Paper: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)

Title: CRITICS SAY SPRAWL MAKES LEXINGTON LOOK JUST LIKE EVERYPLACE ELSE

Author: Peter Baniak, www.Herald-Leader.com Staff Writer

Date: May 16, 1999

Section: Main News

Page: A1

 

Walter May was lost in suburbia.

 

One minute, May was piloting his 1989 Buick LeSabre off Man o' War Boulevard and into one of the newest housing subdivisions in southeast Lexington.A moment later, he found himself in a maze of cul-de-sacs amid dense rows of brick-and-vinyl houses that all looked the same.

 

For more information, please click the link.

From someone who has a severe case of suburbanitis, thanks for sharing!

I feel that much this board is group therapy for those of us who find ourselves with "suburbanitis".  It makes me feel better to vent after a trip to visit one of my friends who lives in an area full of identical houses and strip malls.

My only wish is that more people can wake up from their suburban trance. Where I work, few people understand why I live downtown, some (my boss, for example) are downright hostile about it. I feel like a saved man in a den of sinners.

I feel like saved man in a den of sinners.

 

Well, I basically died for your sins and your sins only.  I don't do that too often...

He's three...three...three dieties in one!

This certainly applies to Columbus. The city sure annexes a lot of land, but it does nothing to provide an alternative to sprawl.

"Cute sprawl," is how Michael Pawlukiewicz of the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., describes new urbanist projects.

 

I don't know Mr. Pawlukiewicz, but as far as I can tell, the ULI has come to fully embrace new urbanism within the last few years.

 

And enough with the "front porches" angle already...

 

Well, this article is from 1999.

 

What we are seeing is a new development trend that is gaining momentum as people are,

a) Tired of long and excessive commutes on roadways that are inadequate,

b) Tired of blandness and strip malls,

c) Wish for something more than a tiny yard and vinyl house,

d) Want to be more involved in their community,

etc.

 

I moved from an apartment three miles from the city center (it's in a 1960s era development) to a downtown high-rise in late 2006. I love it here, and although the apartment is way smaller, I've made much better usage of my available space, especially in my closets and other spaces.

My only wish is that more people can wake up from their suburban trance. Where I work, few people understand why I live downtown, some (my boss, for example) are downright hostile about it. I feel like a saved man in a den of sinners.

 

For more than 20 years I worked for General Electric about 15 minutes' walk from my house in a near-downtown neighborhood.

 

At one time I worked for a homophobic, racist redneck who told me during a performance evaluation that he didn't like my walking to work in "that neighborhood" because if anything happened to me, he'd have to find a replacement and that would be a lot of extra work.

 

In the eighties, when the company consolidated some operations, they relocated a number of salaried people to Fort Wayne. One of the guys who came into the department where I worked had enjoyed living in a small-city neighborhood before. When he asked the company-provided realtor about city properties, the realtor took him on a tour of some of the trashiest neighborhoods and showed him some really crappy properties, and then started pressuring him to build new in a miles-away subdivision on the pretext that there wasn't much available in the way of decent existing homes.

 

I hooked him up with a realtor who listed good properties in city neighborhoods, and he found just what he was looking for.

You guys will like this --

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=34263

 

Summerfield development - basically doubling the footprint of nearby Snow Hill, Maryland. What is great about this development is its style of development...

I think this is why the Urban Land Institute guy (quoted on another thread) called Smart Growth, "cute sprawl".  Although they do good work, you only see a firm like DPZ designing from-scratch developments way out in the suburbs, or in this case, in a rural area.  Previous projects they've done include Kentlands (in suburban Gaithersburg, MD), and Seaside, Florida (the town in "The Truman Show"). 

 

I have to wonder why, if they value these principles so much, are they never engaged in an urban infill project???

 

 

"We have only one person to blame," he said, "and that's each other."

 

Hang on, that's at least two people!

Urban infill projects typically take twice as long to approve and are much more costly (esp. if there are demolitions involved). I applaud the Snow Hill, Maryland project because it doesn't stray far into the farmlands and is in a natural development path, since the newer high school is to the north which would usually result in housing tracts to the south. If this was out in the middle of nowhere, I would object, but these are people that will move here rather than in some sprawling mess - which is better overall.

 

To elaborate on the first two statements I made, projects like the "500's on the Main" and "Main+Rose" took about a year and a half for approval. Subdivisions in the urban service boundary average three or four months; those in the rural service boundary take years and years and may never be approved since it is outside the development zone.

WTF?

 

http://www.beazer.com/findHome/community.asp?CommunityID=2831

 

"Live seconds away from where you shop, eat, and play! With larger lots and new floor plans ranging in size from 2,321 to 3,347 square feet you will be sure to build the home that fits your family's lifestyle."

 

Yet all the homes are extremely large. What, does the average family sport 4 or 5 kids now?

^ Must be Mormon. :lol: I was going to add something else that was more substantive...nope it's gone. Oh!  I had a question: anyone seen the development in Barbeton that Duany's organization is building? It's called New Haven.

 

http://www.dpz.com/project.aspx?Project_Number=9740&Project_Name=New+Haven

 

http://www.forestcity.net/PROPERTIES/new-haven.asp

Summerfield/Snow Hill is indeed a great project, and DPZ does in fact do infill projects within existing urban contexts.

 

With regard to greenfield development, planning firms are hired by developers.  It is the developer who chooses the site.  Does the design firm a) choose to become involved with the project and design with the best principles in mind, or b) turn down the job and not only lose the money, but let the site be designed and developed as hybrid, pseudo-NU at best or conventional sprawl at worst?

 

Ultimately, if a site is going to be developed regardless, should it not set a precedent for future development?

oh, and seicer, here's another that's a little closer to home.

 

http://www.nortoncommons.com/index.asp

WTF?

 

http://www.beazer.com/findHome/community.asp?CommunityID=2831

 

"Live seconds away from where you shop, eat, and play! With larger lots and new floor plans ranging in size from 2,321 to 3,347 square feet you will be sure to build the home that fits your family's lifestyle."

 

Yet all the homes are extremely large. What, does the average family sport 4 or 5 kids now?

 

Truth be told, though, a lot of older homes in established urban neighborhoods are about this size.  I live in an 1890's rowhouse, and if you include the basement (which is finished), it's about 4000 sf of living space.  Even a "typical" rowhouse has about 2200 sf of space, and a lot of the three story houses are in the neighborhood of 3000 sf.

 

Then again, the typical lot size is about 0.02 acres....