Conference Call

After having time to review the geotechnical report, we scheduled a conference call with our architect , Jim, on January 8th. Jim talked to the geotechnical engineer and a structural engineer that he works with frequently. Based on the implications of the stability analysis, Jim had a new concept for the home which moves the footprint back away from the cliff to avoid a complicated/expensive foundation. Here is a cool sketch of the new concept that Jim sent over.

We went over the sketch together in our conference call. At first, Joe and I were bummed about the news, but the more we looked at the new concept, the more we liked it. By the end of the call, we were ready to give up on the diving board and look into the new concept full steam. Instead of a long, narrow "shotgun" style house, this new concept turns the portion of the house that was near the cliff back on the house itself at an interesting angle. The result is the master bedroom now has a cool view of the poplar trees. Also, incorporated is an entry bridge that is detached from the house, connecting the driveway and the front door. Very cool!

Geotechnical Evaluation

We received the Geotechnical Report from CVT on December 30th. Overall, it was good news to know that competent bedrock was between 12' to 17' deep. To summarize, There is about 3-4' feet of brown silty clay under the topsoil, then around 2-4' of light brown silt, then some 4-11' of orange fine graded sand, then orange/yellow/white standstone. The boring logs can be found here. Here is a map showing the clearing and the approximate boring log locations:

Recommendation is to remove the topsoil, clay, and silt and to anchor the foundation into the sandstone in areas closer to 50' from the top of the slope. Looks like we can build the house, the question is what kind of foundation will be needed.

Drilling

In November, the architect asked about the subsurface condition to ensure where the house could be placed (how far away from the top of the slope) and to determine an appropriate foundation design. After asking my sister, Karen (who is a structural engineering that works on bridges out of Eau Claire, WI) what geotechnical engineering firms were located in the area that she would recommend, we contacted a few consultants. After receiving a nicely summarized proposal and having a good conversation with one of the geotechnical engineers, we decided to hire Chosen Valley Testing to do the subsurface investigation and slope stability analysis. We scheduled the drilling for December 11 and I got some plane tickets to come home for a long weekend to watch the drilling and meet the geotechnical engineer at the site.

In the week leading up to the drilling, we kept checking the weather report as snow storms and bitterly cold temperatures were forecast. On December 8 and 9, the area received over a foot of snow! My Dad hired a guy to plow the dirt access road to make sure the drill rig could make it up the hill. The plowing was to take place the day before the drilling, on the tenth. I was also flying that same day, with my flight leaving on the morning of December 10. On the way to the airport, I talked to the geotechnical engineer, Jay, and he confirmed that it wasn’t too cold to drill and as long as the road was plowed, the rig should make it up the hill. I arrived at my Mom and Dad’s place at 11:45 pm. It was -9° F. When I got in the house, I discovered my Dad wasn’t there. He had gone back out to the site to help the guy plowing the road because he blew out a hydraulic line on his bobcat and his truck had gotten stuck in the hole at the very top of the hill.

Long story short, the guy worked on plowing the road from 1:30 pm to past midnight. The next morning, the drillers showed up, put on chains, and made it up the hill no problem. That was a big relief! I think my Dad was convinced the rig wouldn’t make it. It ended up being a beautiful day. It was 5-10° the next day, but fortunately there was hardly any wind. We drilled three holes along the conceptual placement of the home. Under the topsoil, there was around two feet of dark gray clay, then around two feet of dark gray silt, then around four to ten feet of orange/yellow fine grained sand, then yellow/white sandstone. Jay said the stone looked pretty strong and his preliminary assessment was as long as the clay was removed, which we would do anyway, it should be OK. I was sure happy to hear that!

A quick but exciting peek...

 A couple weeks ago, Jim sent us a few aerial and elevation views of the topo data that Anne generated from our survey.  It was neat to see all the work we did in the survey turned into a 3-D map but we were unready to get this (below) so soon.  Jim has been working on the design and sent us a few early images of what the house will look like.  This is just too cool!  It was really awesome to see what we had talked about just a few weeks ago take on a physical view and to see it on our site - WOW!

