'Ok, if you like it, pay up $10K': Property owner drains a troublesome man-made pond on his land, neighborhood HOA complains, leading to a stalemate

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jul 19, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

Maintaining a rural property is more work than you think. City-slickers and townspeople never realize the daily labor that goes into keeping up seemingly natural land–as it turns out, nature always has a way of dismantling our fences, seizing back the natural landscape, and filling in man-made ponds. Not only are the calluses on your hands in danger of bursting, but rural landownership can cost a pretty penny when unnatural water features fall into disrepair. 

When the landowner in our next story saw the receipt for the cost of managing a man-made pond on his property, he just about fell out of his porch chair. With a hefty $10,000 annual pond management fee dangling over his head, the original poster of this story (OP), decided that he didn't need to deal with the hassle of a water feature on his land and decided to fill it in. For everyone's safety, a filled-in pond was less hazardous than an improperly maintained deathtrap. 

But apparently the HOA wasn't having it. 

Although the pond was well over the property line, the neighborhood Karens and Kevins decided that, despite the cost to OP, they wanted to keep enjoying the aesthetics of the pond. Keep scrolling to read how this property owner reeled in a victory over a stubborn HOA by playing the card that nobody can beat. 

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  • 01
    "The pond is on MY property"
    via canva
  • 02
    WIBTA for filling in a man- made "pond" against some neighbors' wishes? Not the For the past several years, I've owned a property in a semi-rural area. It is part of an HOA with only 12 houses over 1000 acres,
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 03
    so we don't get much in each others' way. There is a "common area" that abuts my property and on it there is a "pond" that is fed via an irrigation headgate on a creek on my property and a cut that runs from it through my property. I've come to discover
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 04
    this pond is a real pain. One neighbor used to maintain it (without making a fuss) but he died. So dealing with it fell to me, as the neighbor most affected by it. And it's a pain. People trespass
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 05
    to go fishing or having their dogs swim in it. People from outside have come to ice-skate on it (totally not safe!). It has silting problems. The headgate needs to be dug out every spring,
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 06
    sometimes multiple times. The cut clogs up and has to be cleared. Then a beaver took up residence and kept blocking the outflow culvert, causing a flood on neighboring farmer's land (he
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 07
    and I got the was rightly brunt of it). I was clearing out beaver blockages several days a week. Nobody else in the HOA would help. I did some research and discovered that the water right for the headgate belonged
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 08
    to *me alone* and not the association (whoops!), there was no easement for the irrigation cut and, cherry on the sundae, the pond is actually on my property and not common area. Had a survey done just to be sure. I also
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 09
    discovered it wasn't really a "pond" -- it was a hole dug up to provide fill for our road and the original developer just routed irrigation into the hole and called it a "pond", but this explains why it is such a mess.
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 10
    A landowner a mile away is now digging out a proper pond and he has to pay a ton to dispose of the fill (even though it is clean). I asked if it would help if he could put some of the fill in our "pond"
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 11
    and he offered to pay for the privilege. I have closed the headgate and started draining the pond. Some members of the HOA have been yelling at me that they like the pond (just to look at as they drive out to the main
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 12
    road). So I said, ok, if you like it, pay up $10K a year for someone to deal with the nonsense. They refused, I said that in that case the pond is getting filled in and planted with native grass, using the money from taking the fill They call me a selfish Am I?
    via Significant-Room-548
  • 13
    lamIrene 20h ago Well, that puts a very different spin on this. NTA. This is your property. You do with it as you wish, according to the bylaws of the HOA.
    via lamIrene
  • 14
    owls_and_cardin... • 20h ago NTA. You were burdened with a feature on your own property that you no longer wished to maintain. Based on your details, that was entirely your decision, and
    via owls_and_cardin
  • 15
    an apt one given that no one else in the association was willing to contribute. It sounds like an unfortunate error on the part of the HOA / leadership to have not set up the feature and its maintenance appropriately.
    via owls_and_cardin
  • 16
    Fleurtheleast • 20h ago Aficionado [13] So you have to pay for the privilege of maintaining a headache that they 'like to look at'? You have to break your back fixing yearlong issues while they literally drive on by? And YOU'RE the one who's selfish?
    via Fleurtheleast
  • 17
    Broad-Coach1151 20h ago NTA, but in any dispute I believe that the HOA is always in the wrong and has no right to exist, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
    via Broad-Coach1151
  • 18
    catinthecurtains 19h ago NTA. Have a similar situation on my dad's farm. Had a pond back off the road, no trespassing signs everywhere since it's an active farm (and private property). People would come on the property constantly to go fishing.
    via catinthecurtains
  • 19
    Dad tried putting barriers up, let the trees and shrubs overgrow so it would be less appealing. People just started bringing their own clippers to make a path to the pond. Four wheelers driving through the fields and ruining crops doing donuts. Would
    via catinthecurtains
  • 20
    vandalize the shed and hangar by it, steal equipment. One guy figured out how to crank an old tractor sitting by it (to steal it) but the transmission is seized so it doesn't move, then he couldn't figure out how to turn it off so
    via catinthecurtains
  • 21
    just left it running for us to find the next day. Finally Dad said enough, drained the pond and has been back filling. Neighbors . All they're have been doing by complaining is telling us exactly who has been trespassing this whole time.
    via catinthecurtains
  • 22
    Lithogiraffe • 20h ago Partassipant [4] NTA awesome that a guy has fill dirt to get rid of and you have a hole in need of fill. SYNERGY!!
    via Lithogiraffe

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