Hello Everyone!
A slightly different web update: Work continues at an incredible rate on the Springs and watching them laying waterline this week has been fascinating. We could talk about the progress on the site all day long but this update is a little different than our other posts. I wanted to provide some additional information on our lake planning, specifically our all-sports status and intended uses. I receive many questions on tours asking for comparisons in experiences on public versus private lakes. As I spend all my time focusing on our lake planning and working with this information in my head, I sometimes forget that not everyone likes numbers as much as I do. So in three paragraphs, hopefully you will have a good comparison of typical public vs private lake experiences. Of course, after reading through the paragraphs below, you will probably won’t want to see numbers for a while!
Where are the pretty pictures in this post? We spent literally years doing due diligence and research on lakes to incorporate ideas and constraints on our planning. In preparing for this mailing update I found a couple older renderings that we had generated to assist with our planning, download full resolution at the link below, that is the pretty picture for this update as well as useful exhibit.
Heron Planning Exhibit – Dock Spacing & Boat Density
Heron Planning Exhibit – Dock Spacing & Boat Density
It shows the overall Heron Lake site with similar sized houses on every lot and counting the townhouses, there are 186 residences shown. Those are the only people that would have access to the water. There will be 90 lakefront houses and 96 non-lakefront lots (including townhouses and lofts). This exhibit should also be interesting because we placed boats and docks for a sense of scale and for planning on how large we would allow the docks. Not counting the docked boats, there are 19 boats (25 footers) shown on the water. That number is significant and here is why:
What is “typical” shoreline and lakes within the public lakeband? Thankfully our years of due diligence allowed us to compile information on over 30,000 residences on public lakes in Steuben, Lagrange, Noble, and Kosciusko Counties (12,000 of which are secondary residences). Chances are if you live on public lakeshore your lot averages 50ft in width and 110ft deep (Heron averages 85ft x 200ft). Your desirable lake, even with all of the swampy shoreline and unusable areas, averages 62ft of shoreline per lakeshore residence (Heron averages 160ft [not counting island shoreline]). Heron Lake and the desirable lakes within the lakeband all have around an average of 1.2 lake acres per lakeshore residence. But Heron also differs greatly on boats launched per lake acre because Heron doesn’t have a public landing. Busy days on the desirable lakes can result in more boats launched than total residences on water. Less desirable lakes will have an even higher density of shoreline residences.
So what was the deal with 19 boats shown on the exhibit? We utilized and applied lake use studies from over 100 private and public lakes across the nation to determine what the optimal uses of our lake would be, given the unique private lake status, community focus and unique amenities for our region. Those 19 boats represent the statistical maximum number of boats that are projected to be on Heron Lake at a maximum-use time. And the studies indicate that this “rush hour” will last for around 1 hour. On average there should be 3-4 boats on the lake at any given daylight hour. This represents 20% of the typical boats per acre on public water.
So can we ski, fish, cruise, etc on Heron Lake? I would certainly hope so since our lake has much better ratios (typically almost double) than the public lakes to the north and west. One must remember that a vast majority of the 30,000 lake residences are on a public water that has worse lake use and area ratios than Heron. Yet there is a great demand for those lake lots and the lifestyle is enjoyed by many. Heron Lake can also accommodate uses that are not allowed on the public lakeband, such as reserving a basin for special events. The property management company will ensure that Heron Lake will be enjoyed by the residents for all of their specific uses for many many years to come!
I hope you were at least interested enough in the numbers to make it this far! Thank you for your interest in the Heron Lake project and your valuable feedback as we proceed with developing a truly unique lakefront community.
Don’t forget to schedule your tour and experience the lake firsthand!
My best,
Stephen Brown
Managing Partner
Heron Development LLC