You can see the concrete supporting blocks below and the "sky pier" extending out past the house.  These are still just really really early drawings but it is exciting to see our project coming so far and so much more real every day.  Here are just a couple of the pictures to share:

Exciting Day - meeting Jim (the architect) at our property

Anne and I have spent a lot of time (years) looking through various magazines and websites (Dwell, Innovative Home, Architectural Record, etc.) and a lot of time talking about exactly how we envisioned our future home would look and fit into our property.  Basically, it was going to be a "boxy" two story structure, perched along the edge of the overlook with our bedroom being the only part of the upper floor to maximize the views (but this was all going to change by the end of the day).  Basically a bunch of stacked boxes with lots of windows.

It was a pretty cold morning and it had actually snowed overnight, although for the most part it didn't stick and today was the day we were meeting Jim out at our property for the first time.  Even though it was cold, it still was particularly nice since the leaves in all the trees were in their autumn colors.  This site really is just amazing and when you first get there you just have to spend a few minutes taking it all in - pictures just don't do it justice.  We spent some time and walked around our entire property talking some more about what we wanted (or maybe didn't even know we wanted) from our home.

We went back up to the top and between walking around the clearing and sitting at the picnic bench, Jim started sketching out some ideas.  His initial suggestions revolved around not having the master bedroom on a second floor but rather as part of the main floor ("why go upstairs to go to bed? he kept saying) where the kitchen and living room would be then have a lower level containing other bedrooms, exercise room, etc.  We were still pretty sure we wanted it located along the overlook out near the edge of the clearing.  He then started talking about and drawing out what the structure itself might look like.  After a couple iterations, he threw out this idea, that it could look like a bridge/train trestle - an elongated structure sitting on top of several repeating concrete walls or piers.  These piers would make up the lower level of the home with rooms built in between each of the piers.  This lower floor would be built partially underground.  This was an idea Anne and I both really liked a lot.  Then Jim suggested that there could be a walkway deck running along one side that continued out past the house almost like a pier or dock out over the drop off.

This got us really excited, but we still had the house right in the middle of the clearing - it was then that we realized what really was the best part of the property.  It's not just the sweeping view of the horizon from the overlook, it is the experience of getting there.  In coming up "driveway" to the top of the hill, you round a corner and there is a WOW! moment as the sweeping view of the horizon comes into view.  The picture included here is what you see and there is a short video clip of driving up  HERE - sorry for the bad cinematography (if you would even call it that, but I think you get the idea).  At first you think, the middle of the clearing would be a great place to build a home, but obviously putting it there would take away that wow factor as you arrive.  It was then that we decided to place the house along the line of view so the walkway and "sky pier" would guide your eyes out towards the horizon and to push the house as far to the left field of view as possible, almost so it wasn't blocking the view at all.  At this point, it seemed like nothing else could be a better design for this site and for our home - an elongated bridge-like structure with a sky pier extending out towards the horizon.  Cool!

To get going on the design, Jim would need the topo data from our survey and some information on zoning and construction requirements.  Anne has already put a lot of time and research into this so we have a good start but we'll need to work on getting a geotechnical analysis done to determine the stability/bearing capacity of the soil.  Also, we'll have the contract details to work out with GMK Architecture which we can do over the next few days.

It's funny how we started today out being so sure that we "knew" exactly what we wanted and having in our mind what w thought that looked like but left today with something somewhat different and really feeling that the elongated bridge-like structure concept is really what "should' have been built here all along.  Both of us are really excited to see where it's going to go!

Meet the Architect day

We drove down to Madison yesterday to meet Jim Gempeler the residential design architect at GMK Architecture. We actually met Jim a few years ago when we were trying to plan our earlier (but failed) project at the Merrillan Mill site (see earliest posts).  We had approached him to design our home there and besides having some great ideas, the first time we met at his office, we ate bratwursts they were barbecuing out back and ruffles potato chips for lunch.  I think the brats sealed the deal for Anne.

We showed Jim the topo survey map that Anne made, pictures, and video of the site and talked about what we "envisioned" being built there.  We also talked about the design materials that we would like to see (exposed concrete, steel, and glass) and things we didn't like so much (curved walls, angled rooms).

The whole time, Jim was really excited enthusiastic and you could get the sense that he is passionate about his work and really wanted to design a house that fit us and our lifestyle.  Something about the whole situation just felt right and there was a certain calmness about it.  He threw out many great ideas but really wanted to take a trip to the site to see and discuss it first hand.  Since we didn't have much time left in our trip and with winter approaching, we decided to meet there the following Tuesday morning.  We left that day feeling even more excited and optimistic knowing that we were one step closer to finally making this a reality.

