Posted on 12/31/2006 3:10:03 PM PST by Lorianne
Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver are creating strategies to encourage the development of modest, more affordable houses ___ In these three Pacific Northwest cities, the progressive power of urban planning is taken very seriously, and concepts like livability and sustainability dominate the local civic culture to such an extent that to visit all three in rapid succession, as I did in October, is to drop in on another country. It’s not the United States or Canada, but a more highly evolved combination of the two.
In each city I was impressed by major developments, dramatic projects that promised to refresh the urban landscape in conspicuous ways.
It was in Seattle, however, where I saw the best small house. Dave Sarti, who co-taught a design-build studio at the University of Washington last year, had constructed an 800-square-foot house with a 160-square-foot double-height attached workshop. It’s a sweet fire-engine-red box planted in the backyard of a Central District home. I walked down the grassy driveway past an unremarkable blue traditional home and was surprised to see this Bauhaus cube where another yard might have a swing set.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
" I develop land for houses and it's always been my dream to make a quaint subdivision full of small, quaint houses. I'm talking small here. My target market would be young couples or the retired."
LOL I live in a "village" like that. Largest houses have 3 bedrooms, and are about 1200 sf. My house is 2 bedrooms and 990 sf. Granted, it's army housing... LOL But it IS a house. And compared to the fact that most Army base housing is duplexes, quads, or flats, I am very happy with my teeny house. We did have a larger flat in Germany...but...we also had a neighbor above, below and on both sides. Given the option, I'd take the smaller house with a real fenced in back yard (that happens to be larger than the house...but that's another story) any day.
That said...when we retire, I will not live in any house smaller than 2500 sf. And I want at least 3 acres. I hate having my china cabinet in the living room, because there isn't room in the dining room, and being forced to use garage door instead of the front door because the only place the Christmas tree will fit is in front of the front door! LOL
Teehee...I wrote a novella...Sorry! Happy Nearly New Year!
Hey, I understand. And these won't be for everyone. But they will be for enough, I believe.
Zoning laws make little sense.
Seems you have support here from conservatives. I looked at a site plan once for a proposed development in which the entire median was a fenced in playground for children. Every home had a front porch so the parents could watch their children too.....what a concept! /sarc
I'm currently living in my first home. It's a 3br 2ba 1450 sq/ft ranch in the pacific NW. Bought it for 127,000 in 1999 and currently similar homes in the same neighborhood selling for over 180,000 (that's including the bursting housing bubble). We'll be here at least another 18 years at which time we'll look for a place to retire to outside of the peoples republic of oregon.
Libs gaze with loving admiration at the photos taken of the Unabomber's 12x12 shack in the Montana Rockies. That's their idea of a great home...for everybody but themselves.
That's rationalizing at best, sophistry at worst.
Set up the rules, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I dismiss that argument, totally, as fraudulent.
My bedroom is the size of a small studio apartment. I'd love to drywall half of it off for some storage space or a small sitting room.
Big open floor plans are very nice aesthetically and they show very well as models but they aren't very functional for day to day life. Especially when you have kids.
You talking about Adair? My parents had one of those.
That is why I love rural Tennessee. 2,200 sqft on an acre of ground and $750/yr property taxes.
And wait until these urban planners see their little villages of ticky-tack going to seed in a few years. It will look like the government planned housing developments of the late 40's.
Then they will get out the bulldozers and mandate larger houses and lots.
This is what happens when architects think they are urban planners.
Urban sprawl is the natural outcome of freedom of choice, and a person has a right to a large home if he wants.
Where will these people store all their Birkenstocks?
"...don't forget the 35k for the land..."
Where did you find a building site for $35K? You can hardly find one for under $90K in my town and most are over $100K. Of course, the minimum size here is 2 1/2 lots. I wish there were enough 900 to 1200 sq. ft. homes to go around. Most kids today are going to be hard pressed to ever buy a home at the current prices. And with rents over a thousand a month for a dump, there's no way to save for a down payment.
I have told my hubby many times that this house is definitely cozy. And it would be sweet and great if 1) we had fewer belongings (we collected ALOT in our 4 years in Germany), 2) it had hard wood floors instead of "public school tiles and 3) we didn't have a 6 yr old, a cat and a golden retriever. LOL Bob the fish doesn't take much room...but he's the only one! But, we aren't trading the little princess, Bella the tornado cat, or Rummy for anything. :)
"What sort of idiots write this stuff with a straight
Face?"
The short answer is: Libroid presstitutes. ;-)
You got that right. We downsized from 2500 sq ft to 1900 sq ft ten years ago... not enough storage, we had to add on.
If you can't argue with facts, dance.
Good try. :-)
The American dream can be to live in an enormous house, or to live in a beautiful, convenient neighborhood, but it is impossible to be both. People have different dreams, and I'm happier in my dense town than I'd be in the country.
Cities are just trying to find a way to make their lifestyle available to people who are priced out by extreme demand for existing houses. Sounds laudable to me.
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