Wetlands are a good thing because they provide flood storage capacity so we don't get flooded and because they provide open space and habitat for many animals.
But wetlands can be the silent deal breaker for a self storage project because typically they are highly regulated at the local level and national level. Wetland regulations not only want to protect the wetlands from development they also want a buffer for additional protection of wetlands. Wetland buffer can be 0 feet to 300' often around 50 feet +_.
Just last week a Franchises owner found a site that checked all the boxes. The agents said no wetlands, the available national soils maps gave no indication of wetlands, google mapping gave no indication of wetlands and the topography mapping gave no indication of mapping.
It was not long into the site walk before even a novice could see trouble.
And it looked so good from the street!
Now you can't tell me the owner or agent had no idea how wet this site was. Nothing was mentioned by the agent or in the listing so remember it is a buyer beware world.
I know many people like to get aaproperty under contract before they do too much research or due dilliignece but my concern is the time and energy and money to get a signed contract can be substantial. In this cases a 2 hour walk save the $3,000 Attorney fee to write up the purchase and sale agreement and saved mega hours.
Wetlands are typically not this easy to recognize. And in most cases you need to be an expert to know where wetland start and stop. So once a contract is signed you want to be prepared to get a soil scientist checking the site for wetlands the week right after a contract is signed. Otherwise you may be pouring good money on boundary and topography sureveys if wetlands are found later in the process.