We drove back to Merrillan and to top off an already great day, we went back out to the property after dark and watched the Moon rise over our view of the eastern horizon.  It was awesome to think about how many more rising moons we would see in the coming years when we live here!

Road Trip - California to Wisconsin to meet an architect

We just arrived driving from Riverside, CA to our property in Wisconsin.  We drove here to meet with an architect in Madison, WI to possibly begin the design of our home. 

Orion and Astro drove with us and they traveled really well.  The majority of the way, you wouldn't even know there were two dogs with us.  We drove from Riverside to Cedar City, UT on Tuesday night, then to Lincoln, NE via Denver.  The drive through the Rockies was awesome - we caught it just in time to see the autumn colors at their peak and even a few inches of snow covering the tops of the mountains from the night before.  We even hit a cool hail and lightning storm in the dark just as we were crossing from Colorado into Nebraska.

The rest of the drive took us through Iowa, then Minnesota, and into Wisconsin via La Crosse.  From here it is 37 miles to our property - considering that I might end up working in La Crosse, it's not a bad drive.  We arrived at our property just before sunset.  Going up our driveway (1/2 mile from the road), the trees all around were in full autumn colors and it was like driving through a tunnel of bright golds, oranges, and reds.  As you near the top, the view opens to overlook the Black River and the view was amazing!  (the picture is looking east over the cliff/drop-off).

Map Info - finally...

Maps at last! I've made three maps to show some of the details of the property that we obtained from our survey back in July. The first map is a basic map showing the contours and other data we obtained (roads, pond, clearing, trees, utilities, culvert, etc.). As Joe stated, after spending four days walking up and down and all around (especially Joe because he was on the rod the entire time!) we really have a good idea of the lay of every inch of the place and how it fits in with the surrounding area.

Here is the second map. It is the same as the first, but I've added the Google earth image to the contours so you can see how the contours relate to what is actually on the ground. You can really see the dirt road leading to the clearing at the top, Highway 54, and the neighbor's home with this view. It was so cool to have these features that we surveyed line up with the photo view! It is also neat to see the Black River to the east. There is also a neighbor directly to the south; however, there is no way you can see this property from the top - you can barely see it as you drive up the dirt road. One other interesting thing to note is at the very top. You can see a small patch of yellow where the greenery has been removed. The previous owner had a trailer parked at the very top. They dug a hole to place the trailer in and the vegetation has not grown back in as of the Google Earth 2004 photo.

Here is the third map. This is an isometric 3D view of the property looking to the WNW at the property. In this view, you get a feeling of what it looks like from closer to the road level looking towards the property and can see how the road wraps around the property and the sandstone cliff on the northwest of the property.

Bought and Surveyed a 14 acre wooded parcel in Wisconsin - its AWESOME!!

Finally getting time to update the blog with our recent progress. Although it took a little longer than expected, we finally closed on the 14 acre piece of property in Wisconsin. It is located about 6 miles outside the town of Black River Falls. It is a beautiful vacant lot with a half-mile dirt road leading from the paved road below to the top of a 150ft tall cliff with clear views of the entire eastern horizon overlooking the Black River valley.

We spent several days there in July clearing brush and surveying the property. It took about an entire day to to clear the fallen trees on the road and mow down the tall weeds that had grown up on the road and clearing at the top. Anne's dad and brother really worked hard to help us get it done. We then spent the next three days topo surveying the entire 14 acres from top to bottom. You would never know how exhausting it can be to survey such a small area until you do it. We were wiped out by the time we were done but there is no better way to get know your property than to walk up and down the entire thing. Besides the great clearing at the top (where we are going to put the house), there are some other really neat hills, valleys, clearings, and even a small pond here.

As far as wildlife, we saw several deer and wild turkeys while surveying and even saw signs that there might be bears here (from the ripped up tree trunks). There were even a few eagles flying around below the cliff - very cool! Although the ticks were no where near as bad as when we first looked at the property, we did have a few on us by the time we were done.

We are really excited to finally be moving forward again and it looks like the building restrictions are pretty minimal since it is an unincorporated area - we may even be able to put some small windmills up on the west side of the property since there seems to be a nice steady breeze on that side.

