Until now I've just been a lurker here. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge on these topics. Thanks in advance.
I'm a residential real estate developer who happens to be an avid watersports fan. I've been to a couple private man-made ski lakes and always loved the concept. I've though about doing my own for some time, but as a developer, my approach would be different than most that I've seen. Specifically, in my region, private lakes are highly exclusive. Just enough residential lots to share the construction burden. This typically means about 10-24 lots in a 2-lake setup.
I want to take a different approach. The concept is a private resort. There will be a higher number of residences and lot prices will be reasonable. I've attached a preliminary plat, but here are some answers to FAQs.
- Map Details -- There are both single family residential lots in light blue and multifamily condos in tan. There is a large recreational lake for big-wake activities like surf, tube, and wakeboard, a competition ski lake, and a no-wake pond at the bottom right. The bottom an left side of property are bounded by a river that is about 2-6ft deep and 50ft wide. Along the river is a 73 acre conservation easement colored light green that has been incorporated into the backyards of the riverfront lots. The grey areas are roads and parking. The dark green areas are planting areas.
- Big Lake -- Surface area of the big lake is about 27.5 acres. The depth at center will be 15ft to accommodate big wake boats. Lake is about 2300ft long and 850ft wide at the widest point. My research has indicated that the top 2ft of depth and at least 1ft above the waterline should have a 16:1 shore slope. Shoreline is intended to be sand except in the turn areas where we will likely use large cobble.
- Comp Ski Lake -- Surface area is about 9.5 acres, 2000ft long and 200ft wide at the narrow length. This one will only be 5-6ft deep and shoreline will not be subject to big wakes.
- No-Wake Pond -- Surface area about 7.5 acres but only 4-6ft deep. Meant for kayaks, SUP, etc. Shoreline will likely be somewhat steep with various wetland plants.
- Total site is 180 acres. Land quite flat and slopes gently from right to left with about 15ft drop in a very even manner across the approximately 3/4 mile width of the site (approx 0.3% slope).
- Soil surveys indicate heavy sticky clay formations. We don't anticipate seepage issues or any rock formations, but the water table is high so we do anticipate having to dewater during construction. Water can be discharged into the river.
- The local university collects evaporation data. Apr 1 - Oct 31 we typically have 41" of evaporation with the peak in July at about 0.3" per day. This is pan data, so shielded large body evap should be lower.
- The land comes with abundant water shares and water rights either direct from the river at the bottom right or from a canal that also feeds off that river further up.
- Depending on how we do it, we'll need to excavate around 350,000-400,000 yards of dirt. There shouldn't be any bedrock or anything to deal with as it is essentially the sediment bottom of an ancient lake.
- There is about 18 inches of quality topsoil that I'd like to scrape off for later use. We should be able to spread and compact the excavated dirt across the other 145 acres. I expect to be able to scrape and push most of it.
I would love to get your thoughts on equipment and timeline to move this much dirt and any suggestions on how to plan for it.
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