http://www.newsobserver.com/news/wake/story/814331.html
snap shot

Quote :

"Pull the plug on Lake Lynn, suit demands RALEIGH - Kristin Wallace bought some very wet land as an investment. Eight acres of it, all underneath Lake Lynn. The Cary woman bought the land for $12,500 last year at a public auction of property with delinquent taxes. Now she is suing to try to force the city of Raleigh or Wake County to buy the soggy land from her or drain it. "It's extremely valuable to me," Wallace said, "dry." City and county officials say Wallace, who started investing in real estate less than two years ago, knew the land was lake bottom when she bought it, something she doesn't dispute. "It's bought as is," said Shelley Eason with the County Attorney's Office. Lake Lynn was built in the 1970s to control flooding and has since been enveloped by the city. Easements from private property owners allowed the county to create the lake. It's now surrounded by apartment complexes and dog walkers, cyclists and joggers on the greenway. "

what in the hell? is she smart or is she stupid for trying to pull this.
this reaks of fail fail fail

12/6/2007 11:22:56 AM

I suppose she's pretty smart if she can get them to buy it from her.

Otherwise, I've got some beach-front property in Kansas she might be interested in.

12/6/2007 11:25:21 AM

hell if she owns it, she should threaten to drain it herself to coerce the city to buy it

12/6/2007 11:27:34 AM

Quote :

"More as a housekeeping effort than anything else, the county decided to get rid of the property and put it up for auction in September 2006 as required by law to try to recoup unpaid taxes. Expecting no bids, government officials thought the land would be transferred to the city, which would pay off the back taxes."

Well, they fucked up when they had to follow the law. I say they get an accessor to come in and access the land at worthless, offer her that price, and if she doesn't like it, she can fuck herself with a submerged tree limb.

12/6/2007 11:29:04 AM

who did she buy the land from?

12/6/2007 11:43:09 AM

I read that article this morning and literally LOL'd.

12/6/2007 11:43:40 AM

Quote :

"who did she buy the land from?"

It went to tax foreclosure over a few hundred dollars in back taxes. A company owned it at the time the surrounding area was developed but it was effectively abandoned after that when the company went out of business and no one really wants land at the bottom of a lake.

12/6/2007 11:46:03 AM

Like it's gonna do her any good drained. This stupid twat should put on some cement boots and go talk a walk on her land.

12/6/2007 11:46:19 AM

Quote :

"Easements that allowed the county to flood the land carry over to the next owner, who can't demand that the lake be drained"

/lawsuit

12/6/2007 11:50:42 AM

haha what a dumb woman.

12/6/2007 11:57:01 AM

Quote :

"I say they get an accessor to come in and access the land"

12/6/2007 12:23:05 PM

^Hopefully he brings a boat.


I hate seeing tax dollars wasted on moronic frivolous lawsuits like this one. Maybe her next investment will be buying an old landfill and demanding the goverment dig it up.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 12:30 PM. Reason : .]

12/6/2007 12:25:02 PM

if he's gonna access the land long enough to assess it, he'll need SCUBA

12/6/2007 12:28:45 PM

Quote :

"Like it's gonna do her any good drained."

I'm pretty sure she has no intent in having it drained, its just a ploy to sell the land back and try to make a profit.

12/6/2007 1:05:51 PM

Houseboat? Eh?

12/6/2007 1:09:02 PM

does that mean she owns the water on top of her land?

12/6/2007 2:02:21 PM

Yea Lake Lynn is a pretty nice place to walk in northwest Raleigh. It would be a shame if she won and the ensuing development interrupted the loop around the lake.

12/6/2007 2:08:46 PM

Quote :

"does that mean she owns the water on top of her land? "

Wondering that too.

12/6/2007 2:12:04 PM

i wish i had enough money to buy land without even looking at it

and i guess she doesn't need flood coverage either, right?

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 2:17 PM. Reason : sdfg]

12/6/2007 2:16:26 PM

^^^^,^^nope

12/6/2007 2:18:22 PM

Lake Lynn seems like a pretty shitty place to build your underwater palace.

12/6/2007 2:18:32 PM

it's all about the N. Raleigh zip code

12/6/2007 2:20:58 PM

^^^ Why not? If you buy land with trees on it, you own the trees.

12/6/2007 2:22:40 PM

Those trees originate on the land.

I'd imagine that most of the water in Lake Lynn fell elsewhere.

12/6/2007 2:25:15 PM

water rights are/is [grammar?!] a tricky business.

12/6/2007 2:55:24 PM

^NC, like pretty much every Eastern state has riparian water rights, so no entity owns the rights to the water, but anyone with frontage is allowed reasonable use. However, this particular land has a substantial easement on it; namely, that it is part of a community stormwater lake.

In Western states, water rights are a much trickier business.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 3:12 PM. Reason : .]

12/6/2007 3:11:17 PM

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains jurisdiction over all waters of the United States. I think she has no legal right to sue somebody to make them drain it. Even if she does, she's barking up the wrong tree, and good luck trying to sue the Corps.

Quote :

""Easements that allowed the county to flood the land carry over to the next owner, who can't demand that the lake be drained""

i.e. Hydrologic Trespass. The ensuing flooding that would take place in the drainage basin would make her at fault for damages.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 3:23 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2007 3:20:53 PM

Quote :

"In Western states, water rights are a much trickier business."

yeah, because there isn't much of it.

i did a hydrology project in new mexico near the town of Cuba, and the area i studied was full of all kinds of devices, trenches, pipes, etc designed in order to illegally steal water from near it's source.

