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Chuck
Member
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# Posted: 5 Jan 2018 10:43am
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Hi all,
New to the site. Great to be able to consult here. I previously built a cabin West of Ottawa (Ompah, near Plevna) but recently sold the property in order to get a bush lot nearer Ottawa. I have seen treed lots for sale in Bourget, Monkland, Spencerville, etc. But I find it difficult to decipher what zone desination (s) allow for cabins. The lots on the outskirts of Bourget are termed residential with houses built on other lots.
I tried to look at the by-laws for Ottawa zones, etc and it seems recreational is a good designation but no references to cabin dwellings. Can anyone 1) confirm "recreational" is the only zone to build cabins? 2) What might be good areas close to Ottawa that would allow cabin builds?
Thanks very much.
Chuck
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 5 Jan 2018 11:09am - Edited by: Steve_S
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Well Chuck, having escaped Ottawa and the region... I resided in Embrun / Casselman, had homes in Chesterville and towards Cornwall as well over the decades. I spent a LOT of time trying to find the kind of region that would allow for Cabineering / Homesteading and believe it or not, Plevna is an area I looked at as it was acceptable there... there was one spot that really got me BUT the Real Estate agent was such a derwood I had to pas on it and spent another 6 months and a few thousand kliks of driving, looking and furling looking for the "right place" and found a few. I avoided going east of Ottawa because it's oddly NOT Cabineer / small homestead friendly... looked as far as Vankleek ! and towards Cornwall, well there's just something wrong with those folks. No Offence intended to anyone near there but you all KNOW what I mean...
Once you hit the united counties of Renfrew, your getting into friendlier country, further "up the line" it improves but of course the farther you are from the Ottawa UCZ which is good for security but more distance from some things... not great if your gonna commute to the City. I found my land in the fringes Renfrew County which is friendly and it's designated as Recreational / Hunt Camp so flexible for my needs & wants. North Frontenac was reasonably open minded when I was looking but realtors are not terribly interested in smaller, undeveloped lands, so your searching on your own. Use https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/index.aspx to get pretty much most listings on the market (takes a bit of time to learn how to use the search & zoom feature but worth it).
If you find a spot that fits your needs / wants, most real estate dimwits haven't a clue about the fine details, so ask BUT use a healthy dose of salt when listening... Contact the local town building dept. and ask them about what the town / country requirements are, minimums, differences between the land designations and what is permissible or not. BE GENERIC and approach it with "I'm considering buying some land in this area and would like to know what the requirements etc are in these regards" kind of approach. Ask about Hunt Camps, Seasonal or Year Round use Recreational, Bunkies, Cabins and if < 1000 square feet is OK etc... Do you have to have a primary residence before a bunkie ? Is Septic a requirement or can grey water & composting be used ?
Once zeroed in more, then look at where the water is (for well etc) and luckily in Ontario we have the Well Database which will tell you what depths the wells are in you target area, when drilled, how drilled, recovery rates etc... See Here: https://www.ontario.ca/environment-and-energy/map-well-records
Remember to carry a compass so you know where N-S-E-W are when looking at the land (don't trust to your smartphone) so you can determine if solar etc will work (if that's part of your plans).
Hope that helps. Good Luck & Welcome to the Forum !
PS: Look more towards Pembroke for more favourable $ per acre value, also you might consider buy a small "wood lot" which could accommodate hunt-camp rec. ** Foymount, Brudenel have several smaller ones for sale & well priced too (as of last fall)** Lots of stuff around here is "wood lots" used for logging and they can be quite attractive when you know how to shop them BUT they tend to be larger properties but sometimes many smaller ones all lumped together over the years.
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Chuck
Member
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# Posted: 5 Jan 2018 01:11pm
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Hey Steve, thanks for that great reply. Your sidebars about real estate types made me laugh hard as I had many similar experiences dealing with many who are so ethically-challenged they don't realize how obvious it is. Anyhow, thanks also for the tip and link re. Wells. I have been doing most of the lot searches by having five different Ottawa real estate web search engines (including the one you mentioned) run searches with keywords, etc. Plus I use Google maps for closeups. I'm grateful that you confirmed, by your own experiences, that I wasn't just imagining the difficulty of getting setup nearer Ottawa, the by-law capital of the world! I will start focussing my searches around Renfrew/Pembroke, etc.and see what I can dig up. One of the other features I'm looking for in the woodlot is the presence of some sugar maples so I can do some hobby maple syrup like I was able to do in Ompah (though I had no well and my cabin wascwired for generator only, so it was hard going).
Anywho, thanks for the reply and welcome. Appreciate it muchly!
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Mare1971
Member
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2018 12:27pm
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Awesome info! New member here, from Eastern Ontario  I've heard properties get cheaper heading north past Renfrew, but we're looking farther (much farther lol) north... Hopefully an unorganized township past north bay. Hundreds of acres for 20k type thing . Luv it! Looking forward to learning alot from this forum! Cheers!
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2018 12:49pm
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@Mare1971 Here is a handy resource
http://www.taxsaleproperty.org/
and here (worth looking at for numbers & values and to see what's available)
https://www.landwatch.com/default.aspx?ct=R&type=5,71456;268,6839&r.PRIC=%2c42999
* Note some lands are woodlots and may have restrictions, others are just open and they also list unincorporated areas as well.
Hope it helps.
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Mare1971
Member
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2018 03:52pm
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Thanks Steve!!
I just lost an hour of my afternoon happily browsing properties on the recreationland. net, I think it was? lol
Wow, some GORGEOUS stuff out there! 😆 Leaning more towards doing the little downpayment now, spending the next year or so clearing bush etc and then b ready to jump right in when we sell our current house in about a year (waiting for son to finish high school!)
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Houska
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2018 10:38am
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Shamelessly piggybacking on thread. Have been sorta looking for cabin-suitable land close-ish to Ottawa for about 2 years, decided to make it more a priority this year.
Thanks to Steve for the informative post. Have heard from several people that North Frontenac is more flexible than South Frontenac (and, as you say, going up past Renfrew even better). In comparison, how is Central Frontenac and Tay Valley? Any experience?
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2018 10:55am
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I had discussions with both North & South Frontenac bldg. depts. while I was searching and I did find that N Frontenac was far more flexible for things (read as open minded) and had more options.
I did peruse Tay Valley down to Westport (love that town and area) and it all seemed reasonable but I never had talks with their building depts. A friend has a place in Westport and he had some issues due to the Watershed protections in his corner... It is one of those areas that is just complicated when it comes to water resources... so many lakes, creeks etc...
Good time right now to start perusing listings and making lists of areas, potential properties to go see, especially as the thaws happen, you get to see how wet, high & dry etc the properties are and how the access looks.
Good Luck and have fun on the hunt.
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Houska
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2018 11:03am
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Thanks Steve - just checking, you talked to North and South Frontenac, but not Central Frontenac Twp, right? Thanks!
Had all sorts of plans to go down this week, but the dump of snow and freezing rain didn't help. Still hoping to do a bit of actual looking before turkey season starts.
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2018 11:49am
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I did not talk with the folks at Central Frontenac because the properties that I was interested in within that county were in the protected areas and that was simply not going to work for us...
I think many will get confused so I better clarify a point or two.
There was a lot of Township amalgamations done over the past 2 decades in Ontario and in the case of the "United Frontenac Counties" (ref below) many things joined together but building departments were setup "weird" for many reasons... Basically each "sub-county" got to keep it's own Bldg. Dept., inspectors and so on through transition and a lot of staffing changes.
REF: Frontenac Counties info;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontenac_County
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