This isn�t a misspelling; I really have an option to buying a 5-acre lake for $1. When I found out about this lake, my first question was �what�s wrong with it?� The answer is plenty.
This is a water retention lake located in an industrial park at Tea, SD, which is a suburb of Sioux Falls. The owners have tried to give it away to SD Game, Fish and Parks but they didn�t want it. The Tea FD didn�t want it either nor did the village. They tried to give it to some other organizations but no one would take it. This got my attention. A person can buy a lot of trouble for $1. These are some of the things I�m working with before I actually sign the papers.
This lake is on 6 acres of land however there isn�t any place to park. This extra acre is just shore land. There are streets on the north, west and south sides of the lake. I might be able to get the south street to be abandoned and added to this property. If I can do this, that would give me a parking area. This must occur before I sign the papers.
SD Fisheries surveyed this lake two years ago. They found that it was 8 feet deep at its deepest and that most of the lake was 1-4 feet deep. This lake was originally 13 feet deep so this shows a great amount of siltation. This area has a very high water table so probably won�t dry up or winter kill. However, it is impossible to fish from shore. I would have to dig out the lake to make it useable. The village and county are all for this. Unfortunately, the developer�s covenants on this industrial park forbid this. I have to get permission to dig out the lake before I sign.
The covenants were written with the commercial property in mind. No plants over 18 inches are allowed. Hard to believe but most trees, shrubs and wetland plants are over 18 inches. Again, I have to have an exemption to these covenants before I will sign.
SD Fisheries found that this lake is full of green sunfish and black bullheads. There�s no way of eliminating these fish so I will have to overstock predators to control them.
There is a large amount of fertilizer runoff into this lake. I can�t control this so will have to manage it. If I can get the lake dug out, I will have to add a great deal of aeration.
SD Fisheries didn�t check the water for contaminants but it is likely that the fish in this lake will in inedible in any amounts. That means complete catch and release, which is what I�m doing with our current lake.
The very first thing, as anyone in real estate will tell us, is to get a clean title and warranty deed. We�re in the process of doing that now.
I still don�t know about insurance or the restrictions I might run into with insurance. I still have to find out about this.
We might have to have a chain-linked fence around this property. 3,000 feet of chain link is a lot of money.
We have groups fishing our current lake 5-6 days a week. The reason I�m looking at this lake is to take some pressure off our current lake. This new lake would be used for kids, elderly and handicapped fishing the same as our current lake is. Also, this lake wouldn�t be open to general fishing but rather would be in organized groups only.
Lastly, I�m retired and look at this as a challenge to see if I can take something that no one else will touch and do something good with it.
Any cautions, things that I might have missed or other ideas would be more than welcome.
