THE VILLAGE TOWN WILL BE LIKE A HISTORIC DISCTICT

No Sprawl - It's like a Historic District

 Traditionally villages and towns had absolute boundaries. They did not sprawl, but stayed within their limits, surrounded by green.

This historic town in England does not allow change - but the cars change it completely.

The concept of a historic district has two parts. One part refers to a place that is old. The other refers to a set of rules that inhibit or prevent exterior alteration to buildings, streets and the urban landscape. When we speak of making a VillageTown like a historic district, we mean the latter understanding.

In a VillageTown, once built, the job of construction is over. It should have been designed so it will serve the evolving needs of the community without the need or whim of tearing down or building new. There are several reasons to do this:

Simplicity: In building a 4,000-home community in 12 months, it becomes important to eliminate as many variables and complications as possible. Knowing we have a locked plan to work from eliminates bottlenecks, cost overruns and delays. Having said this, those initial requirements must not be allowed to compromise the beauty, character or authenticity of what is built... it's going to be around for a long time.

Living Environment: Living in a place with the noise, traffic and dust of construction is noxious. While it is a temporary activity for one building, there are places where it seems as if at all times someone is tearing down and building something new, or putting on another addition. The cumulative effect of construction in such places is not temporary, and over time it degrades the quality of community life. When the rule is simple... no new construction, no altering of exterior shape, size or scale. The only work that occurs happens inside buildings that already have windows. The noise and dust is contained, and the construction supplies delivered do not need large trucks.

Regulation: As soon as one opens the possibility to change the urban landscape, a whole set of rule-making kicks in. One needs rules on building heights, frontages and setbacks, view corridors, open space, etc. This involves considerable cost and time delays because the rules need to be developed, negotiated and written in advance to anticipate what someone might do under the rules at some time in the future... in effect preventing clashes between private pecuniary interest and the public good. A project can get held up for months, or even years, as various professionals, officials, special interest groups and the legal profession get involved and keep the meter running. In a historic district, the rule on exterior alterations or new construction is remarkably simple and non-negotiable: "No."

Of course, there must be a procedure whereby changes can occur, just as there are such rules in historic districts, but these are evaluated with a far stricter, case-by-case set of criteria than the zoning rules that govern most districts - strict enough that they will rarely, if ever, be needed.

The importance of simplifying the regulations cannot be overstated. As one highly experienced developer commented "half of the job of development is securing permission." We need to streamline the permission process, and one of the best way to do this is to use what in the computer industry is called WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get. We then add to this the Dynamic Engagement Process whereby the plans are publicly developed, using a 100:1 3D scale model (sometimes called a Charrette) in which the local permit officials attend and dynamically approve or disapprove as the model is built. They see the height of buildings. They see the impact on solar gain, view shafts and other issues subject to development controls. They immediately identify offending proposals, and the matter is resolved instantly.

When all the modeling is done, and the provisional plan is re-reviewed to make sure there are no cumulative adverse impacts that only show up with the big picture, the plan is locked. The locking includes the binding representation that once built, there will be no exterior alterations, additions, new construction or demolition.
The simplest way to do this is to designate the VillageTown as an instant historic district. Of course, if during construction, certain engineering problems arise that require alterations, the local officials must have the power to approve such changes, but those powers cannot include approving requests to expand, only to correct.

Note that we use the word external. The VillageTown will provide for growth by an emphasis on two and three story buildings rather than single floor. Families that cannot afford a big home, or that will find their needs grow later as they have children and need more room, will be encouraged to order a three story building but only finish perhaps one or two floors of it. Using the rapid build process and a single bulk material, the actual cost of the extra walls and floors will be a relatively small portion of the total home cost.

Further, we recommend a building system that has no internal load bearing walls and uses interior wall systems that are relatively easy to install and remove. This allows for internal flexibility. Finally, we recommend staircases that allow floors to either be part of one home or divided into apartments, so a building can be a single family home, or three flats, without any changes required to the primary access stairs. Following these guidelines, homes can be modified as needs change without exterior construction or demolition.

On the question of what external changes means, each working group of founders for each village will draft an architectural code that becomes part of their regulatory approval. While the scale and shape of the buildings are locked, each village will decide how much regulation they want on surface and ornament. This code provides immediate guidance to the architect each homeowner hires to design the exterior face of their home. It also becomes relevant a few years or decades later when individuals want to freshen the look of their home.

In addition, the initial historic designation may include certain variables that one typically would not find in a traditional historic zone. For example, many villages may consider rooftop living space - a flat roof designed for outdoor living. However, depending on the climate some home owners may find they wish to install an open-air roof over some or all of the rooftop. Anticipating this in the beginning, and setting out specific rules related to non-combustibility, angle, roofing material and roof coverage, the permit may include permission to build this addition at some future time. It may also include a timeline, such as saying this right can be exercised only once every three years, so that needed crane trucks come in and disturb the community infrequently and can do several jobs sequentially.

Would you prefer to live in a picturesque town of many villages, surrounded by meadows, trees and countryside, or the sprawl you see below?  Eastern Missouri is the perfect place to build.  Let's do it together.  Take the time to read all of the other articles, then refer this blog to others, and contact me.  The time to build is now.