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Water rights, how do they work?

April 14, 2016 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

teton riverWater rights are an important part of any real property with rights in Idaho. They are not insured by a standard title insurance policy, so it’s important that you have an understanding of your property’s rights. I am not going to focus too much on how to obtain a water right, (it’s a complex process) but rather a general scope of the types, and uses for these rights. To start, I will describe what a water right is.

A water right is basically a “right” to divert water for a beneficial use, such as irrigation, domestic, or commercial use. The diversion is what is used to obtain the water, in the form of a head gate and ditch, well, irrigation pump, etc.

Next, the types of water rights, there are 2 main types – Surface rights, and Ground rights. Surface rights are the rights we see, such as ditches, diversions from creeks, runoffs, springs, and so on. Irrigation ditches carry water for the benefit of the rights owner. Ground water rights are not naturally present at the surface of the ground. Ground rights include drilled wells. Irrigation wells are currently under a moratorium in some areas of the state, in those areas, only rights dating back prior to the moratorium exist. This is because the ground rights users were using the available water for the end users with senior rights. If you do not have Ground rights, however, you can still have a well such as a domestic or culinary well, limited to 13,000 gallons per day and .5 acres of yard irrigation. Other noteworthy “types” would be water you receive from an irrigation district or utility company, and stock water use, Cattle/stock owners are not restricted on use of existing streams on their land for stock water purposes. You should also know that Idaho does not recognize riparian rights, in which the owner of and has the right to make reasonable use of the water under or on their land. Waters in Idaho are considered public waters.

Dates, appropriation, and how rights are established are an important aspect of the above rights. Idaho’s rights to use water when there is a shortage is determined by priority dates, or when the right was established. Prior to 1971, a user could simply divert surface water, and apply it to a beneficial use. These rights must have documentation of when they were first used, which determines their priority date. Ground water could be obtained the same way prior to 1963. These rights are called “beneficial” or “historic” use rights. These rights have now been recorded with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, or IDWR. Rights are now established by an application/permit/license procedure with the IDWR, and that process is contingent on available water and approval.

You can research whether or not you own water rights (water rights in Idaho are privately owned and are considered real property rights, much like property rights in land) with the IDWR, and their interactive website. There are 4 regional offices (N, E, S & Western) all of Teton County is in the Eastern Regional Office. Remember that if you receive your water from an irrigation district or utility, that right will be owned by, and listed under that “company” or owner.

I’m thinking about building a “small house” what are my options?

November 17, 2015 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

In a way, I manufactured this question. It’s been a huge topic lately. I have interviewed for some local magazine articles, as well as visited with developers, regional planners, etc. I also have quite a few customers with a small house in mind. Various reasons range from lifestyle to budget, not to mention small houses seem to be trendy at the moment. There are tons of plans available online, and a few of the local architects have similar interests, and can design these small homes for a very reasonable price. Also, there are some local companies who are doing some extraordinarily luxurious modular type small houses.

So, what are your options? It depends on a couple of factors, how small is “small”? There are a number of subdivisions and developments within Teton County that have a minimum size requirement of 900 to 1000 square feet. If this is your idea of small, then all it will take is a real estate agent that is well versed in knowing all of the developments or quick to review the CC&R’s for each development. You might be surprised how many lots are available, some even with community water hookups.

How about 400 or 500 square feet? This gets a little more tricky. A few of the older developments used to have very small size requirements such as this, but the restrictions have been amended over the years to require a larger home. Just 10 years ago, small homes weren’t really a thing. We were all building gigantic custom homes, and we didn’t really want to have a 900 square foot home next to our custom 5000 square foot home. I might be exaggerating slightly, but you get the idea.

One obvious workaround is to purchase a lot without any CC&R’s, or that is not in a subdivision. This can get tricky for a variety of reasons. First, these types of lots with “free rein” so to speak are gaining in popularity for those who want to have chickens, don’t like the idea of rules, or a variety of other reasons such as building a smaller home. Because they are gaining in popularity, demand is higher (supply is low to begin with) which is causing inflated prices. For those looking to build a small home because of the budget factor, this is essentially pricing them out. Other things to consider when buying a lot that is not in the subdivision is confirming that you can obtain a building permit for that parcel and checking costs for bringing in power, phone, the ability to hook up to water or sewer, or drill a well, and more. When you buy a lot within a development, it almost always has power and phone to the property, and the ability to hook up to or drill for water. This isn’t always the case with many of these parcels not in a development, which again adds to the cost to bring these utilities to the building site.

