OpEd: Residential Design Standards----Public Discussion Coming ....Maybe

The detailed discussion about Residential Design Standards for Evansville Construction is scheduled to be held at the Planning Commission meeting for May. Also planning will discuss amendments to the Smart Growth Plan. More on the scheduling later.

If you click on the post, you can hear the speech of Mr. Tim Schwecke about the rationale for comprehensive design standards. First, there have been lessons learned from the "cookie cutter" look of neighborhoods on Countryside and parts of the Westside, where homes are almost identical for blocks. Steps in the design plan would limit identical design to 1 for every 4 houses. And---there would be limits to "snout houses" which look like the garage is larger than the house---in some cases it may be very close.

So much for the origin. In the ordinance proposed, the standards will apply to not only NEW construction, but to ALL ADDITIONS and REMODELING projects of current housing stock. One pundit has called this aspect---" historic district rules with teeth for everyone."

There is an additonal aspect of the design standards which would or could allow builders to have a menu of possible enhancements to a basic design that would earn the design a sum of 100 points and then be acceptable. In the previous planning meeting, the comments of the builders to this aspect was not revealed. There have been meetings about it, but their concerns have not been aired in public. I hope to report on their concerns when they are voiced at the planning meeting in May.

One of the theories that was aired at recent planning, was by Mr. Schwecke, and it asserted that the reason for the slow housing sales of new homes recently was that the previous additon plans of Capstone etc. had three size of lots each with sq. foot restrictions, and that this has left the big homes unbuilt and hurt the contractors. On the contrary, as I understand it, the purpose of the various sizes was to ensure that the city as a whole paid for the expenses involved in the development. There is a national housing slowdown. To assert that in Evansville the slowdown is caused by this previous three tier lot design seems unproven. I would hope previous adminstrators could weigh in on this assertion.

Finally----these matters are going to be discussed in June---right when all of Evansville leaves on vacation. Just like Smart Growth was implemented in June 2005. Only Doug Zweisig of Union as well as some residents of the Fourth ward were present at that meeting---these matters should be delayed to a month and time that the city can participate in the meeting.

Click on the post for the audio of this meeting. You make the call.