Neotraditional movement converting some builders

There has been a new movement rumbling through communities – it is a revolt against the suburbs.This new trend is a movement back to the traditional neighborhood where people can walk to shops and parks and talk to neighbors over their fence.
It is a revolt against the suburbs where all the houses look alike, where houses with four-car garages face the street and serve as the focal point of the house, and where winding roads and cul-de-sacs go nowhere.
The neoclassical or neotraditional neighborhoods are just beginning to spring up in cities along the Front Range, and they have critics and supporters among builders, developers and city officials, but the public seems to find these meccas increasingly attractive.
“Our studies show that these communities are very desirable to people,´ said Frank Bruno, assistant city manager of Fort Collins. “We hired consultants from Rutgers University, and we did a visual-preference survey showing the residents slides, and folks did like the old town look and the old town feel.”
The neotraditional community typically features a subdivision based on a grid format where streets all run in straight lines forming city blocks and linking to arterial streets for heavier traffic on the outskirts of the grid. The neighborhoods usually have alleys, with garages either recessed behind the house or facing the alleys. Large trees and houses with front porches line the streets. The homes are of various sizes and shapes, and small shops with upstairs apartments are mixed in with the houses.
Bruno said that the neotraditional community offers economy of land use, because the lots and houses are typically smaller. And even though the streets are narrower, they lead to shops and are easily accessible to main arterial streets.
“But I grew up in that type of neighborhood in Queens, New York, and it was a beautiful old neighborhood,” Bruno said. “People seem to prefer that look. It is a common-sense approach for transit systems and bike paths, and it is easier to access commercial and retail centers. I have also seen communities where they have used both neotraditional and the newer winding streets, and there are ways of using both.”
In Longmont, the city has agreed to try out the neotraditional community design. After working on their plans for more than three years, landowner Kiki Wallace and developer Dale Bruns finally convinced city officials to approve their plans for a community based on a traditional village. Originally named Burlington Village, the city would not approve the name, so Wallace changed the name of his community to Prospect – A traditional neighborhood.
The community was designed by Andres Duany, whose Miami firm DPZ designed Seaside, a community in Florida which gained national attention as the one of the first neotraditional neighborhoods. Seaside promoted mixed-use zoning, and most things are a five-minute walk from the center of the village. Duany said Longmont was in danger of being swallowed up by urban sprawl, but could still be saved.
The 80-acre parcel for Prospect, currently a tree farm, is located on the corner of U.S. Highway 287 and Pike Road. The original farm house, which sits on that corner, has been painted coral.
Wallace lives in the house and is remodeling the old building, which also houses his office. A turquoise refrigerator stands on the back porch and greets all the architects and planners as they file in to show off new house plans or show people lots. The house is in various stages of disarray, but no one seems to notice as architects lay plans out carefully on the floor. The infrastructure is in, and the roads are paved.
“The builders here are very much into design. These will be very livable houses with front porches and alleys and detached garages behind the houses,´ said Bruns. “We are planting huge trees, and it is much more expensive that way. We are not doing anything new – we are creating atmosphere.”
Prospect will have 335 homes, 15 to 20 commercial buildings and another 30 to 40 live-work units where apartments are located over shops or studios.
Homes will cost from $150,000 to $350,000. Bruns said 45 of the first 65 lots in phase I have already been sold. The lots run around $40,000. Many of the people buying lots are architects and builders.
“We stopped selling lots because we wanted some lots left for the public to be able to choose lots and plans,” Bruns said.
Boulder architect Chuck Sanders purchased a lot in Prospect because he had rented a cottage at Seaside and loved the feel of the community.
“I decided to go for less quantity and more quality,´ said Sanders, who is designing a 1,300-square-foot house on his lot. The three-story house will have three bedrooms, one bath and a two-car detached garage with an apartment on top. Sanders said the house and lot together will cost $135,000.
This will not include the garage, which he will build later. The cost is lower because he will do some of the work.
“My bedroom on the third floor will also be my studio, so I will work at home,” he said. “I have no trouble visualizing what this community will look like. Some people will love it when they see it, and some people won’t. I am living in a condo in Boulder, and it would cost $135,000 if I bought it.”
Sanders says he feels he can get more for his money in Prospect.
There will be a home-owners association, and fees will be from $60 to 90 per month. Ground-breaking for the first homes is expected to be Nov. 1.
Some communities are trying a combination of the old-town grid format and the new winding subdivision streets.
The downtown area in Greeley in a four-mile radius is built on the square-block grid.
“The newer parts of the city have curved streets and cul-de-sacs,´ said Leonard Wiest, assistant city manager of Greeley. “Basically, our comp plan calls for every mile to be an arterial street, north, south and east, west. It just happens that the mile markers fall on the section lines anyway. But inside the mile markers, the streets can be curved as long as people follow the subdivision regulations. I liked the old grid system. I liked it the way it was.”
Currently, Greeley’s comprehensive plan does not allow for mixed-use development in residential areas, but Wiest said the comp plan is being revised.
Some developers are not convinced that people really want to pay for the smaller homes and yards in neotraditional neighborhoods.
“We really haven’t seen much of it,´ said Jeff Rittner, office manager of KEM Homes in Fort Collins. “We feel that it is more expensive to build. People would rather pay for a larger structure with a lot. Curb appeal is nice, but people still want large houses on small lots. We have heard rumors that some developers from California want to build that type of housing.”
KEM Homes is building in 10 subdivisions in Windsor, Fort Collins and Loveland.
Several communities, including Broomfield, Boulder and Denver are also looking seriously at neotraditional communities. Northern Colorado seems more receptive to the traditional community idea.
Bill Schuck, president of Schuck Communities Inc. in Colorado Springs, is building a modified version of the neotraditional community on U.S. Highway 287 and Quail Road in Longmont.
Quail Ridge has 47 acres, and Schuck plans to build 402 units – 102 apartments, 56 townhomes and the rest single-family homes. The garages will be attached to the homes, but they will either be recessed from the front of the home or turned so the door does not face the street. It will not be a mixed-use development, and there won’t be any shops or studios.”We are considering it a neotraditional community,” Schuck said. “We are using a grid system, narrow streets, parks, a more traditional look. We do not have alleys, but we are using paseos, which are interior walkways to parks and link people to amenities. It has a more neighborhood feel.”
Town houses start at $100,000; homes start at $120,000 to $175,000.
Schuck said he hopes to complete phase I by early spring and says he thinks the lots will be sold out in three years. “I think the market is getting tired of the same old home design,” he said.ÿ