Survey

When we purchased Parcel Four a couple of months ago, we became the owners of three different tax ID numbers.  That is, The Homestead, The Farm, and Parcel Four were all being taxed as individual properties despite being contiguous and under unified ownership.  The property taxes in Parowan are ridiculous (unless you're comparing them with those from the east coast) and we knew that we could save money if we had one parcel instead of three.

So, I talked with Cleve at the city office, and he told me that I'd need to have the property surveyed so that the new legal description could be recorded with the county.  He also advised me not to combine all three parcels.  The Farm is a legal, buildable parcel in Parowan with a pressurized irrigation connection.  Cleve told me that each parcel is allowed only one irrigation connection.  Since we also have one on The Homestead, combining The Farm and The Homestead would mean we'd have to give up an irrigation connection.  He said that there are currently no new irrigation connections available . . . and never will be.  He said that the connection is very valuable, and that we would be throwing that value away.  Besides, Cleve said, it would be really difficult to ever sub-divide again.  Well.  We aren't property developers and don't care about subdivisions, but, in southern Utah water is worth more than gold, and we don't really want to give it away.

Still, we don't need (or want) three parcels, so we called Steve Woolsey, a licensed surveyor, to help us.  His recommendation, which we accepted, was to combine Parcel Four with The Farm.  We will now have two pieces instead of three, but probably won't get a very big tax break because most of the land will be part of The Farm . . . where we don't actually live, so the rate is higher.  In any case, Steve came over this week to do the survey.  The Farm will now be about 1/2 acre, flat, fenced, and connected to the city irrigation system.  If we ever decide to sell it, we should be able to move to Monte Carlo on the proceeds.  Or, well, if not Monte Carlo, at least Milford.