The Tennessean , Saturday, 01/20/07

Scarce permits create dock envy along lake
Old Hickory haves out price have-nots

By CLAY CAREY
Staff Writer

HENDERSONVILLE — Bob and Angie Balgemann have tried to get permission to build a boat dock in the lagoon behind their home since they moved to their lakefront home in late 2004. 

"We've got the right slope. We've got the right depth," Bob Balgemann said. But the Balgemanns knew when they bought the home that it was in an area tapped for environmental preservation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the property around Old Hickory Lake.

They hoped the Corps would open up the cove to homeowners who wanted to build private residential docks. That hasn't happened.

"If you look at every area where there's a cove like ours, every one has docks. … It doesn't seem fair," Bob Balgemann said.

The Corps often deals with the issue of where boat docks can and can't be located.

Every five years, the Corps of Engineers re-evaluates its Shoreline Management Plan, which sets out which land is OK for boat docks and which parcels aren't.

Kenny Claywell, conservation biologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that evaluation is under way now.

The Corps has received more than 200 requests to loosen restrictions along the lake, he said. When the plan was last re-examined in 2001, the Corps eased restrictions on about 3½ miles of shoreline.

"The Shoreline Management Plan is designed to balance the use of the lake," allowing development in some areas while keeping others as natural as possible, Claywell said.

Docks boost value

Right now, there are about 2,000 private residential and community docks on Old Hickory Lake, Claywell said.

To qualify for a dock permit, homeowners on the lake must meet several benchmarks involving water depth, length of shoreline and distance from other docks.

But, he said, "areas that meet that criteria and are open are hard to find" because most of them have been developed.

The Corps' strict land-use policy has for years been a sticking point for many who live along the lake.

It has also become a major factor in the lakefront real estate market.

Lakefront property, dock or no dock, "is very limited and very expensive," said Gallatin real estate agent Jenny Markham.

On Jan. 9, there were 38 active homes with boat docks for sale along the lake, Markham said. The average size was 5,180 square feet. The average asking price was $1.55 million.

That same day, there were 17 active listings of lakefront homes without docks. The average asking price was $970,000. Eight of those homes are in Fairvue Plantation, an upscale golf course community in Gallatin. In the past six months, 12 homes without docks sold, bringing an average price of $360,000, she said.

"The Corps has a very difficult job. If one home has a boat dock and their neighbor doesn't, the home with the dock is going to be much more valuable," Markham said.

The demand stems from Old Hickory Lake being the only lake where you can own a boat dock and be within commuting distance of Nashville, said Lee Courtwright, a Hermitage real estate agent.

"Most of my clients, 99 percent of them, want a dock," he said. "The demand is there, but the houses aren't."

A homeowner can buy a nice dock for about $25,000, Courtwright said, but the presence of a dock, or a dock permit, on a listed property can increase its value by "several hundred thousand dollars."

He said he has a lakefront home with a dock listed for sale in Old Hickory priced at just under $1.4 million. That home "would probably have a hard time selling at even a million without having the dock permit," Courtwright said.

Several lots across the cove from that home recently sold for between $330,000 and $360,000, he said.

They had permits for a community dock.

"I could not see those same lots selling for even $200,000 without the (dock) permit," Courtwright said.

Development is limited

Many older homes on the lake in Hendersonville are being bought and bulldozed, with new mansions going up on those lots, Markham said.

About half the land around Old Hickory Lake is protected from any type of waterfront alteration. That property includes parks operated by local governments and the Corps, as well as land backing up to residential properties where the Corps won't allow the shore's natural state to be altered.

On the other half, limited development is allowed along the shore. In some cases, that can include the construction of boat docks. In other cases, the only changes that homeowners are allowed to make involve mowing the grass on the bank.