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Planning: general 🌇 Random Planning Thoughts (and Photos) Deserving No Thread Of Their Own

B'lieve said:
Are those what I think they are (topographical contour lines)...? [Puts in me eyes, enlarges pic, and squints :nerd: ] Ok, 1-foot contour intervals, that's not so bad.

But yes, urban-style density in isolation from urban infrastructure/jobs/amenities doesn't seem all that great. What's nearby? Are there any jobs/stores/schools within walking distance? Is there public water/sewer? Is there a bus line stopping at or near the entrance (and what's the service quality/frequency, what's it connect to, and how far away are all the destinations)? As for the size, what's the price of these expected to be, vs. the prices of existing housing in the area and other new housing going up (if any)? "Houselet" is better than "homeless". So many questions...

Did it get approved? Were any changes required before approval?
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Yes, it is within reasonable walking distance to employment, transit, and an elem school, but I doubt there will be few that don't use their precious SUV every day.
 
Doohickie said:
I hate hip roof homes with a passion.
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RandomPlanner said:
Ok, let's talk about multiple facades on a new structure like this. This reminds me of an older home that has been added onto multiple times over the years. When building the addition, they couldn't exactly duplicate the original façade so they tried to go with complementary facades instead. I've always hated that style. If you have a brick-clad house and you build an addition, please side it with brick in a similar color/ size as the original. Do NOT add vinyl siding to the addition on your brick home; it looks like garbage.

So this new house is trying to pretend that it was originally a three-bay brick Georgian home that has had some additions over the years.
But it's brand new.

I just don't get it.
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You guys are a tough crowd! You'll probably really hate the view from the other street (the house is on a corner):

1660672766571.png


FWIW, this is one of those houses in the 'hood that my wife comments about how ugly it is every time we go past it, yet I really like it. It's come up in conversation with some friends and other neighbors and seems to be one of the more divisive houses in the area. The house fronts to a little cul de sac which sits in the middle of a larger subdivision has pretty strict design standards but this particular cul de sac isn't actually part of the surrounding subdivision so they could build basically whatever they wanted. If they fronted the main road or were one parcel further north, they'd probably have a much more "traditional" looking home built there.
 
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WSU MUP Student said:
You guys are a tough crowd! You'll probably really hate the view from the other street (the house is on a corner):

View attachment 58086

FWIW, this is one of those houses in the 'hood that my wife comments about how ugly it is every time we go past it, yet I really like it. It's come up in conversation with some friends and other neighbors and seems to be one of the more decisive houses in the area. The house fronts to a little cul de sac which sits in the middle of a larger subdivision has pretty strict design standards but this particular cul de sac isn't actually part of the surrounding subdivision so they could build basically whatever they wanted. If they fronted the main road or were one parcel further north, they'd probably have a much more "traditional" looking home built there.
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I'm with your wife on this one: it's hideous.

Well actually, it's not hideous. It is a very nice looking, very large garage. (I don't want to live in a garage; apparently some people do.)
 
Planit said:
Hey mom, can I go to Dan's house? He lives on the street behind us. You need to give me a ride, its too far to walk.

1657027741316.png



Also, look at the address range. One street is the 1500 block & the other is in the 13400 block.
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When I worked in the local Italian restaurant during high school, it was about a half mile to walk to work, but only a quarter mile as the crow flies. I did the crow fly route (cutting through all the yards in a direct path to my parents' house) quite often when coming home. Bonus: A couple of yards had pools and I'd jump in one side and climb out the other. :D
 
Doohickie said:
When I worked in the local Italian restaurant during high school, it was about a half mile to walk to work, but only a quarter mile as the crow flies. I did the crow fly route (cutting through all the yards in a direct path to my parents' house) quite often when coming home. Bonus: A couple of yards had pools and I'd jump in one side and climb out the other. :D
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Strange addressing. Both locations are "unincorporated" based Orange County GIS.
 
Mental models, heuristics, rules of thumb. We all use them. These aren’t fully fleshed-out theories of how things work. They’re shortcuts: deliberately simplistic explanations of the causes and effects of some complex phenomenon. They are useful when we don’t have the ability, time, or inclination to grapple with how it works in a more precise way.

Most of us arrive at our opinions about a lot of real-world issues based on simple mental models. And when we are presented with new facts about the issue, our model is the scaffolding on which we hang those facts. When facts don’t fit our mental model, we’re liable to be confused by them or even disregard them.