Anne is working on the data from the survey now and preparing a topo map which we should be able to post a picture of soon. Then we will start putting together a "portfolio" of ideas and design elements we like to start taking to some architects so we can get a design going.

Here is a map of where our property is. View the larger map and zoom all the way in to see a rough property line and the place where we are going to site the home.

View Hwy 54 Property in a larger map

A new home site? - let's hope so...

Since the whole Mill property fiasco started going down, we started searching for a new place to build. We did find a pretty cool place and actually spent a few days doing a detailed survey of the property (see link here). It was a 11 acre parcel just east of the town of Merrillan with a big hill about 150ft high occupying the majority of the site. However, in reality it would be a pretty difficult site. The hill was very steep from all sides and there wasn't much flat space near the top to build on no to mention the construction of a road to the top would be expensive and steep - not so good in winter. Anne likes challenging projects ;-)
Anne spent several months searching for property listing and Google Earth for vacant land with some terrain and rolling hills. She really did put a lot of work into it and it finally paid off.
We finally found a really neat piece of property for sale just south of the town of Black River Falls - just over 13 acres, with around a 100ft sandstone cliff that has a nice, flat, build-able area at the top. It has a great 180 degree view of the entire eastern horizon going about 5 to 15 miles off in the distance and somewhat to the south. (see the Google Earth terrain model picture). Should be able to see some great moon and sun rises from there and should be good for utilizing passive solar "daylighting" heating.
There is very little building below it (except for a house just at the bottom of the cliff and out of view) and the Black River is visible just to the east of the property. Pretty much everything in view east of the river is county forest land so will never be built on.
There already is a dirt road in good condition going to the top which will make construction much easier and the big flat area at the top is more than enough to build a home on. Since it is unincorporated, we won't have any village board to deal with and since there is river/lake/creek on the property, the DNR won't be involved either wo-hoo!!.
We put an offer in on the property, are in escrow now, and set to close on June 12th if all goes well. Overall, this is an awesome site and we are excited to finally start making some progress again!

The Mill - R.I.P. 1860 something to 2009 - now a big unsightly hole and hazard...

It has been a long time since we last posted and much has happened since then. Much of it was related to legal issues we have had with the Village of Merrillan and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. It is a long story with a lot of boring details but here is a short summary:

After some stones from the south wall of the Mill building foundation fell out and into the creek, the DNR decided to issue a "draw down" order to the Village for the lake behind the dam. They claimed it was a "high hazard" dam and the the stones falling out of the foundation of the building compromised the dam's safety. The funny thing is that just 12 miles away, there is a real dam with a hydroelectric plant, a big lake behind it, and substantial infrastructure below the dam. This dam actually is crumbling and needs to be repaired or removed (something being worked out by Jackson County and Black River Falls). The last time there was a major flood in 1993, a large part of the city was flooded damaging more than 100 homes (source here). Funny, this dam is rated as "low hazard". Compare this the the Merrillan dam which at most has around 10 acres of water in it and maybe 8 feet deep at the deepest part. Also, there are no homes/buildings in the flood plain area down river. Why would this dam be considered high hazard?
Regardless, the Village Board was upset at the lake being drawn down which became even more of an eyesore. They didn't want to work with us to try to improve the situation and instead decided to try to first issue a "raze order" and then try to eminent domain the property from us. Amusingly, they really couldn't decide what to do, because at various times they were trying to eminent domain it from us and at others, they claimed that we really weren't the owners and the original sale to the first private owner was "illegal". Really, they had no basis for the eminent domain since having a lake isn't really a public necessity.
We finally got tired of all of the trips and paperwork (and costs) to keep fighting and ended up selling the property to the Village in Jan 09. Which immediately afterward, they hired some local Amish people to tear down the wooden part of the Mill structure. The funny thing is, we can't figure out why they were so quick to tear down the wood since it really didn't accomplish anything.
The DNR still won't lift the draw down order since nothing was done to address the "safety" concern and it is going to cost a lot of money to remove the foundation and engineer fill the site to a condition the DNR finds suitable something the Village really can't afford. We could have (on the other hand) afforded it, and would have added a beautiful structure to replace the delapidated Mill and also would have added quite a bit in property taxes to the Village's tax base in the process.
In the end, no one benefited since the lake is still down, it is going to cost a bundle to fix it, and now there is a big, ugly, open hole in the ground next to the dam. So much for the public safety claims since the Village now does own the property (WITH A BIG OPEN HOLE) and has made no attempt to fence it in, or prevent someone from falling in to it (check out the video below).

the DNR couldn’t wait

Hi everyone. I have been remiss in maintaining our blog. After the December Board of Appeals hearing, I was pretty upset and had a hard time getting going again on the project planning. In some respects, it seemed hopeless and hard to deal with being so far away. I’ve spent some time today in updating the blog to fill in the blanks on what has happened since December. Hopefully, the project can get some traction now and make forward progress.

