pf_00145 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

this reluctance mu�t be suk�stantially reduced. Neighborhood Physical Design and Standards� The process of assembling land in large enough tracts to allow total design to tak� place is of crucial imgortance to the neighborhood con- cept. 15 In terrn� of neighb��-hood design, the tract builder has a great p�tential advantage over most of his competitors because of his large site. The �fact that the have not taken adrranta e of this asset d�es not vitzate the vali ity_o needin sizeable tracts o an in or er to ring a out more coherent nei h orhooc� desi n. A quick glance at plat maps �aves th� viewer wit�a litt e doubt that most new development is done in a very pie�emeal manner. Even if good desagners •�ere em�loyed and given a wi.de latitude �f discretion, (which they are not), many of them would be hard put to do much with the �mall sites. Although the detailed scale (t�aree or four blocks) can be worked out in a very desirable fashion, wh�n neighborhood and community �ca.le is considered, it is imperative that the de�i.gner be alloweci a great deal of freedom. Con- sequently, a prerequisite for more coherent and betiter neighborhood design is large site� assembled in single ownership or cooperative agreerz�ents among a number of property owners. Two factors seem to be primarily responsible f�r incoherent neighbor- hood desagn. First, the typical builder ir� this Area produces about 20 l:omes per year and obtains his iand a�out one or two years ahead of canstruction� Because of his small scale ope:ation, he does not have the need to a�semble and aption large tracts of land. Even i£ he desires to do so, th� typical builder has difficulty financing such an acquisition and paying �he tax assessments prior to its actually being developed. The second reason is that lenders are very reluctant to make large �and clevelopment loans. In consi�deration of these types of loans, the lender is particularly co�.cerned about the buildep's sicill, size oi� operation, and fin�.ncial capacity. Since the large builders are the ones who have the sizeable amounts of capital, it is understandable th�at they a�e a.ble to obtiain such loans much mor.e readily tiha.n the smaller builders. In this A rea th� lsndin� institutions have done ve ry little in the way of making land development loans for the purpo�e of assernbling, optioning, and acquiring lan.d. Thus, the financing burden of performing these ta�ks has fallen almost er�tirely on the k,uilder. Until the financial means are �rovided for the builder to take on large-scale land assembly or a public or quasi-public agency performs this operation or therrl, there is little likelihood that closely ante�rated ileighborhood development will occur. For the most part, whatever neighborhood development has occurred since 1950 may be considered as an outgrowth of the neighborhood design 1�As understood in this paper, the concEpt embodies the following core elements: a homogeneous residential area 5erved by an elementary schcol and local playground or park, bounded by natural barriers or major streets, and with a street system arranged to discourage through traffic .