinion. I absolutely voted yes for the STD. #1 thing people want is paved roads. Until this happens, there will be an STD. Most likely it will never go away b/c then the roads have to be maintained and nobody wants an increase in road fees. I'm sick of paying it too, but it's the right thing to do for the community.

 

[czygvtwkr]

If you live in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates and you like to use the bay beaches or walk the beach you may be losing that ability very soon. A few homeowners who made poor real estate choices are very close to being allowed to armor the cliffs. This will result in down shore erosion of driftwood beach and sea horse beach. Properties not armored are going to lose land even faster.
It seems a real shame that 4,000+ property owners may lose these amenities because of a selfish few. Not to mention the decrease in already low property values because you can't advertise private bay beaches anymore.

If this upsets you come to the upcoming member meeting and make your voice heard.

LOL you call those property owners selfish, how dare they care more about their own property than your ability to walk on a beach.

 

[MarieB]

Wow.. I guess they will never learn past lessons.. If they did the research I did, they would find that mother nature wins every time.

The only thing they will accomplish is the destruction of other shoreline properties that are not on the cliffs including the beaches, maybe 5-10 more years before they might have to shore it up again (although I'm sure they will sell it to somebody else before that happens...) and of course higher fees for the rest of us due to more maintenance to the roads and beach areas that are affected..... Oh but they will blame all of it on the ships going up and down the bay like they always do... forget the hurricanes and other storms that come through...

I can't believe the board doesn't just say NO...
They must have "friends" they feel sorry for.... And I doubt that the Army Corps of Engineers will sign off unless of course one of them happens to own oune of the properties in question.... It will be interesting and entertaining to say the least.. (It has been so far...)

June

I was following the other very long thread about this, and I am pretty sure it mentioned that one home is owned by a former? Army Corp of Engineers. I think it was one of the homes that is being bought out. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong

 

[ladyhawk]

The current board has voted no for bringing heavy equipment on the beach. Then the homeowner retains a lawyer who promptly sends letters and hangs the threat of lawsuit over our heads. The 1st homeowner used to work for ACoE, so there ya go. It's all politics and $$$$$ and the other 9,900 residents of CRE pay the true price. It's not that entertaining but rather sickening the level of greed people are capable of.

I will never, ever vote yes.

The problem is every time someone gets a lawyer who sends letters and threats of lawsuits.... The board cowers or they throw more money at our lawyer because all use of common sense seems to have disappeared....

Lawyers send these letters all the time in the hopes of scaring you into complying with client demands.. How about calling the bluff because that is pretty much what it is... If they really had a leg to stand on, then why has it gone on as long as it has so far... Why haven't they sued anyone.. They have plenty of money... Like I said, entertaining...

When I heard the threats, I basically told them to go for it and reminded them that they got their building permits from the county. So if they wanted to sue someone to go after them..

Bottom line, we would have still paid for it but the out of pocket expenses would have been a lot less individually because it would be shared by all the residents of Calvert County through our tax base......

I do wonder how the rest of Calvert County feel about bailing out property owners who make bad decisions.. Hmmmm

June

 

[CalvertActiv]

LOL you call those property owners selfish, how dare they care more about their own property than your ability to walk on a beach.

I don't think an entire community should be penalized for a few people who made the poor decision to build or buy a house on a 100 foot tall pile of sand and clay. Anyone with half a brain would realize this is a bad idea. So yes, that is selfish. They knew the cliff was eroding. I guess you didn't bother reading the other posts. Oh and your tax money is being used to pay for 10 houses in Calvert County to be demolished and removed from the cliff because they are unsafe. And they had erosion control in place. In 5-10 years the people who put in new erosion control will face the same problem. Your tax money will again go to bail them out.

 

[cregardener]

I don't think an entire community should be penalized for a few people who made the poor decision to build or buy a house on a 100 foot tall pile of sand and clay. Anyone with half a brain would realize this is a bad idea. So yes, that is selfish. They knew the cliff was eroding. I guess you didn't bother reading the other posts. Oh and your tax money is being used to pay for 10 houses in Calvert County to be demolished and removed from the cliff because they are unsafe. And they had erosion control in place. In 5-10 years the people who put in new erosion control will face the same problem. Your tax money will again go to bail them out.

From Calvert County cliffside properties, homeowners battle tiger beetle, time

These cliffs naturally erode and sooner or later, a lot of these homes are going to be faced with this situation, whether they have tiger beetles or not," said John R. Griffin, secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Griffin led a task force to tackle the cliff dwellers' problems following a February town hall meeting among the stakeholders.

"People in these situations need to exert their own responsibility for buying a home on the cliff. . .when they know it is eroding," he said.

People that bought these houses are educated professionals; they took a risk for that "million dollar view" and are now crying and holding their hands out and are putting the burden on the entire community. A lot of the properties have had waivers signed that states the county will not be held liable for erosion.Personal responsibility, yeah, not so much.