A friend has built on forty acres that has a utility roads right of way access due to powerlines. This gives rights to the utilities (gas & electric) to access the property at any time, which was no problem. Unfortunately it also gave rights of passage,(in their minds), to off roaders, equestrians, to pass through as well, so up went the fence. The utility co's have their own locks for gate access through. He has nothing against off roaders or horse people, but was afraid of someone getting hurt on his property. He is constantly making repairs to the fence from people not wanting to go around.

I wouldn't touch that land even if it were a freebie. It may not be tomorrow or next year, but sooner or later there is going to be something going through there!

My mum was successful in denying local authorities (trying to access after she had owned for forty years) but her neighbor wasn't so lucky -- or else wanted the mimimal $$ paid-- and mum then had an 8-lane highway paralleling her property.

A friend at the opposite end of our state bought a nice tract of about 30 acres with an unused utility right of way. Several years later the utility made use, and friend now has high-power lines literally bisecting the property.

A utility easement is NOT a public right of way, but I don't think that is what the "proposed ROW" is referring to.
I would be sure to exhaust everyone at the planning department to find EXACTLY what that means. Could be either a red flag or an investment opportunity.
And beware, we recently had a landowner that lost acres of family farm (owned for more than 90 years), to eminent domain for a roadway. Would not want to live close to THAT roadway.

I would not purchase it. I would always wonder if/when a road would be coming through.

My in laws bought about 30 acres in the late 70's in which to eventually build a home. About 15 years ago, the state took over part of the land to build a highway and landlocked them. Luckily, they had not started to build and they eventually sold to the adjoining landowner who was not landlocked.

My in laws are sick about it to this day.

A family friend of ours owned land forever and then the city decided that they might straighten the road. In order to do that the road was going to go right through his property about 150 ft deep.

So he built a house right where the road was suppose to go. It has sat empty for years but there is no road there and never will be.

I guess he had money to burn.

mimi

don't trust the gov't to give you the right answer. there were a lot of people in our area that bought houses along one of those dotted lines on a map running through the backs of their property. I remember looking at houses back then and the party line was - "well it's just a long term plan now but they will probably never put anything on it".

Now these people have decks that overlook a wonderful 4 lane parkway and even worse, some of them have a gigantic wall in the back to block noise.

Even when there are no ROW's on the property the govt can take it if they deem it to be in the public interest.
Case in point with my uncle who's town put a steet right through his lot, and created a small wedge on one section of his property that was on the other side of this street. This small section cannot be sold - it is too small to put a structure on it but my uncle still had to pay taxes on it!

If you are starting with the line already there - they could come in the day after you buy it and put in a road running through your property - and that will lower the overall value of the land and any house you put on it. PLUS - you might have to continue to pay taxes on a piece of land that is unusable! Who would want to buy a house with a road running through the property? Why would you take that risk?

I recommend finding another piece of land.

Not only would you not want to build a house on the ROW, you want to make sure your septic isn't in it (or close). We've had some rather recently built houses here condemned when the road went through their septic.

Sniffdog -- your uncle should deed the property to the state. If they won't take it, get it subdivided off of his property, and then fail to pay taxes on it until the state claims it by escheat.

Years ago, a highway department planned and mapped out a loop around a city. Started acquiring some property and finalizing plans. Environmental issues arose as well as some funding problems and progress stopped. Tornado struck the area. Homes damaged. Owners could not get building permit required for repair because the house was to eventually be acquired for the roadway. Insurance would not pay off since mortgage company insisted that house be repaired. Owner filed suit, dismissed. Had to give up. Over 10 years now, still unresolved.

well actually, my dear uncle is in another (hopefully better) place as he lost his fight against emphysema this past Jan. My Mom and Dad are now dealing with his estate.

The good news is that they did manage to sell his property quickly - except for that little wedge of land I was speaking about. Trying to maintain all of his property from long distance would have been too much of a load for my parents - so selling now (particularly in this market) was a blessing.

My Dad is planning to talk to the neighbor across the road whose property butts up against that wedge to see if he would like to buy it. Otherwise, they will probably give it to the town. They tried to give the wedge away to the builder who bought my uncle's property and the guy did not want it for the reasons cited above.

I remember a long time ago when they put that road it and my uncle was not happy about it. The house had been there since 1947 and was in a very rural area at that time. However, once the town started to grow - it is now complete sprawl - the town decided that it was in the public interest to put a street through his property. They didn't even ask - they just put it in.