Over the last month, I have been working with the attorney to respond to the DNR to address their concerns with the building project. We were just about to approach them to go over the issues.

While driving around today, I noticed a new e-mail that popped up on my iPhone. It was a message from my sister, Karen. She had sent a .pdf of a letter that the DNR sent to the Village and our family regarding the mill wall failure. We (our family and the Village) have been informed that the DNR has been notified of the mill wall failure, has inspected the situation, and wants to know what we are going to do to rectify the situation. So, we will be getting back to the DNR next week, with the information we have already prepared. Hopefully, we can work cooperatively with the Village to respond. We have a simple solution – allow the building project and all the problems are solved! Stay tuned;-)

The Building Couldn’t Wait

So, my Dad called today. He left a voice mail message. He never hardly calls, and if he does, he doesn't leave voice mail messages. Not only is this a rarity, the message was 1 minute, 46 seconds long! When I saw that, I knew something was strange…I listened to his message to find that a portion of the south wall of the mill building had fallen into the creek. Granted, it was old, but since the Village was working on the Oakwood Lake drawdown project (see post on date), the “plug” on the dam has been pulled. There is (was) a tree growing out of the side of the mill building for a number of years now. The three foot diameter pipe that serves as the “plug” has been directing water directly at the side of the mill building and the tree since it was opened in January 2007. I think the vibration of the water for over the last year has finally helped the portion of the building just above where the tree is fail. We have talked to the Village President and let him know we will put up a new block wall inside of the existing block wall as soon as possible.

Let Me Run That by my Attorney…

So I finally did it. I never thought in my life I would have a real need to ever hire an attorney, but I do now! In addition to researching the Wisconsin State regulations to learn them for myself, I searched the internet for hours (from California) and asked for references from anyone I could think of to find an attorney in Wisconsin that specializes in land use, zoning, and municipal law. I figured if we were going to spend the money, we might as well go big and hire the best firm we could find. After talking to a few of the best around, we landed on a team of three attorneys from DeWitt, Ross, and Stevens. They came recommended by the architect we like.

After talking with them, they confirmed what I was afraid of – if a judge heard the case, we would more than likely win, but all that would come of it is the judge ordering another hearing on the same issues, with the same Board of Appeals. The BOA members would still not be able to read a map or understand their Ordinances. If heard a second time, the BOA would have an attorney on hand, actually hold the meeting correctly, and come up with “valid” reasons for denying the variations. Unfortunately, we would be out a lot of cash and be right back were we started. The attorneys we hired had an alternative proposed game plan that we work with the DNR first, then go to the Village (if the DNR can work out an acceptable project with us). That sounded good to us, so we signed the agreement and sent in the retainer today.

official denial

Today, the BOA finalized their official denial letter. During the December 18^th appeal hearing, the BOA was advised they could consult with an attorney prior to making their decision, but they elected not to do so and made their decision right then, during the meeting. It is interesting that many of the reasons cited in the denial were not brought up in the appeal hearing. I was wondering how an attorney hired after the fact could come up with valid reasons for denial if they weren’t brought up at the meeting.

In accordance with the Village Ordinance, the decision was to be filed immediately. The BOA elected to hold off on the official denial until they got it done with the attorney. The Ordinance states we would have 30 days from the decision to file an appeal with a Court of Record, if we believed the decision was not in order, but the Clerk said we would have 30 days from the date of the official denial to move forward with an appeal to a Court of Record. I’m sure that we would win, if a judge heard the case, and are gathering information to take the next step.

Got the BOA Meeting Minutes

The meeting minutes were finally done today. I have been asking for all kinds of information from the Village to see if it can help my case. The minutes are all over the place and some of the facts are off (and some are missing), but they are done, nonetheless. They can be found here, if you are interested.

