Ski Lake Enthusiasts

[Djens]

I am looking for input from particularly those of you who live on a ski lake. Anyone else, feel free to chime in! I am in the process of building a ski lake - how many lots should I put? Where does that magical number lie between keeping the lost cost down and having your time on the lake not be jeopardized by too many skiiers/boarders?

[ral]

I would say that 40 active skiers is all a lake can handle. 20 lots would be a reasonable number.

 

Another alternative is to split lake ownership from lot ownership.

[akale15]

were you building at?

[Djens]

Utah. Something to think about.

[Marco]

We asked the same question to Will Bush before building our lake almost 10 years ago. His advice was to keep the ownership numbers to the minimum that we could afford. Less members not only means more lake time, but also less conflicts with people who have differing agendas. We ended up with 5 lots/Owners on our lake, and we watch so much flat water go unused it should be a crime.

 

As important as lot #s are, good, well written CC&R's specifically defining allowable uses, restrictions, rotation policies, building guidelines etc. are equally if not more important.

 

Good luck building your lake! It is an incredible amount of work, but completely worth it in the end.

[Steven_Haines]

Is this the site Scot Chipman has been talking about?

[FischersYearRound]

I think 14-16 lots.

[Djens]

Steven, after an email chat with Scot, it must be the same one. Scot?

 

[ral]

@Marco is right. The larger the number of owners, the more important good rules are.

 

5 lots (i.e. 5 owner families) is in the low end, and 20 is in the upper limit.

 

Also, democracy is something that does not tend to work in ski lake ownership (at least in my experience). We have a lake that is owned by 6 families. However, two families own 60% of the lake (it is an incorporated company). So I rule, as @OB does, as a benevolent dictator. And it works well for the moment.

 

Our lake has a large spare capacity, and we have non owners skiing as well. They usually behave, but always you have some that some times believe they own the place as well. Owners have the right to reserve rotations, and non-owners have to ski on a first come first serve basis. But if one of the owners show up even without a reservation, he has the right to go before a non owner. Which we believe is fair enough considering the not so small investment you need to make to own and maintain a part of the lake.

[MattP]

@OB you do a great job! We did not want to take it away from you! :)

[Djens]

Thanks for the comments. Any little bit of info on CC&R's, lot size, number of lots, etc will make our project a little easier. It would be awesome to hear more of what you would change at your lake, or what really works.

[jipster43]

The club I belong to has 10 members and none of us have kids that are really skiing yet. The lake is 40 minutes from Bozeman and only the owners live on it. Last year I shared the lake with another group three or four times. I think Bozeman has a very similar demographic as SLC. The folks here don't just talk about skiing, biking, climbing, etc. They are out there doing it and their kids are too. My fear with 16 lots per lake in an area like Utah is you'll have a lot of families with a lot of kids and a very busy lake. When I was a kid, we were on the water all day long in some respect or another. It's a whole different scene than a club filled with adults only.

 

I guess what I'm saying is if you are going to have 16 lots, don't sell to families or mating couples!

 

JP :)

[Djens]

JP: Thanks for the laughter and great insight. Looking into the size of families is helpful. I haven't seen the non mating couple yet in our list that want lots. Scot : great ideas.

anyone willing to send a copy of your CC&RS my way? Dtjens@gmail.com

 

[jipster43]

If you do have a wait you are doing it from home so you can do your normal daily stuff while you wait.

 

That's a good point. The truth is you could put 32 lots on each lake and it would still sound like Nirvana to me. The spiritual attainment that is.

 

Good luck Djens! I've flown over Ogden for hours using Google Earth plotting ski lakes. I can't imagine a better place to live. Bozeman is great, but your weather is way better. Of course we have a lot less people....

 

JP :)