My WebLink
|
Help
|
About
|
Sign Out
Home
Search
07/26/2000 Env Bd Packet
LinoLakes
>
Advisory Boards & Commissions
>
Environmental Board
>
Packets
>
2000
>
07/26/2000 Env Bd Packet
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
7/31/2014 1:38:32 PM
Creation date
7/29/2014 11:31:28 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Environmental Board
Env Bd Document Type
Env Bd Packet
Meeting Date
07/26/2000
Env Bd Meeting Type
Regular
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
118
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
View images
View plain text
, • <br />Workshop <br />mm time to time articles have ap- <br />peared in Civil Engineering News <br />that describe the decades -old tech- <br />nique commonly referred to as <br />"clustering." Unfortunately, that concept suf- <br />fers a very poor reputation in many commu- <br />nities because it has been used mostly for the <br />convenience of developers who have taken <br />advantage of the lot size flexibility it offers <br />-in order to locate more homes on difficult <br />properties with environmental constraints. <br />As typically practiced, cluster design of- <br />. ten createstwo difficulties for subdivision ap- <br />plicants. First, increasing overall density tends <br />to trigger neighborhood complaints automati- <br />cally, regardless of the quality of the site de- <br />sign. Second, neighbors and local officials <br />have become disenchanted with cluster de- <br />velopment proposals where all or most of the <br />open space consists -of. unusable wetlands, <br />steep slopes, stormwater detention facilities, <br />land under high - tension lines, and other Fri- <br />endly undesirable areas. <br />As a practicing site designer, author, and <br />frequentiectu er on the topic of conservation Figure 2 (below).ldentiying primary conservation areas. <br />design, I would like to introduce readers of <br />. this magazine to what I feel is a much im- <br />proved version of clustering, one that I call <br />conservation subdivision design. The rel- <br />evance for civil engineers is that the tech - <br />nique can help them look at site design <br />through a slightly different kind of lens, one. . <br />that could improve community receptivity to— <br />flexible layouts, enhance marketing and sales <br />of the final housing product, and enlarge cli- <br />ents' overall profit margins. <br />Figure 1 (above).Yieid plan showing 32 lots. <br />EVEN NON - GOLFERS LIE GOLF <br />COURSE LOTS <br />A growing body of evidence suggests that <br />as borne buyers become more discriminat- <br />ing, they are demonstrating a clear prefer- <br />ence for homes in creatively designed devel- <br />opments that offer more than just house lots <br />and streets_One indication of the home buy- <br />ing public's increasing interest in site ameni- <br />ties and neighborhood open space is the ris- <br />ing popularity of golf course communities. <br />Interestingly, though, national statistics show <br />that an estimated 40 percent of golf commu- <br />nity residents do not play golf. Non - golfers <br />choose golf communities because they pre- <br />fer to live in park -like settings with views <br />that are more uplifting and pleasing than the <br />. sight of their neighbors' garage doors across <br />the street or the gas grill and patio set in the <br />abutting backyard. <br />• Outside Tampa, the developers of Hunter's <br />Oreen report that although many buyers want <br />to see. fairways from their living rooms, an- <br />other large group specifically desires a view <br />of wetland areas, where trees are draped in <br />Spanish moss and herons are frequent visi- <br />tors. And in the Philadelphia suburbs, one <br />recent survey of residents in new golf course <br />communities found that up to 80 percent of <br />new home buyers play little or no golf. <br />What can .civil engineers and residential <br />developers learn from this? A much less ex- <br />pensive way of satisfying many people's de- <br />sire to live near open space is to build con- <br />servation subdivisions that offer greenways <br />in place of fairways and community greens <br />instead of putting greets. Rather than shift- <br />ing around several million cubic yards of so <br />and recontouring the landscape into a price <br />18 -hole golf course complete with irrigation <br />systems and special turf, developers can use <br />the natural features that already distinguish <br />their properties to create conservation subdi- <br />visions at little or no additional cost. <br />This is not to suggest that new golf course <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.