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I'm considering a fairly simple new home design for an area that may or may not be currently served by existing infrastructure, but not really interested in being dependent upon any of that anyway. From what little I know of the area it seems that the local governments are not equipped, or possibly experienced enough, to effectively plan municipal growth and development. These last couple of words are notorious for their politically espoused supposed "good" vs. practical reality of being horrid. Growth is not good (IMO), especially unplanned and unregulated growth. I may be interpreting what I've read incorrectly, but I get the sense that the existing infrastructure is, at the very least, severely stressed, and at worst, failing quite miserably. I've not read anywhere that the local governments are requiring anything of prospective developers in terms of impact fees or contributions toward improving existing public infrastructure that their projects will inevitably be adding even more stress to.

Unfortunately what I have read is about all sorts of rather kooky development ideas, from water parks to giant golf resorts, but with that I've not seen any sort of plan for new waste water treatment, storm water management, or distribution systems for electricity, sewage and water, to say nothing of roads and increased maintenance, so what gives? Given the growing interest of outsiders in relocating there, along with my perception of municipal authorities with limited to no financial resources, I would expect that corruption involving poorly conceived land development projects and complicit gov't officials is near rampant. Don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, but I've witnessed this happening my whole life here in the States, and the public ALWAYS gets stuck holding the bag, whether the impact damage done is from residential, commercial, or industrial development, so I say again, growth is usually bad.

Taking all of that into consideration, my own intention is to construct a new residence that does nothing to add to, but decreases, the present stresses being placed on the existing environment and infrastructure. This would manifest itself as a structure that does not require being tied to the local power grid, produces no physical waste stream of any sort, provides a neutral or negative impact on the existing storm water runoff patterns, and requires no connection to the publicly available water system. This is not purely conceptual, as I have built numerous iterations and similar structures in the past in the States, but, like apparently too many others, I am still interested in relocating there. What I do not want to do is to add to what I perceive as being an already worsening problem, and while I realize that, even with a zero home, we will still represent yet another vehicle on the road when we do venture forth,  I'm basically a homebody who is perfectly happy not seeing stop signs or traffic for weeks at a time, so I doubt anyone will hardly notice I'm there.

Anywho, just curious about folks' take on the current state and trends of development in the area and whether or not my rather bleak view is accurate? I would add that I lived on the Chesapeake Bay for a lot of years (another shallow saucer of water that people tend to mistake for being an unlimited resource with an infinite capacity for somehow absorbing all sorts of waste), and the lake seems to be suffering a lot of similar challenges. The Chesapeake Bay is declining terribly under the current onslaught of environmental irresponsibility  being perpetrated by the present Imbecile in Chief, and I hope to hear that the people of Mexico are not being similarly poorly served.

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@el blanco barbaYou summed that up rather nicely. The infrastructure here is most definitely not keeping pace with the growth. When and if it will take place is a crap shoot. Electricity is being upgraded and internet is being upgraded. There are excellent solar installers here. Self sustaining is possible.

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el blanco barba:  Have you visited here as yet?  I would strongly advise doing so before making a decision to move here.  All of the problems you named exist and are worsening daily as more people move here.  There are other desirable areas in Mexico where you would probably enjoy living more than here and what this is becoming.  The traffic problem is getting worse daily...and this is the "slow" season.  Because of the topography and the presence of existing businesses along the main highway, turning it into a 4 lane or more is virtually UN-doable or very unlikely to happen.  On the south side of the lake villages,  there is the lake barrier and on the other, a steep mountain range.  When you directly observe the situation, you will see the extent of the problem.  Best of luck in your research, and kudos for planning to build an eco-friendly home. 

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We also grow most of our own food, so soil fertility and climate are driving a great deal of this, that and the fact that I enjoy the Mexican people, cuisine, and general approach to life, so the North Shore was an obvious choice. The unfortunate impact of greed, corruption, and wide spread public apathy seems ubiquitous wherever you look, unless it's an area that has already completely crashed and is in some stage of recovery. Obviously we cannot get away with that kind of crap forever as a species, but we continue trying to skate on that very fine razor's edge. 

Urban sprawl destroyed our first Utopia, so we moved successively further and further out into the country, but here in the States that means deeper and deeper into the industrial agriculture nightmare. Right now, in the U.S. it is less dangerous to your health to live in a city than the country. How through the looking glass is that? Thanks to unfettered use and continuing proliferation of ever more and more economic poisons (the actual term that the gov't uses for all of the pesticides that are sprayed here) our remote rural county is one of those leading the nation in cancer deaths per capita, so paradise is not only lost, but polluted to the point of being deadly.

Attended a meeting the other day where we learned that the combination of ignored regulations regarding well drilling and water use has resulted in a situation where the combined pumping of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's) and center pivot boom irrigation of these asininely delicate GMO crops is drawing our aquifers down at a rate that exceeds their ability to recharge by about 5% per year. That's right folks, we may have 20 years before the aquifer that supports life in our area is completely exhausted, collapsed, and or completely infiltrated by salt water, so move over third world countries, the U.S. is trying to be made "Great Again", whatever the hell that means.  :(

In answer to gringal, no I have not, yet, but my bestie (she's a biologist who is also considering the move) and I are planning a trip for the very near future, hence my joining this forum as a part of our overall due diligence. I realize that no place any longer exists that doesn't suffer its own problems, so I suppose we're basically just trying to size up which ones we're most able and willing to try and tolerate or mitigate. We're exhausted from fighting the good fight around here to effect any kind of reasonable change, and our current POTUS has simply made that exponentially worse, so forgive the political snipes, but his impact is a fact in its negative reality. We've just had enough.

