May 4, 2008
Lost in the discussion regarding the city’s mistake in giving a permit to build a modern suburban home in a historic suburban neighborhood is what the home actually looks like.
The major bone of contention appears to be the scale – a two-story home next to one-story homes – and the garage door, which faces the street and is the dominant feature of the home.
Ok, so I haven’t seen it. But I’ve seen the rendering, and it made me wonder: Why on earth would the guy build such a home in such a neighborhood? It just strikes me as bad taste. Look at the image on the side of the page and decide for yourself.
But if I chose to build in a historic district – historic in the sense that it was one of the city’s first suburbs – I’d try to match the aesthetic surrounding me. Or at least try not to overpower it.
Still, the city cannot penalize someone for poor taste, especially when the city itself gave the guy the go-ahead. And now there are larger political ramifications at stake – how badly will this hurt West-Central city Rep. Susie Byrd, in an election cycle that culminates with a vote about this time next year – and what the heck is the mayor thinking in using his first veto on this? He didn’t speak to Byrd about it, and at first glance, his action likely will not help the family and might in fact do the opposite, costing both the family and the city more time and money.
On the other hand, he’s also in a 2009 election cycle, and who know how long this will take to be resolved. Maybe when election time rolls around all anyone will remember is this narrative: He used his veto to support an overpowered homeowner against an overbearing City Council.
And all this over a house.
Actually, understanding the adage that all politics is local, perhaps “all this over a house” is not so unreasonable. A few passionate actors on each side -- who is more passionate than someone fighting for their homes and neighborhood? – and a volatile political atmosphere make this situation very understandable. If it wasn’t this, it was bound to be something else.
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I live in historic Sunset Heights, where the aesthetic is a little less prim than the Austin Terrace hood, especially the Cumberland Circle part.
In Sunset, we have a little project of our own. It’s a four-unit condo on Upson Street, across the street and a few houses down from Mundy Park.
This presents a different set of challenges. I haven’t heard any objections to the homes, which in fact blend fairly well with the neighborhood. In fact, they look pretty good, and further, they’re great examples of “infill development,” where a builder takes advantage of empty lots in established neighborhoods. You can view the home as the second image to the side of the page.
Infill development is good for the city in several ways. The neighborhood already has the full range of city services, from the physical infrastructure of water and sewer and roads to the social and cultural infrastructure of schools, police and fire protection, and parks.
So it produces taxes, enlivens the neighborhood, and doesn’t cost much more, if anything, to the community at large. Where there’s a question of how much the community pays versus what it makes from new development – hence the coming battle over impact fees -- there’s little question infill development is a net gain.
Winton-Flair, which built the homes, ought to be congratulated for taking this rare step. I don’t know if it’s the lack of large lots, or lack of a market, or some city regulations that have kept builders from this sort of thing. Likely it’s a combination of those factors, along with the idea that there’s money in mass production, so building a whole lot of houses from a handful of templates probably produces a better profit margin than a unique home built to fit a unique lot in a unique neighborhood.
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But I mentioned challenges.
The homes are priced at $169,000, according to the television ads I’ve seen for the project.
That’s a bit more than I can afford, and I imagine more than many of the people in this neighborhood can afford.
Things change, though, and Sunset, which already endured a wave of speculation because of the its proximity to Downtown and the previously low prices for homes, has seemed for the last five years or so on the verge of a Kerning.
So the challenge is a personal one: How do I price myself back into the neighborhood?
And in a way, the challenge is communal: How to we maintain the diversity, the funkiness, the low rents that attract students to live here?
It’s sort of the same challenge the city at large faces, as the economy changes through a natural confluence of events – the critical mass reached when the population hits a certain point, the growth of Fort Bliss, the medical school – and the active efforts of the progressive business class, which true to its 1920s lineage seeks to build, build, build.
In a way, it’s sort of Darwinian. Whether you like it or not, you have to start running a bit faster to keep up. Everything starts moving a bit faster. We’re creating, producing, consuming at a higher level. Sort of like being in a city in the United States.
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Sooner or later, it comes home, whether to Austin Terrace or Sunset Heights. In different ways, we all have to manage the change as best we can, and cope with what we cannot manage to our liking.
If we’re in the suburban core of the city in a genteel neighborhood we want to protect it from the barbarians. If we’re in a funky neighborhood we want to protect it from gentrification.
And even on the edges, in homes yet to be built, we face issues of whether new neighborhoods ought to look different, and how different. Soon, we’re going to have a community discussion regarding how much those new homes in those new neighborhoods ought to pay the rest of us to make up for the fact that we’re going to be paying for their water and sewer and police and fire and schools and libraries and parks.
Some of those new neighborhoods in El Paso are going to be in gated communities, with homeowner associations. Luckily for us, we have little experience with that in El Paso. But it’s coming, just like in the rest of the really sprawling Southwest – Phoenix, Dallas, Las Vegas, even Albuquerque. Want to paint your house? Rock your lawn? Put a slide set in the backyard that your neighbors can see? Better check the fine print, because your HOA may not allow it.
In a way, it’s too bad Austin Terrace didn’t have an HOA. Well, in a way, it does, in terms of having rules set up by virtue of its designation as a historic district.
All this over a house.
It really does make sense.