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Old 12-06-2019, 08:11 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,581,731 times
Reputation: 5701

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro View Post
I guess by that point the urban areas will be re-gentrifying... it is progressive I'll give it that but the infrastructure here can barely handle the amount of people already in these areas let alone 3x as many... how are they going to account for that?

Also what about all those nice homes just west of downtown (Old West Austin, Tarrytown, West Lake Hills, ect) ... I cant realistically see them easily giving in to the new standards.
There's yard signs galore protesting the changes. It's a tough spot because I think most of us know we can't handle the growth the way it is, but we don't want to lose the charm of some of the great neighborhoods in the city. I am a runner and we frequently run through west Austin and East Austin and one of my fellow runners commented on loving the new builds I almost threw up a little in my mouth thinking how horrible the boxy post-modern homes looked in Tarrytown next to the old post war single story homes. Within the current rules I believe it says that if you sell your home the next buyer can put more then one home on the property, or you can keep the single home. If this current code passes I see people trying their hardest to hold on to their homes, selling to neighbors and even putting homes into wills so that no one can build a second home on the property. At least that's how i would handle it if I had old Austin money, just hand down the house to family members with the understanding that they don't sell it.
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Old 12-06-2019, 08:28 AM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,040,093 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
There's yard signs galore protesting the changes. It's a tough spot because I think most of us know we can't handle the growth the way it is, but we don't want to lose the charm of some of the great neighborhoods in the city. I am a runner and we frequently run through west Austin and East Austin and one of my fellow runners commented on loving the new builds I almost threw up a little in my mouth thinking how horrible the boxy post-modern homes looked in Tarrytown next to the old post war single story homes. Within the current rules I believe it says that if you sell your home the next buyer can put more then one home on the property, or you can keep the single home. If this current code passes I see people trying their hardest to hold on to their homes, selling to neighbors and even putting homes into wills so that no one can build a second home on the property. At least that's how i would handle it if I had old Austin money, just hand down the house to family members with the understanding that they don't sell it.
it is much less difficult than that. They can put a deed restriction on which bans multifamily on their lot. However that will lower the value of their home. That is where hypocrisy comes in. No one is going to put the deed restriction on and take a loss in value, but they want to stop everyone else from having multifamily.
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Old 12-06-2019, 09:08 AM
 
11,668 posts, read 7,814,305 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin97 View Post
it is much less difficult than that. They can put a deed restriction on which bans multifamily on their lot. However that will lower the value of their home. That is where hypocrisy comes in. No one is going to put the deed restriction on and take a loss in value, but they want to stop everyone else from having multifamily.
I dunno what to say, it would definitely be sad to see those areas west of downtown becoming remodeled to 600 sq-ft boxes though. I mean, we can't sprawl forever but wouldn't it have been better to have restricted these zonings to more confined areas?
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Old 12-06-2019, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
12,867 posts, read 13,173,864 times
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It wouldn’t be so bad if the builders put some decent architectural features into their designs instead of the current fugly crackerbox fad. Those Nasty things replacing the teardowns are horribly offensive to the eyes (and I have cataracts).
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Old 12-06-2019, 11:05 AM
 
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Originally Posted by ScoPro View Post
It wouldn’t be so bad if the builders put some decent architectural features into their designs instead of the current fugly crackerbox fad. Those Nasty things replacing the teardowns are horribly offensive to the eyes (and I have cataracts).
thats just opinion though. I like them, as do many other people. Modern style is simple with clean lines.
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Old 12-06-2019, 11:09 AM
 
11,668 posts, read 7,814,305 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin97 View Post
thats just opinion though. I like them, as do many other people. Modern style is simple with clean lines.
I don't see anything wrong with them persee but I'd be heart broken if I lived out in those areas I just mentioned to one day watch my house be remodeled into one. Those are altogether two different levels of housing.
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Old 12-06-2019, 11:37 AM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
12,867 posts, read 13,173,864 times
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There are many homebuyer shows where the “lookers” are stating how they avoid the cookie cutter neighborhoods from the 1950s - 1990s. What happened to those more discriminating homebuyers? These latest plain cardboard boxes are even worse than those older mass production tract houses. They look just like shoe boxes with absolutely no charm, no architectural detail, or character at all... very similar to the ugly Soviet bloc “style” of the 1950s.