Our local, and State politicians are just as corrupt and self serving as any, but we're also dealing with on-going industrial polluting from things like DuPont's PLAS's, on top of regular over-spray and drift from all sorts of deadly "'cides" used to grow all of this so-called "food". It's literally so out of control that cognitive dissonance now rules the day. You can either spend you days fighting it (akin to shoveling sand against the tide) or simply retreat into your home and self medicate in hopes of making it all go away. Neither of these two was ever a part of my retirement plan, so I figure if I'm going to have to suffer these types of indignities, at least I still possess the means of choosing better weather and nicer people to do it around. Beyond that, we're just hoping to find a place where we can respectfully do our own thing without bothering anyone and where they might respect that enough to just leave us alone. The prospects for most of that here in the States continues to degrade daily.

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I thnk you may be to late for te North shore if you are on the younger side.. I was there this week again and they are offering a huge amounts of lots from 200 squaremeters to 1000 square meters so they are planning to have construction all over the place.. It does not mean it will exist  but there is a large amount of land for sale before you get to the intersection of the road that goe to Mazamitla.. I had not gone there for years and they also have a very large amount of rasberry farms so all you can see are th plastic domes.. 

The 400 square mter lots are being offered at 400 pesos a meter... I sure would not move around that area if I was looking for peace and quiet.. There are lots more options in Mexico than the Lake Chapala area and its crooked government.. not that the government is not crooked everywhere else..

 

I think that when it comes to corruption , you have not see anything unless you have lived in some African countries or in Latin America before,, Mexico is way up there , the US maybe corrupt but they are amateurs..

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This is just my take in general:

All your questions and concerns all depends on after you get started and by buying land and researching what land "might" be the best choice. Towns and villiages have their own unique problems and infrastructure limitations is one of them in some places but if you travel around Mexico long enough and read Mexican news you soon will realized that in general Mexicans are quite good at improvising to solve problems. Sometime it is not "Kosher" but it gets things done and other times no problems arise and yet other times it can be a disaster.

Rome didn't get built in a day but in Mexico they think it did. You should see how fast buildings go up in Mexico. Of course those people building large buildings have connections where they count. If you have a very experienced architect like we had no problems. If you try to build it yourself with no connections locally to save money I personally wouldn't even try. It might cost more in the end.

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Relax.

This isn't paradise as many will say, but you may find it to your liking if you can just relax and find a way to turn off the hamster wheel in your head.

No matter what you think, no matter how much planning you do, no matter how much you believe you "have all your ducks in a row" ( I HATE that saying!), Mexico has a way of teaching you that you just need to...relax and take life easy. Otherwise, you will find yourself wishing for something different, something that may no longer be attainable anywhere.

This locale has changed so much in the years I've been here and it continues to change at such a rapid pace that answers to questions you ask today will no longer be true 6-months from now. Planning for the long term is, IMO, impossible at this point in world history and certainly in Mexico. You just have to relax and enjoy what you can day by day.

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21 hours ago, bmh said:

I thnk you may be to late for te North shore if you are on the younger side.. I was there this week again and they are offering a huge amounts of lots from 200 squaremeters to 1000 square meters so they are planning to have construction all over the place.. It does not mean it will exist  but there is a large amount of land for sale before you get to the intersection of the road that goe to Mazamitla.. I had not gone there for years and they also have a very large amount of rasberry farms so all you can see are th plastic domes.. 

The 400 square mter lots are being offered at 400 pesos a meter... I sure would not move around that area if I was looking for peace and quiet.. There are lots more options in Mexico than the Lake Chapala area and its crooked government.. not that the government is not crooked everywhere else..

 

I think that when it comes to corruption , you have not see anything unless you have lived in some African countries or in Latin America before,, Mexico is way up there , the US maybe corrupt but they are amateurs..

Well said!  However...lakeside has always reaped the benefits of stars-in their-eyes Newbies moving in.  They usually bring plenty of money, invest it unwisely, get angry, don't learn the patience necessary to make it in Mexico, and then return somewhere NOB never to be heard from again. Except for having to put up with them while still in town, it;s actually a win for the area...economically speaking.

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Pappy, you made me laugh. I ran into a guy at the hardware store about a year ago, buying paint, and he was talking about his friends that had decided to "flee the US" after the 2016 election. I just laughed, knowing that these are NOT patient people, and that Mexico would eat them alive. If I were in real estate, I could turn a quick profit by selling them a house on their move-in, and in two years, sell it again when they hry leave out of frustration. Two quick commissions in 2 short years! LOL.. 

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I think it’s a great idea to build an eco-friendly home in this area. It would be a first (as far as I know) but could serve as an example for the younger, more environmentally aware people who are moving here fir the lifestyle and who can work from home.

There are many groups and movements , mostly Mexican, who would welcome your ideas and the University of Guadalajara has many experts willing to provide information on how to do it . 

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