Impact of Water Recreational Development on Rural Property Values

Abstract

Publio Investment in water-based recreation facilities is made to increase the recreation potential of an area and to improve the economic resource base of the area. Estimates of the impact of one such investment on the structure of the land market and on property values were made for a rural area in Pennsylvania. The findings of the study support the general hypothesis that invesbnent in water-based recreation facilities does significantly in8uence the value of runil property and the structure of the rural land market. Property characteristics and subdivision activity on surrounding properties had to be considered in addition to distance from the recreational development to measure the impact of this public Investment, E VALUATION of the economic contribution of recreation facilities has centered primarily on measuring fish and wildlife benefits and on determining factors which influence the extent to which such facilities are utilized [8,10,12]. These considerations are only part of a much broader problem. Of equal if not greater importance are the positive or negative impacts of recreational development projects on (1) employment, (2) distribution of income, (3) industrial development, and (4) the asset position of rural families in the surrounding areas. Some of these questions have been investigated [3,7].This article presents the results of research designed to evaluate the impact of a specific recreational park development on property assets in the nearby rural area. The study was confined to an analysis of (1) the extent to which the per-acre value of different types of properties located in the nearby area was affected by the park development,' and (2) the way in which the structure of the market for these properties was altered by the park development. The Study AreaThe basic data for this study were based upon transfers of properties located near a 2,25O-acre water-based state park which is within 20 miles of two relatively large population centers in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg with a population of 79,697 and York with a population of 54,504). Aco Authorized for publication as paper 3335 in the journal series of The Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station. This article was based on research conducted in cooperation with the Institute for Research on Land and Water Resources at The Pennsylvania State University. We wish to express our appreciation to Roger Downing for his assistance in carrying out the research and to Lee Day and J. D. Jansma for their comments on earlier drafts.

The contribution of scenic views of, and proximity to, lakes and reservoirs to property values

“…In 1959, however, the annual increase was 116%, or 107 percentage points above normal, rising to increases above the historical norm of 151, 196 and 227 percentage points in the 3 years subsequent (Mann & Mann, 1968). Schutjer and Hallberg (1968) confirmed the speculative influence of the announced development of a 2,250 acre water-based state park, including a 340 acre lake, in rural areas in the state of Pennsylvania by comparing sales prices before and after the announcement. Prices of undeveloped properties of less than two acres sold after the announcement were shown to decrease $293 with each mile from the park (% not reported), indicating the existence of a "proximity" effect, although there was no significant impact on properties of two acres or more, or on those with buildings.…”

System harmonisation: a framework for applied regional irrigation business planning

“…In contrast to natural conditions, the highest flows now occur in the summer period, to meet the needs of irrigators, while the lowest flows occur in the winter and spring, when the storages refill. Altering natural flows has implications for food security and biodiversity (Dudgeon, 2000;Thrupp, 2000) and environmental services (Poff et al, 1997), particularly when in-stream flows have high values (Church et al, 2007;Griffin and Hsu, 1993) and irrigation water serves multiple constituencies including sociocultural and amenity values (Schutjer and Hallberg, 1968;Stedman and Hammer, 2006), climatic and regulatory functions (Gordon and Folke, 2000), endangered species protection (Green and O'Connor, 2001), biodiversity conservation both in-stream as well as within farming systems (Aizaki et al, 2006;Matsuno et al, 2006), and a multi-jurisdictional resource for life support systems ( (Isely et al, 2007), with potential water policy having implications for future generations (Lind, 1997). A business case for private sector investments could be made when the restoration of natural flows and ecosystem services offers net returns over the costs of achieving it.…”

Estimating the Differential Change in Land Use Associated With Reservoir Construction

“…use simulation model. He concludes that the In -previous research, impact of reservoir con-Markovian process can be adopted to project future struction on property values, land use, housing and implications of past land use trends; moreover, the business activities; and spatial patterns of land use process provides a framework for analyzing alternachange surrounding a reservoir area were estimated tive institutional policies designed to influence future [6,9,5,7]. For the most part, previous studies have land use patterns.…”