12/6/2007 3:40:07 PM

"Nobody owns the water. God owns - it's God's water."



[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 5:35 PM. Reason : ..]

12/6/2007 5:32:28 PM

Quote :

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains jurisdiction over all waters of the United States. I think she has no legal right to sue somebody to make them drain it. Even if she does, she's barking up the wrong tree, and good luck trying to sue the Corps."

no they dont

they only do this on lakes they created and projects they maintain...i believe the waterway has to be navigable as well

there are numerous lakes that are under state or local control because those projects originated with the state or local government

12/6/2007 8:05:15 PM

^ Lakes can also be privately owned as well

12/6/2007 8:18:59 PM

This is bullshit, it was bought as is where is, for example if there had been an old gas station site on it, and she knew it, then the gas that had leaked from the tanks is her problem, she bought it along with the land. the same goes for this water. She is going to have to fuck with the DWQ and the Corps on this, and she will loose.


there are lots for sale in Lake Anne that will not support septic systems, and there is no sewer access, so be careful if you are in the real estate market.

12/6/2007 8:40:10 PM

Quote :

"if he's gonna access the land long enough to assess it, he'll need SCUBA"

That's where I come in.



Damn, she's pretty selfish. "Hi I'd like to drain this lake. Don't worry about the people who will lose their view, or the wildlife..."

12/6/2007 8:57:20 PM

Quote :

"there are lots for sale in Lake Anne that will not support septic systems, and there is no sewer access, so be careful if you are in the real estate market."

really??

12/6/2007 9:16:31 PM

id make an island, build my house, and use the remains of lake lynn as my moat

12/6/2007 9:45:04 PM

12/6/2007 10:21:01 PM

As it is a lake/waterway, I don't think she's allowed to drain it. There's some state rule or federal rule that a person can't restrict access to waterways and cannot hinder or change the waterway in any way. My parents own 3.3 acres of swampland/forest along with their house, but anyone is allowed to navigate the swamp with their boat cause the water cannot be private property.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 10:29 PM. Reason : /]

12/6/2007 10:25:25 PM

^ i can only see that applying to navigable waterways which this isnt

12/6/2007 10:27:57 PM

^ Are there fish and is it deep enough to take a skiff?

12/6/2007 10:30:24 PM

i have no idea

12/6/2007 10:31:34 PM

Quote :

"^ Are there fish and is it deep enough to take a skiff?"

By that logic, I could dig a pond on my property and then once it is flooded I can't do anything with it and anyone can sit in a boat in my pond.

12/6/2007 11:33:31 PM

look at TWW lawyers coming out of the woodwork.



obviously the woman knows what she is doing, she has DONE IT BEFORE.

she will get her money, and it will be more than what she paid.



I get sick and tired of all you people that think you know exactly how to fix this, and then you put up the litigation, and someone proves you wrong.

12/6/2007 11:45:54 PM

I'd love it if the judge in this case just gave her the most retarded look in the world and told her to get the f-out of his courtroom.

She knows what she is doing, she's trying to extort money out of the city basically.

Quote :

"Real estate is a new venture for Wallace, and the lake purchase was one of her first investments, she said. She's learning as she goes."

That quote just pisses me off. Learning?? She's being a money grubbing whore. If she keeps "learning" like this, next month she'll purchase some land next to a bridge support and then claim that unless the city buys the property or moves the bridge she'll knock it down herself. (Bad example I know, but I've been up a while and don't feel like thinking any more about it.)

This is the property she bought:
http://aws1.co.wake.nc.us/realestate/Account.asp?id=0177709

I hope her business fails.

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 5:59 AM. Reason : -]

12/7/2007 5:53:21 AM

^^^No, but if someone else had frontage on the pond, they could. You have a lot to learn.

I know governments rarely do this, but I wish the city would nail her for legal expenses, staff time, etc. in dealing with this frivolous BS.

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 6:09 AM. Reason : .]

12/7/2007 6:07:05 AM

What about the entity that sold it to her?

Instead of just putting it up for auction should they have done some research and maybe passed the ownership back to the state or city?

-- Dave

12/7/2007 9:56:58 AM

the bitch lives in regency. I'm sure she's one of those soccer moms that have nothing to do, and join the real estate craze just to prove to her husband that she's actually doing something.

12/7/2007 10:08:42 AM

alot of people have been called the women a bitch, stupid, ect and while i dont agree with the women ethically it sounds like she took something and likey stands to gain a profit from it. Sounds to me like a good or at possibly smart bussness decision

and considering she paid $12, 500 wouldn't it be cheaper to turn around and pay the women a profit then pay the legal fees associated?

[Edited on December 7, 2007 at 11:05 AM. Reason : legal fees]

12/7/2007 10:58:01 AM

hell, if she waits long enough, the lake will be emptied by itself. The north end of the lake is all dry anyways.

12/7/2007 11:01:52 AM

Sounds to me like she's a bitch.

12/7/2007 11:03:13 AM

Quote :

"What about the entity that sold it to her? Instead of just putting it up for auction should they have done some research and maybe passed the ownership back to the state or city? -- Dave"

Land with delinquent taxes automatically goes to auction at some point. Why should the town ban people from purchasing land with an easement on it? It's not the local government's business to stop people from making poor real estate investments, and it is in their interest to get property tax revenue from it anyway. If noone had purchased the land they would have assumed ownership at no cost.

12/7/2007 11:15:25 AM