I did some surfing and came upon some photos taken by none other than Lakes Region Aerial Photos! I've attached two of them below, but I would encourage all of you to visit his site
All aerial photos of Akwa Vista and view the entire collection - there are many!
I was encouraged to seek out more information in response to the post above, by The Lake:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by The Lake
Pepper, I would like to correct your remarks about the development. Most lots are clustered together, and a majority of the 171 lots are from 10,000 sq. ft to 15,000 sq ft. From the road frontage on the lots is approx 75 feet. He clear cut over 30 acres for roads alone on 130 +- acres.
All the homes are set next to each other, and there is not two acres between each home. Since there is only 130 acres and 171 homes, the acres between each home would require aprox. 340 (actually that number is wrong because that doesn't take in consideration the home lots). acres to develop. On top of the overuse of the land there prices are toooo high. I would never pay 799,000 dollars for a 1/4 acre with Taxes on that home est. to be around 12,000-15,000 per year plus you have to pay an association due somewhere between $150-$350 per month.
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Yes, the lots are all close together, and the greenspace is surrounding each cluster. I may be off on my acreage amounts for sure, but the concept of fewer acres occupied by each house lot is what is preserving the greenspace in the development.
I was particularly curious about the statement that there were 30 acres clear-cut for roads alone. Well, I can't imagine that roads could be built any other way than by clear-cutting. This would seem to be sort of necessary, wouldn't it?
Another statement that baffled me is the "overuse of the land". I'm sorry but I think the trailer parks in the bottom of the second photograph are clearly guilty of overuse, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how this development is "overusing". By city codes, many more houses could have legally been planned on this project, but the developer chose to build far fewer than he could have.
I also recently read an article in the Citizen in which an expert hired by Russ Thibeault of Applied Economic Research was quoted as saying that the proper way to preserve the quality of the land and maintain the environment, was to develop smaller house lots, with more greenspace around, than to develop larger lots. The reason for this is that larger lots tend to do more clearcutting, where smaller lots limit the destruction to the environment. I'll do some searching and see if I can find a link to the article.
Now, I can certainly understand not wanting to be so close to your neighbors - I too prefer living way out in the country.
The pricing there does not seem to be out of line with much of the area, though. They must be doing something right - one of the finished homes just sold for a million last week. Also, the model home in the photo Don posted above has been sold as well.