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Old 06-08-2014, 10:11 PM
 
686 posts, read 1,760,672 times
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My wife and I are in the market for a smallish house in Fairfield country and are currently scouting various cities and neighborhoods. We recently came across Lake Waubeeka‎ Association (LWA) in Danbury. We like the location and a few properties look interesting.

As we explore and understand LWA, and weigh the pros and cons of living in a property on/around the lake, I am wondering if anyone here has any experience with or thoughts about living there.

1. What do people think/know about LWA? For example, does the LWA maintain the common areas well? Do they manage their finance carefully?

2. What do people think/know about on living in a house backing to a lake?

3. What do people think/know about current/future valuations. Most properties there are listed between $190K and $300K. The property taxes are between $4k and $6K. The monthly HOA is $290.

4. Is the LWA reasonable or difficult about owners making improvements such as adding a garage? BTW, a very small number of houses (of the 200 or so houses) there have garages. (See next item about seasonal occupancy.)

5. Though started initially as vacation homes, it looks like people live there all year long. Do most owners use these as vacation/weekend homes? (We plan on living there permanently, if we did buy there.)

6. We heard quite frequent gun shots on our visit, which we then learned was from a nearby shooting range. Is the range open all year long and should we expect to hear the sounds frequently?

7. The Danbury airport is nearby. We did see/hear some small aircrafts when we were visiting. Is it safe to assume the aircraft noise is not really a problem?


I would love your input on any of these and other relevant topics.

Thank you all for your input.
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Old 06-09-2014, 09:38 AM
 
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Leaving a couple of notes from our research.

My wife found this news article from April 2008 which says that back then there were 262 homes on Lake Waubeeka and about 80% of the homes were uses all year round:
Murphy says Lake Waubeeka preservation may take time - NewsTimes

According to tax cards, LWA homes are in the RA20 zone. Here is Danbury's zoning regulations for this and other residential zones. Page 6 describes the regulations for RA20 in a clustered development (which I believe LWA is):
http://www.danbury-ct.gov/filestorag...NGREGSsec4.pdf.

I wonder if "maximum building coverage" (30%) includes detached accessory buildings as well, or if it is only for the main building?

Also, does "minimum square side dimension" of 65 feet mean the main building needs to be set in an imaginary square of at least 65 feet each side?
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Old 06-09-2014, 02:35 PM
 
Location: Danbury CT covering all of Fairfield County
2,622 posts, read 7,393,199 times
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Any sort of question on zoning I would contact the city building department office. They are usual pretty helpful. The community is well taken care. Town taxes are range from $3200 to about $6000. The Danbury airport would not concern me, as traffic there has declined a lot over the last few years. The gun range has been there for years, and there are limited hours. Most homes are lived in year around. You can have up to a 2 car garage at the house, but you have to comply by their rules.
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Old 06-10-2014, 02:06 PM
 
686 posts, read 1,760,672 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdhall1 View Post
Any sort of question on zoning I would contact the city building department office. They are usual pretty helpful. The community is well taken care. Town taxes are range from $3200 to about $6000. The Danbury airport would not concern me, as traffic there has declined a lot over the last few years. The gun range has been there for years, and there are limited hours. Most homes are lived in year around. You can have up to a 2 car garage at the house, but you have to comply by their rules.
Thanks for the information. It is good to know the community is well managed.
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Old 06-12-2014, 08:53 AM
 
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I'd love to hear people's experience on living on a lake. For example, with the property backing to a lake, could it get too cold in winter causing higher heating bills?
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Old 06-12-2014, 12:26 PM
 
Location: Connecticut
34,680 posts, read 56,465,514 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sezzam View Post
I'd love to hear people's experience on living on a lake. For example, with the property backing to a lake, could it get too cold in winter causing higher heating bills?
I don't know about heating, but most people I know with lake homes have problems with humidity. They run dehumidifiers to keep the levels low. Without them there can be a mold and mildew problem. So your electricity bill will likely be higher. Jay
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Old 06-24-2014, 09:20 AM
 
686 posts, read 1,760,672 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JayCT View Post
I don't know about heating, but most people I know with lake homes have problems with humidity. They run dehumidifiers to keep the levels low. Without them there can be a mold and mildew problem. So your electricity bill will likely be higher. Jay
Thanks Jay.
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