Vacation Homes' Water Hazards

Oceans and Lakes Provide Bliss, But Owners Also Deal With Climate, Environmental, Legal Worries

When people meditate, they think of waterfalls. When they want to be reborn, they turn to consecrated water. Looking for fun? Try a splash in the surf.

Water. The allure is primal. And when people think of where they want to spend their golden years, they also think of water. A new survey by the National Association of Realtors found that two-thirds of vacation-home buyers sought to purchase homes close to an ocean, lake or river and that the average buyer chooses a property within 220 miles of the primary residence.

People who have done it call it bliss.

"It's as relaxing as it can be," said Scott Reeling, 40, a Howard County resident who bought a vacation home near Herring Creek in Berlin, Md., last year. "I grew up around water. To me, it's peaceful and relaxing."

George Waters, who bought a home on Lake Barcroft in Fairfax County 10 years ago, feels the same way: "It sort of gives you a feeling of tranquillity."

Developer Centex Homes is one of the builders hoping to capitalize on the yearning for a water-oriented existence. The publicly traded company has launched four new properties this year on the Eastern Shore, including projects in Berlin, West Ocean City, Bethany Beach and Lewes, and it has another new adult complex underway near Lake Frederick in Northern Virginia. Meanwhile, Beazer Homes, another prominent builder in the D.C. market, has two projects underway in Cambridge and one in Bethany Beach.

For homeowners and builders, heading to the shore is as elemental as the cycles of nature. But the prospect of so many people moving to the waterfront provokes emotions that are far from serene among meteorologists and ecologists, who raise questions about the planning and land-use implications of what could be an impending mass migration to areas that are already under considerable pressure. And attorneys say that many people who casually buy waterfront homes don't recognize, sometimes until too late, the financial and legal liabilities they can face.

"Everybody thinks their one little house won't make a difference," said Dana Beach, executive director of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League. "But water bodies by definition are systems with certain levels of ecological sensitivities, and the watersheds around them are part of the systems. Construction of housing along the edges of water bodies modifies the watershed."

Beach, who has studied the consequences of coastal sprawl, says land-development officials along the Atlantic coast, who often operate independently from one another without acknowledging the cumulative consequences of their actions, should work in a more concerted fashion to channel growth into areas that are already developed to minimize the effects on lands that are still pristine. He also promotes higher-density developments, where projects such as condominiums and townhouses are built closely together, leaving more surrounding land open and undisturbed.

The NAR study particularly worries the environmentalists at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who note that 16 million people live in the region and that many are likely to seek coastal living at some point. They say the Chesapeake Bay, and the tributaries in six states that drain into it, are already deteriorating under population pressures, even before the baby boom's retirements begin in earnest.

"The numbers of people are frightening enough," said William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. "The waterfront is the most sensitive area."

Not all development is environmentally hazardous, however, Baker said. He said some developers, particularly those that build in areas that are already developed, where public infrastructure is already available and where water and sewer lines are already in place, cause less damage than others. McLean-based Elm Street Development Inc., for example, Baker said, is building a water-oriented complex that is environmentally friendly in Vienna, Md., along the Nanticoke River.