This is a good general paragraph describing the psychology of our profession. From this article.
 
mendelman said:
Mental models, heuristics, rules of thumb. We all use them. These aren’t fully fleshed-out theories of how things work. They’re shortcuts: deliberately simplistic explanations of the causes and effects of some complex phenomenon. They are useful when we don’t have the ability, time, or inclination to grapple with how it works in a more precise way.

Most of us arrive at our opinions about a lot of real-world issues based on simple mental models. And when we are presented with new facts about the issue, our model is the scaffolding on which we hang those facts. When facts don’t fit our mental model, we’re liable to be confused by them or even disregard them.

This is a good general paragraph describing the psychology of our profession. From this article.
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Actually, that describes not only our profession but also the human condition in general. Confirmation bias is pretty much the framework that we plug the data into we receive. So long as the data fits (or can be made to fit) our current models all is well.
 
This picture came up during the planning conference talking about their historic downtown. All I could think about is "nice beaver"

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
Big businesses started as small businesses.

Therefore, take good care of your local small businesses as they may become the Walmart to your Bentonville.
 
Had a local libertarian complain about the house next door being a property maintenance issue due to cats and homeless people squatting in it. So we went through and condemned the property based on building code issues. Same lady came to the public hearing to decry government overreach.

Libertarian - when you're talking about my property / Karen - when we're talking about my neighbors
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
Had a local libertarian complain about the house next door being a property maintenance issue due to cats and homeless people squatting in it. So we went through and condemned the property based on building code issues. Same lady came to the public hearing to decry government overreach.

Libertarian - when you're talking about my property / Karen - when we're talking about my neighbors
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Totally read this as librarian the first time.
 
Gedunker said:
Libertarians are coming to my Planning meeting tonight, to seek redress from "government overreach".

I already have a headache.
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You must of course tell us more tomorrow. My go to answer is that you can buy the property if you don't like what's being done on it, but granted these fine people are most likely complaining about what they can't hypothetically do on their property.
 
Dan said:
I wonder if anyone can explain this.

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I have so many thoughts...

First, I wish I could see what the house has looked like in the past. Zillow claims it was built in 1963, the poor house is so very confused. I honestly don't even understand this house. What part came first? I'm assuming not the middle since it looks like garbage with mismatched windows out of alignment, a two-car garage, that gaudy upper veranda, and some weirdo front porch that looks totally out of place.

I'm not sure what's happening on the left side: does the house wrap around behind the far left deck areas? The aerial photo leads me to believe it does but for what reason, I have no idea. Hideous monstrosity from above

I guess I just don't understand the whyyyyy!
Did someone win the lottery and decide they could design their dream house?
Did they let their aspiring-architect-middle-schooler design it?
What is happening to the dormers on the right?
Did a landscaper and a roofer get married and decide to use this property as an experiment???

Also, what's with the logs all over the property? Is that by design?
 
 
I have a great $5k check sitting on my desk. Sadly it is not made out to DVDs beer money like I asked. Stupid applicants actually wanting their applications paid for.
 
Intermodal(ish) public transit for the win.

Rapid transit to heavy rail commuter - Jefferson Park Blue line stop to Jefferson Park Metra station.

Doing this right now.

@Tranplanner
 
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RandomPlanner said:
Ok, let's talk about multiple facades on a new structure like this. This reminds me of an older home that has been added onto multiple times over the years. When building the addition, they couldn't exactly duplicate the original façade so they tried to go with complementary facades instead. I've always hated that style. If you have a brick-clad house and you build an addition, please side it with brick in a similar color/ size as the original. Do NOT add vinyl siding to the addition on your brick home; it looks like garbage.

So this new house is trying to pretend that it was originally a three-bay brick Georgian home that has had some additions over the years.
But it's brand new.

I just don't get it.
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Dan said:
I wonder if anyone can explain this.

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  • Everyone likes the look of brick but it's more expensive, so people use it as an accent rather all around the house.
  • Cities have a minimum brick requirement (I know Ft Worth does) so new construction uses that percent of brick and not more than that.
  • Even though it was built as new construction, it was desired to make the house look like an older home that had an addition added.
My current home is brick all the way around the main structure, but the family room and kitchen, which protrude out the back of the main structure, are sided.
1664647536041.png


They were part of the original construction but from the outside they look like they may have been an addition to the main structure. I'm sure it saved a lot of money on masonry when the house was new, and from the front of the house all you see is brick.
1664647608501.png


I'm not averse to having a mix of brick and siding, as long as the breaks between them are done at major boundaries of the structure. When the brick just ends in the middle of a wall because the builder met their quota of brick can be tacky, like for instance on the back of my previous home:
c7190c03e2dda2f25d127f00f06b2e37-full.jpg
 
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