[Winona Online Democracy] Scott & All
I have been staying out of this discussion so far, but I can't resist any longer. The city I serve as staff planner (Lake Elmo, 25 square miles and 7,500 souls today) has made a conscious decision to retain its "rural character" even though located about 12 miles east of St. Paul - a tough call for sure. To that end, a cluster (AKA "Conservation Development") ordinance was developed to guide City development in 1996 - the first in this State as far as I know. Since then, 13 cluster developments has been constructed in the City (nearly 500 units) - versus just one "sprawl" 2.5 acre conventional plat during the same period. Ordinance-mandated characteristics of our cluster developments include: 1. At least 50% of the buildable project site area must be aggregated and permanently preserved open space. The future development rights to the open space must be extinguished by a conservation easement. Most of the conservation easements run to the Minnesota Land Trust (to overcome political tinkering in the future). The design of the aggregated open space is encouraged to preserve the "view sheds" along major roadways - preserve the physical rural character of the community. Most of the clusters are invisible to the arterial roadway traveler. 2. On the balance of the site, individual home sights can be a minimum of 3/4 acre with common wastewater treatment (see below); or 1 acre with on-site septic (ISTS). With ISTS, two drainfields must be demonstrated on each site - up front.The overall site density is set at not more that 16 units per 40 acres; and, you need 40 acres to "get in the game". 3. The length of internal pedestrian/bike trails must equal the length of public roadway of the development. The City is linking the neighborhood trail networks using park dedication funds. 4. Some of the neighborhoods are served by City water, and about half are served with common wastewater treatment systems. These wastewater systems are "state of the art", and far too complex to explain here. Suffice to say that the process water infiltrating from the final treatment cell is drinking water quality 1.5 feet below the bottom of the cell. We monitor the performance of these systems very closely - and they perform as designed. In fact we have just completed design of a 5 cell public system that will serve 1,000 homes, of which half is our existing "Old Village". This will be an 8 figure construction project, so will surely be done in stages. With 7 years and 13 neighborhoods of experience we have found that the residents of these neighborhoods uniformly love them. They do not have acres to maintain, yet nearly every home has "wide open spaces" in its rear yard - that will always remain that way. Oh, and since we are so close to the Metro Core, why do we eschew Metro Sewer in favor of our high tech local design? Well, we have a Metropolitan Government here that runs the sewer system. They operate on the "Golden Rule" - with their "gold" (Metro sewers) comes their "rules" (suburban style development like ever other suburb you have ever seen), plus a tad of Social Engineering. Much of what Scott would prefer to see in his ideal neighborhood can be found in our clusters (including community gardens in the preserved open space). Lots of natural prairie landscaping, varied architecture and the like. Sorry Scott, no fences, however. We do not require this, but every one of the cluster neighborhoods prohibits fences and accessory buildings by covenant. One more thing. The clusters also make sense from a municipal operations perspective vis-a-vis "sprawl" conventional platting. Per housing unit, the City will have less street length, water line length ,and (in some cases) sewer line length to maintain today and some day replace. Now this is not affordable housing by any stretch, and nobody is making any excuses for that here. The wastewater solution is no less costly than public sewer, and the land is about $40K per acre raw. The living experience is cherished by those that have purchased in the clusters. As their public servant, that makes this local planner happy! Chuck Dillerud ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Lowery" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 9:31 AM Subject: [Winona] Re: development, population, etc > [Winona Online Democracy] > > Great discussion so far! I'm generally in agreement with Phil's point of > view on the benefits of clustering vs. sprawl. (And, if someone else hasn't > already pointed this out, clusters of development are potentially more > likely to incorporate the possibility of biking or walking as a functional > alternative to automotive errands.) > > On the other hand, I've lived in a rural cluster (the suburbs of > Rollingstone) for the past 10 years. It's been a great place to raise kids, > and I hope Dick Gaffron and others are ultimately successful in putting > together some growth plans that will keep our school population at a viable > level. (Another way to do this would be to make some reasonable adjustments > to busing boundaries, for instance bus Minneiska kids here instead of all > the way to Goodview, but that's another thread I guess!) > > However, I do find myself frequently indulging in the typical American > hankering for "more elbow room." Maybe some of the reasons are things that > planners and developers could think about addressing in the future? Here > are some of my specific hankerings: > > A good sized, practical spot for vegetable gardening! After years of > climbing up our terraced backyard to water and weed, we've finally given up > on growing anything except flowers, basil and cilantro. I think a > community-minded rural development could include an acre or so of flat, > sunny community garden space that would be available to anyone so inclined. > A Community Garden Committee could easily manage things like fencing, > rototilling, and watering. > > Less time devoted to mowing, fertilizing, etc! If not for the neighborhood > peer pressure, I would be much less inclined to strive for the golf course > look. How about a development that incorporates more native prairie > plantings or other ground covers as an alternative to non-native turf that > requires lots of water, herbicide and mowing. Also, how about using > berm/catchment areas at the bottom of slopes to act as small wetlands in > processing runoff before it hits the local trout stream? > > More buffering between neighbors! It's the New England idea of good fences > making good neighbors. People have such different ideas about when to play > their car stereos in the driveway, or how loud to yell at family members, > or how to manage their big dogs. It's inevitable. So why do we have the > idea that houses all have to be aligned with the same setback from the > road, or that the road has to be straight? And why do virtually all > develpments end up being on cropland or clearcuts, rather than developing a > wood lot and leaving in clusters of brush and trees. Many of us look for > exactly that if we're going camping in a State Park--why not in a building > site? > > I'd be interested in reactions from those who know more about the actual > logistics and economics of development. Are these kinds of ideas too > expensive? And if so, could some of that expense be offset by cutting back > on the sheer SIZE of the houses themselves? As many of us boomers say > goodbye to the kids, isn't there going to be a market for some modest sized > houses (let's say 1500 sq ft, 1.5 bath, 2 BR) instead of these McMansions > you see going up everywhere? > > > > > > > > > ---------- > "If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely > challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn > between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world. > This makes it hard to plan the day." > -- E. B. White > > sent by: > > Scott Lowery > 461 Sunnyview Drive, Rollingstone MN 55969 > home phone: (507)689-4532 > school phone: (507)454-9573 (Winona Area Learning Center) > home email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > school email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy > All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. > No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. > To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit > http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona > Any problems or suggestions can be directed to > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at > http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