We Made The Front Page Again!

The reporter from the local paper, the Banner Journal, attended the BOA appeals hearing and wrote up an article for the paper. Unfortunately, the way the meeting went can not be conveyed in an article like that. I just hope that going forward, we can help educate everyone on the facts of the project and get it ultimately approved. At this time, we are looking for attorneys to give us advice on how to proceed. The next step, per the Village Ordinance, is to take the decision to a Court of Record for a review.

Board of Appeals Hearing

The Board of Appeals (BOA) meeting was held today to see if a zoning permit would be issued. There were five variances requested by us:

1) to be within 20' feet of the south property line
2) to be within 10' feet of the west property line
3) to be within 50' of the centerline of the road or 17' from the right of way
4) to construct with a flat roof
5) to construct without overhanging eaves

The first three were requested in order to build in the same location as the existing building; the last two were requested in order to build a green roof. The Village Clerk went over the five variations as listed in our application and turned the meeting over to me.

I gave a PowerPoint presentation, similar to the last one I gave, only this time I concentrated on the reasons I was requesting the variations, and gave a list of community benefits including: strengthens dam embankment and foundation, provides example of green building techniques and construction/design methods, may improve utilities, improves the beauty of the area by replacing the deteriorating building with a beautiful structure, observatory will provide an educational resource for local schools, and continued use of property for residents to enjoy.

To make a long story short, the BOA members were not able to read and/or understand the maps that I had prepared for the project, the Department of Natural Resources threatened to sue the Village, and two of the BOA members didn’t like the idea of the project at all. Highlights include:

1) One of the BOA members was convinced we didn’t even own the property, even though an independent surveyor (hired by the Village) spoke and confirmed that we did!

2) Another BOA was concerned that our sewer connection would require disturbance of previously undisturbed earth. No matter how many ways I tried to explain that the sewer lines would run in the street/right of way in already disturbed areas, just like everyone else’s, he didn’t get it.

3) Two BOA members keep thinking the existing building was south and west of its real position. The Clerk provided the BOA members with an incorrect map of the area, prepared by the County for their GIS mapping project. Each time I explained it with all available maps including aerial photos, they kept forgetting and making references to the wrong location. During one exchange, after being told that the location of the mill building, “was most certainly not!” in the location I said it was in, one of the BOA members finally got it for a fleeting moment and said, “By golly, Annie, I think you’re right.”

4) They kept saying the property was zoned Conservancy, but it is really zoned both Residential and Conservancy, and the entire project would be considered Residential pursuant to the Village Ordinance. Because they couldn’t read a map correctly, they kept getting this point wrong.

5) The County Supervisor attended and was not in favor of the project. He said that it wouldn’t be allowed if it was in the County and that if it was approved here, it would go before the County and they wouldn’t approve it (too bad everyone couldn’t understand that the rules that pertain to Village are different than the County and he is wrong that it would go to the County for a vote).

6) The DNR had a letter read into the record, told the Village they would have to remove the dam if they allowed the project to move forward, said that they don’t want to “force the DNR’s hand” and make them sue the Village for not enforcing their zoning ordinance and finally said, “It is OK to vote no.”

7) Of course, our friendly neighbor, “Swede” was there, speaking out against the project.

On the good side, a few of the neighbors came and spoke in support of the project. But that didn’t matter. After the BOA heard that the DNR would potentially sue them and make them take out the dam, they didn’t really want or need to hear anything else. Without even questioning if the DNR even had the jurisdiction to do anything they were threatening to do, and without giving consideration for each of the variations individually and the reasons for them, in the end, the BOA members voted NO on the “project”.

They didn’t give any reasons until I pressed them for reasons. The most vocal BOA member said beauty is in the eye of the beholder and with a flat roof, four sides – that's a trailer, a crackerbox, and we don't want a trailer there (the existing building has a flat roof on half of they building). Also, there were too many variances all at once and just because someone thinks they can build a house somewhere doesn't mean they can. He also mentioned it is zoned Conservancy (it isn’t!), that there is no yard (there is more yard than most residential properties in town!), and we would have to go on private property to wash our windows (the property borders Public property, not Private!). It was too late for me to address these issues, and he hadn't asked about these concerns he had during the public hearing to make an educated decision.

