Re: Low cost housing | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Brian Bartholomew (bbstat.ufl.edu) | |
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 13:45:12 -0700 (PDT) |
> So what happened? Are you still planning a CoHo project? Here's the end of the zoning story: We had land offered to us on unbelievable terms by neighbors with compatible interests. The land was zoned right, in a fantastic location for commuting, large enough, pretty, and one edge abutted a dead-end street with a sewer connection down the middle of it. Even with the city-required PUD overhead, we still could have made our $125K buy-in target if we could build the house portion for $40K. Even this could be met by SIP-panel Katrina cottages. It was not all of what we wanted, but the math worked and the city requirements were satisfied. The final outcome? The INTERNAL zoning of the coho, which was entirely within our control, decided they would not tolerate "Katrina cottages" next to their bigger houses. The objection was, 'I'm not investing $XXXK over YY years to live next to a Katrina cottage.' Raising the house price to satisfy appearance demands exceeded too many people's budgets. Dead end. If the PUD overhead hadn't existed and could be spent on house instead, I believe we would have built. The subgroup that wanted to self-build looked for opportunities to do that. But, it decided that planning to build something that carefully didn't fall under any of the more intensive zoning categories was only one withheld permit, fine, or correction order away from a Catch-22 that would financially devastate everyone. Speaking only for myself, I still appreciate the sales pitch that originally attracted me to cohousing: shared cooking and eating of meals in a group kitchen, neighbors you know who will watch out for you, shared enjoyment of a larger greenspace than we could afford individually, voluntary agreements between unanimous parties. With the current economic mess pushing people to behave more cost- efficiently, there may be a better chance of building a coho now than before. Some neighboring counties have a zoning environment which is closer to 'don't ask, don't tell'. Opportunities for lower-impact cooperative living seem to have opened which didn't exist before. Brian
- Re: Terminology Suggestion, (continued)
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Re: Terminology Suggestion John Faust, May 13 2008
- Re: Terminology Suggestion Marganne, May 14 2008
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Low cost housing Brian Bartholomew, May 13 2008
- Re: Low cost housing James Kacki, May 13 2008
- Re: Low cost housing Brian Bartholomew, May 13 2008
- Re: Low cost housing Sharon Villines, May 13 2008
- Re: Low cost housing Brian Bartholomew, May 14 2008
- Re: Low cost housing Bruce Shimizu, May 14 2008
- Re: Low cost housing Mark Harfenist, May 14 2008
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Re: Terminology Suggestion John Faust, May 13 2008
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