Sorry, but I am not a fan of most of the examples being thrown up like “affordable portables” overnight. They are overpriced ghettos in the making, just like the massive 4 story tenements springing up all over. But the younger generations think a few scraps of granite countertops and stainless steel appliances are the end-all schitz. Very bland taste, IMO, like the generic white & black beer cans & food boxes from 1980. Of course the simple finishing carpentry makes it cheaper & easier for the builder, and they still stick the buyers with premium prices.

But hey, to each his own I guess.
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Old 12-06-2019, 12:41 PM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,040,093 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScoPro View Post
There are many homebuyer shows where the “lookers” are stating how they avoid the cookie cutter neighborhoods from the 1950s - 1990s. What happened to those more discriminating homebuyers? These latest plain cardboard boxes are even worse than those older mass production tract houses. They look just like shoe boxes with absolutely no charm, no architectural detail, or character at all... very similar to the ugly Soviet bloc “style” of the 1950s.

Sorry, but I am not a fan of most of the examples being thrown up like “affordable portables” overnight. They are overpriced ghettos in the making, just like the massive 4 story tenements springing up all over. But the younger generations think a few scraps of granite countertops and stainless steel appliances are the end-all schitz. Very bland taste, IMO, like the generic white & black beer cans & food boxes from 1980. Of course the simple finishing carpentry makes it cheaper & easier for the builder, and they still stick the buyers with premium prices.

But hey, to each his own I guess.
Modern is popular right now. You may think they lack architectural detail, but others prefer the simplicity of no flourishes etc. lots of people like crown molding and fancy baseboards, I prefer the clean lines of a 1x4. Lots of people like carved wooden chairs. Many people like the clean lines of modern chairs.

Architectural detail in the vast majority of housing is incongruent with the style anyway. The entire 90s and early 2000's are a mish mash of crap architecture. It is very rare to see a designed house anywhere. These houses are no worse than tract housing in just about every master planned neighborhood.

I prefer the look of agave and mueller over most other master planned communities (avery ranch, circle C, steiner, great hills, or even the mid century modern in nw hills).
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Old 12-06-2019, 12:48 PM
 
Location: Denver
4,716 posts, read 8,529,425 times
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With the architecture of density debate, I have been trying to shake off the rose-tinted glasses when it comes to historic buildings and recognize what's called "survivorship bias". My neighborhood and house were built at the turn of the 20th Century. All of the houses look unique and charming, but really, there's no more than a handful of floorplans, just over 100 years of customization by owners. The houses that weren't taken care of and/or not well-built have been torn down since. We tend to see historic building quality that is higher than today's, yet it's more just that the ugly, plain boxes of yesteryear have either been demolished or charmed up. During the mid-20th Century, Victorian architecture was considered ugly even.

I definitely agree that a lot of apartment buildings built in the Modernist/neo-Bauhaus style aren't done tastefully and won't age well. But it can be done right, and I believe many of them will age well, particularly the ones that have a lot of windows and earth-based exteriors like some of the buildings in Mueller, for instance. Personally, I think it looks way better than most mid-century modern strip malls and apartments, which Austin has plenty of in historic central neighborhoods. At least the complexes now have private balconies and can be repainted to a sane color once the "let's throw on random rectangles of color" trend goes away.

That said, the changes outlined in this draft of CodeNEXT won't encourage that kind of density in single family neighborhoods. They're just trying to facilitate for more mother-in-law units, with the possibility for townhomes close to transit corridors.
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Old 12-06-2019, 02:30 PM
 
11,668 posts, read 7,814,305 times
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While those homes are in demand right now, I can't help but wonder what will happen when the younger generation winds up married with children and how alluring those homes will remain after they have a family they have to take care of. I dont deny that they are needed as singles with college debt cant afford a decked out house but if they build that stuff in every other neighborhood what will happen in the future if the demand for them declines?
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