Posted on 10/02/2011 2:28:40 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Roy and Karen Walker's condominium at Lake of the Ozarks fulfilled a retirement dream when the couple bought it nearly a decade ago.
The unit overlooking the relatively calm Niangua arm of the lake had everything they wanted. It was near town, right on the shoreline, with an easily accessible boat dock.
But proximity to the water has gone from a selling point to liability, their property from asset to albatross. The couple are among thousands of property owners along the lake now stuck in legal limbo after being notified that all or part of their homes, decks, gazebos and patios were built on land that belongs to Ameren Missouri's Bagnell Dam and Osage hydroelectric project.
What's more, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the agency that regulates the lake, the dam and the hydroelectric plant — issued an order that all of the so-called nonconforming structures must be removed.
St. Louis-based Ameren, caught in the middle of the dispute, has asked the federal agency to reconsider, at least with respect to the 1,200-plus residences in jeopardy. The utility, which manages the shoreline under federal oversight, wants to redraw the hydroelectric project boundary to exclude most, if not all, of the homes in danger.
Meanwhile, the Walkers and many of their neighbors at the Lake Valley Condominiums — many with substantial portions of their life savings locked up in their homes — are scrambling for answers. Two of the development's buildings, along with a swimming pool and new wastewater treatment plant, are supposedly situated on Ameren's property. Some of the neighboring homes are also at risk.
"How can you buy a home, pay taxes on it, take care of it and have someone say you don't own it?" Karen Walker said. "It seems like a bad dream."
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Normally that would be the case but it appears that the feds want to bulldoze the homes.
i don’t see this making it through court and it will be reversed by the next President.
Having boated quite a bit on Lake of the Ozarks, they are going to be attacking money that is, even by Texas standards, serious.
This is just not going to fly and they have managed to piss off every boater in the nation. These guys are committing suicide by sailor.
I wouldn’t use an attorney except in NY. Attorneys do lousy title chains and their work frequently ends up in court.
Title companies do a great job.
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