Another possible work around, and possibly a way to tick off your neighbors, is to find a development that allows a small guest house, but does not require that you construct the main house first. Obviously, this can cause some friction with the Homeowner’s Associations. Just because the CC&R’s read one way doesn’t mean it was the intent of the developer another way. It can be a sticky situation.

In a nutshell, I would first recommend that you spend some time in a small house, and consider the price difference between building something that conforms with a subdivision’s requirements, versus going all-out miniature. Pulling out your murphy bed everyday for the rest of your life may get old, even though it seems like a good idea today. Closet space, storage, pantry space and laundry areas are all things that are usually reduced in size or forfeited altogether – combine this with ski boots, your new bike, and a Golden Retriever, it gets pretty tight.

On another note, not that we need any new development, but how about amending restrictions on some of these vacant subdivisions to allow for  these “small houses”? Food for thought!

What can you tell me about water wells in the area?

September 17, 2015 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

We have good water. It’s full of minerals, which also causes some of the hard water deposits you see in your bathrooms and kitchens. I know we are not talking about soft water systems, but most people don’t realize that there’s a good possibility your home either has a system in place, or hookups ready for a system to be installed. Almost all of the newer constructed homes have hookups – remember the plastic pipe loop next to your washer and dryer? That’s what it’s for. I’ll save you from what I know about ion exchange in regards to how these systems work. Back to wells. I decided to do this write-up because of an increasing number of buyers interested in lots that are uncertain about the cost of drilling a well, and bringing in other utilities. As far as the cost, it’s pretty simple. I interviewed a few local well drilling companies, it’s about $40/foot including a well casing. The Idaho Department of Water Resources requires a steel casing, that is tagged with a well tag number. Almost every well drilled in recent history is then recorded with the department. The department’s website, idwr.idaho.gov provides a well driller’s research tool in which you can pull up information on each well drilled that has been reported, called a well driller’s report. The well driller’s report will tell the approximate site, the types of ground materials, and at what depth. As you would guess, it also reports the exact depth of the well. The reason I am telling you this of course; the next logical question after understanding the price per foot, would be the depth. Usually, you will find a neighbor who has a well in the same area in which you are thinking about drilling a well. Now, there are no guarantees your well will be the same depth of your neighbors, but you can bet that it will be pretty close. The well driller’s research tool can be daunting unless you understand how to search by township and range, but there is also a way of searching by last name etc. On a final note, you might be thinking to yourself, “Why don’t I just buy a lot in town and hook up to the city water and sewer system?” You can! Just remember, the city will charge a hook up fee for water and for sewer, and it’s not all that cheap. The cheapest way of doing it? Locate a lot in a development with a pre-existing community well system. They’re usually pretty reliable, and fairly inexpensive to hook up to.

Glider Rides

July 17, 2015 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Typically scenic glider rides are offered from May through October.  The rides are one hour +/-, depending on weather, thermal heating and ridge lift.  The areas  flown are Darby Canyon, Treasure Mountain, Alaska basin, Battleship Mountain, Ice flow lake, Snow Drift Lake, the West side of the Teton range, Table Rock, Cascade Canyon, Teton Canyon both North and South, over Grand Targhee then if there is time and  are maintaining or gaining altitude, they will go across the valley to the Teton River and then back to the Driggs airport.  On very rare occasions they may  find enough lift to go high enough to go over the top of the Grand Teton.  On a clear day, the passenger will also get a view of the Jackson Hole valley, Jackson and Jenny Lake and Swan Valley.

The glider carries one passenger weighing no more than 230 Lbs. and the cost is $250.00. which covers the cost of the tow plane, tow plane pilot, glider and glider pilot.  They do not do any aerobatics during a scenic flight. It is recommended passengers bring a small hat (for sun protection), sunglasses and a camera with a wide angle lens.  It can be very warm in the glider so summer attire is also recommended.  They have taken passengers as old as 100 years and can often accommodate those with disabilities if they are light enough to be lifted into the glider.  They generally don’t take children under eight years old because they have a habit of climbing out of their seat belt and standing up, fiddling with the controls or simply not appreciating the flight or the scenery.

It’s best to schedule a glider flight at least one day in advance, but often times we can squeeze in a last minute booking.  Passengers need to understand that weather is a major factor in providing a safe and enjoyable ride and should be flexible and understanding when conditions such as strong winds, thunderstorms or low cloud cover require that we cancel, postpone or reschedule flights.

For further information or to schedule reides contact Teotn Aviation at 208-354-3100.

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