One of the other BOA members said that she liked the building just the way it was (as if it was the Village’s building and a Village project), and didn’t want it to change. I said I didn’t hear any reasons pertaining to the three part test they were supposed to apply to grant or deny the variations and the Clerk said she’d come up with something out to it.

After the meeting, they decided to hire an attorney to draft a response. The meeting was not conducted like a typical public meeting – there were no rules of order observed and even though it went on for over two hours, it went by in a flash. I wanted to say so much and have them understand so they could make an educated decision, but I wasn’t able to get the message across.

Anne made the front page of the local County paper!!

A reporter for the local County newspaper, the Banner Journal, was at Anne's presentation and wrote a really nice article (on the front page no less) about our project. It was written pretty much correctly except for the fact that I am a pharmacist and not an engineer.

Presentation to the Village Board

Earlier in November, Anne was back in Merrillan to give a presentation of our (intended) project to the Village Board. Although it wasn't tied to any formal decision regarding some of the legal matters needed to be made, it was really more informational. Many people had been talking about it (small town gossip) and we really wanted to clear the air and to show everyone just what our intentions were. Anne put together a PowerPoint presentation with some history of the Mill building and then went on to show what we had in mind for the structure that would replace it and how it would be designed. Overall, it went really well - people from the Village (except one, see previous post) seemed really positive about it and she got some good feedback.
We both will be back in Wisconsin in mid-December to give another presentation to the Village Zoning Board of Appeals to who will decide on the fate of the variances that we will need to move forward. Here are the before and after mock-ups that I made for the presentation.

Pissin off the neighbors (well, only one)

Our nearest neighbor (to the Mill property) on the North side Mr. Johnson has written a couple letters to the editor of our local County newspaper. Even after we tried to explain the situation to him, he still does not understand what is going on. The Mill actually is not in the flood plain, and we have not asked the Village to move the road, but rather just to correct a legal description of the road right-of-way which currently describes the road as being a right angle "L" intersection. The existing road is actually a curve and has been that way since it was built going past the Mill (one of the first buildings in the Village) in the late 1800's. Our property description says we own up to Mill Street (on the North side) but because the ROW is incorrect, it cuts into our property and in fact goes into the existing building. While our property is in reference to the road, his (opposite side of the road) does not mention the road and is described as rectangular. He would not be losing any property in correcting the ROW but is still stubborn anyway. See what he wrote:

His first letter to the editor: http://tinyurl.com/3dh57s

His second letter to the editor: http://tinyurl.com/2bqu6u

a fun wedding and serious research

On lucky 7-7-7, we made another trip back for Anne’s sister, Kathy’s wedding. The trip was a great chance to get some great pictures of the dam and mill building while the water on the lake is still down. You can see the two “plugs” on the dam – one is a three foot culvert running under the dam on the north side, the other is a concrete "box", approximately foot feet by six feet in area. During this trip, we had a great time, enjoying the weather (it actually rained!) and family, making the idea of moving back to the Midwest more real than ever.

Since that trip, we have gotten serious with preliminary planning for the project. We’ve got a copy of the Village’s ordinances, along with the appropriate Zoning and Variance applications for our project. We also have the as-built locations for water and sewer in the vicinity of the site. Both sets of survey data, along with the water and sewer information, have helped to develop a better site map (here). Anne has been busy researching and doing her own hydrology studies for the region. Anne’s sister, Karen, was also able to find some cool, old blueprints from the last time work was done on the dam in 1975 through the local engineering firm she works for. Soon we will be making our first submittals to get the project permitted – stay tuned!

Good-bye San Diego! More forward progress…

On June 8, 2007, we officially sold our San Diego condo. The market in the area had slowed over the last year, and properties hadn’t been moving, but we managed to sell it ourselves without getting a real estate agent involved. Thanks for the staging advice, HGTV! This was a big step for us getting un-tied from California.

Surveying: The perfect family bonding experience

In March 2007, I took a trip home without Joe and decided to do some more surveying to pick up on details in the area. Since the November 2005 survey, the Village installed a new culvert and rock outlet, and the brush clearing revealed more terrain that wasn’t as easily accessible the first time around. Anne’s sister is also a Civil Engineer and they had fun surveying with modern equipment w/ built in GPS. My other sister, Kathy, a schoolteacher, even got in on the fun, holding tree branches out of the way so Anne and Karen could get some hard to get shots. The weather was great, so the whole family - Mom and Dad, and the cutest nephew in the world, Karen’s son (Michael), and Karen’s husband (Darrick) stopped by to hang out while the surveying went on.

