There goes the neighborhood.
 

They want America to look the same everywhere.
The sleepy little area that I live in has been growing. I saw this coming 20 years ago, and is part of the reason I moved here , and moved my biz here .
It is now booming . Houses , condos, new commercial developments everywhere
I watched this happen where I grew up. Went from a country paradise, and farmland, to suburban hell .
Heard a few weeks ago, that an 80 acre tract sold up the street from us. I just saw the plans , and the 300 home on .5 acre lots, developments main entrance is going to be right smack across from my house .
My private little existence out in the country is coming to an end. They are finishing up 125 homes at one end of the street from me already, and I have also heard that the property at the other end of our road has been sold .
I am going to be surrounded by suburban hell. A sea of Volvo, and Mercedes SUV"s will now replace the farmers tractors, and pick ups running up and down my road . No more shooting guns, playing with backhoes, big fires ,and generally, doing whatever the hell I want .
While I am happy that my property values are currently shooting up, I am sad.
All of our neighbors are meeting up to try to stop it, but I have seen this before. You cannot stop it .
Think I am going to start a junk car collection in my front yard. ;)
Looks like I will not be spending my retirement years here .
Had to rant. Nothing ever stays the same .

*lawn art.

Then the area suddenly gets re-zoned with restrictions one after the other while the neighbors complan about yer unsightly blight and yer out of business unless you $pend for variances at the state level again and again.

Same thing here. Still pickups running around (this is TX after all) but many of them are lawn services towing trailers full of mowers, edgers, etc. I'm one of the few people that mows my own lawn.
Yesterday a lady in a subdivision down the road posted an almost hysterical note on NextDoor re: 2 calves had escaped the pasture near them and wandered into her neighborhood. She was thanking God she saw them and could get her dogs in before those attack cows could trample them..

and God help any snake that makes an appearance.. the only good snake is a dead snake it seems..

Urban sprawl and subdivisions have invaded the adjacent rural areas here too....it sux :(. I still have a bit of my great-grandfather's farm, but unfortunately, I had elderly relatives who did not value what had been given to them when he passed decades ago...most has been sold off decades ago, along with other neighboring farms...for virtually nothing...back then. I still value my little rural "oasis"... but it ain't "out in the country" no more....

Next thing ya know there will be brand new Callaylies RR Suv' s hob nobbing at the local bistro.

But it won't be mine ;)

I thought you were going to be complain that some dark pigmented skin folks were moving into yo hood..

Ohhh dam..that either shows you ain't arrived or you have better sense and taste than that?

They're welcome....been living in harmony for all of my life...good people :).

It's them city folk...bad juju there :(

John Madden at one time had an old RR parked on the front lawn of his manision as lawn art.

Well aint that light skinned of you.

I feel yah.

Lower taxes, less regulation, better performing school system than surrounding areas.

It fell off in '08 with the recession, but it is back in full swing.

They just can't build houses and schools here fast enough.

Unfortunately, what most people do not realize is when a school system does well it is because of the people that live there. If enough move in and change the ingredients of local parents and local teachers things can go high wire.

Taxes keep jumping a lot to build more schools.

I am protected on some sides from people who will keep it woods and not sell out. I am bordered by a development but have enough that in summer with the leaves on I only see their lights and not much else.

A new one is going in this year, I may be able to see down from where I am on a hill into their yards depending on how trees get cut on the development side.

Having stores get built closer to where it isn't a 50 minute drive for groceries has been good.

Having traffic increase and getting stuck behind the PT cruiser going 25MPH in a 45MPH is a bit tragic. They have taken out all the passing lines on many of the roads here, double yellow you are STUCK.

Another positive is the deer are convening on me. I see them far more often and there are more of them. I did not realize it but deer prefer fringe woods to deep forest. They love the divisions as it gives them more ground forage, yet they have the trees to retreat to out of sight.

My biggest concerns are potential for:

Additional legal interruption of a peaceful life.

Sinking of school system.

Rise of Crime

You think that's bad? We have relatives w a farm of some acreage, (though they don't call them acres there), completely within the city limits of Geneva. Not Wisconsin, Switzerland.

Talk about having a city being built around you. It did happen a couple hundred years ago, however. They've had it a loooong time. :cool:

I feel you pain, buddy.

This place has been "done" for quite a few years now.

Traffic lights where there shouldn't be. Crosswalks where there shouldn't be. Condos and homes too close to the ocean. Where they shouldn't be. Too much traffic. Too many festivals that end up clogging the routes on and off the island. No traffic management - every man for himself.

Not sure if I'm in for the long haul. But yeah...real estate values going up gives me options.....

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I used to love New Smyrna Baz. Spent a ton of time at 800 1st ave , My high school girlfriend moved there the year I graduated high school. I would work just enough to get traveling money , and would blast down there in my 69 z 28 every chance I got from 88-90. It was a great sleepy little beach town back then . I sort of tried to move there, but things did not work out and I've got roots here .
I have not been there in a long time, but heard it has really grown.
How long have you been there ?

Small world, I have good friend on Locust - 1 street over. I've done projects all over that area. Had a girlfriend on Maple too back in '72.

We moved to the area in 1970 when I was 16. Finished high school here and went off to college and various jobs and came back in '79 for 10 years, left, and came back in '95.

And yes, it has grown - too much for my taste, but still has a lot going on because of the proximity to the ocean and intercoastal waterway.

If you ever get down this way again - dinner and beverages are on me. :)

Fred - the property in the background is the one you used to visit (800 1st Ave.).

This pic (also posted on the first page of the Horticulture thread) is from a project I did a couple years ago for a client on Maple Street. I planted the bamboo for screen and privacy for my client.

That house is not the same one that was there when you were here - it's a more recent build where the old one was. A lot of that happens here.

Small world though, huh?

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In the mid '80s I moved to the edge of a long established residential neighborhood in a town of approximately 125K. From where I lived, I could hike across the road and over rolling hills where there was nothing. One day I was talking to someone who said a new development was going to be built up the road. I learned it was to be 17K houses, condos, & apartments with accompanying schools, shopping center, etc. It sort of blew my mind. After it was built & a few years later on I learned another similar development was going to be built across the road, but this time I would be 22K houses, etc., etc. I moved out of there after I retired to a pretty rural place. Two more shopping centers & an Olympic training center were also built. Of course this was/is southern Cali.

If you're in the middle of nowhere, where are all these people coming from?
Where are these new comers going to be working to pay for these modern new homes?
People in remote areas are typically not within commuting distance to a city.

Location location location.
Back is against national forest and river. Something that ain't gonna be sold anytime soon.
Front is against side road(not a cut through) with freeway/downtown/library/po/grocery/gas/hardware all within walking distance.