The Oakwood Lake Revitalization Project is still ongoing. The plug is still “pulled,” so the lake is down. While I was home, an intense storm happened, and the lake filled up temporarily, taking her parent’s boat dock from it’s location about a ¼ mile upstream, and floating it down to the dam. My Dad and brother ended up getting it back home, eventually.

There Goes the Waterfall!

The Village of Merrillan has been working on planning a project, “The Oakwood Lake Revitalization Project,” to remove built-up sediment from behind the dam for years. In fall of 2006, the stars aligned, all permits were issued, and a public works project to remove approximately 29,000 cubic yards of material was let. The project involves “pulling the plug” on the dam and draining the upper pond before the winter, with removal activities happening during the winter months after the bottom of the pond had a chance to dry up and freeze up a bit. Also included are installation of a handicapped fishing pier and non-motorized boat ramp. The project was awarded to Hoffman Construction in January 2007. The pond was drained in January 2007 and a majority of the excavation work was completed in February 2007.

lots of brush to clear

Went to Merrillan for the Labor Day Lions Club festival. While we were there we spent 4 days clearing brush and trimming trees from around the property. Anne's Dad and brother helped us remove what was probably 10-12 overly full truckloads of trimmings. While it was lots of fun (and hard work), we managed to get stung by a few ground bees which were well embedded in the tall grass . We really got everything cleared out and now you can see the old mill building clearly whereas before you might not even know it was there. Right at the base of the big tree near the water, there is a really cool rock with moss growing on it. It would be really neat to be able to expose the rock some more (after construction) for decorative purposes. You can see the entire set of pictures here.

We also tried to shore up the roof which has started to sag in partly due to the foundation starting to collapse partially due to a vertical crack. If this winter brings a heavy enough snow, the South side of the building might just collapse.

Met a great architect

We met with Jim at GMK Architecture inc. today. Without question this is the person we want to design our home! We sat in the conference room which was mostly filled by a big glass table and the rest filled with different material samples leaned up against all other available wall and shelf space.

After Jim showed us some of his previous work and told us about the firm, we showed him the topo of the site layout. His first reaction was "Are you sure that you will be able to fit a house here within the set backs from the road and water?" (Remember, the site is oddly shaped and there isn't much buildable space outside the footprint of the existing building.) Then we showed him pictures of the site. He almost started drooling immediately - "We have got to build a house here! What an unbelievable location!" he said. "We can make it work, we've gotta make it work." "I don't mean to presume that your going to choose me to do the design, but wow what a great site!"

He was very excited and started showing us ideas of what what he generally thought would work and asking us what materials we liked. It was great, because this is the exact reaction we wanted to see from the architect we would choose. We were looking for someone who would instantly see what a special location this was and not just do the design because we were paying, but rather to really feel passionate about it.

After a couple hours of discussing ideas Jim asked us if we wanted to go to a nearby project that he just completed. It was lunch time so he offered us some brats that they were barbecuing out back. He came back in the conference room with three brats on a paper plate, a bag of buns, and a couple bags of chips. I think that this sealed the deal for Anne! We ate, and then went to the site that he had just completed.

The home was beautiful - situated on a hill, sloping down to a lake with a great view of the state capital. The design was very similar to what we were looking for, eye pleasing rectangular shape (no curved walls), very open floor plan and no formal dining room. It was a mix of concrete, stucco, corrugated metal, and lots of windows.

Overall, we were very pleased with our experience. What more could you ask for, someone who was relatively close to the site, designed in the style we liked, and was super excited about the project.

The long beginning...

Here is where we stand in the project so far. Anne and I surveyed the property last November in order to produce a detailed topographic map of the site. We'll use the information for determining the drainage pattern as well as to get the actual property lines on record. As it is, the only official survey records on file down at the county are very inaccurate and very much incorrect. The nearly 100 year old hand drawn records show the existing street going into what is the lake and waterway. Thus one of our first tasks is to get the correct property boundaries recorded down at the county. Meanwhile, we are also looking for an architect who we feel is capable of producing a design that we like.

More to come!