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Speaking of development, Camden County is embarking on a project to extend sewer capacity to the eastern part of the county. So we'll be seeing more sprawl in Atco, Winslow, etc. in the coming years. Apparently these areas don't fall under the protection of laws that regulate development in the Pine Barrens.
Speaking of development, Camden County is embarking on a project to extend sewer capacity to the eastern part of the county. So we'll be seeing more sprawl in Atco, Winslow, etc. in the coming years. Apparently these areas don't fall under the protection of laws that regulate development in the Pine Barrens.
Maybe future developers will see fit to and build something ala Medford in the form of a more spread-out community with tasteful, lot-appropriate homes, along with some open tracts to allow for a healthy variety in housing stock via custom construction.
I thought they were cutting down on the McMansions since people couldn't afford them.
I read somewhere recently that they are planning to build new houses that are slighly smaller in size in the coming years so that they are more easily affordable. I will believe it when I see it.
They probably are cutting down on the McMansions. I'm talking about twenty - twenty-five years or so ago when all this happened.
I will believe that when I see it, too. The sizes of these houses are ridiculous.
I have a brother who does painting in areas like Upper Saddle River, where you are required to have at least two acres to build and the houses are huge. He says that he goes into these houses and they all have empty rooms with no furniture in them. They aren't even using all that space.
I have a brother who does painting in areas like Upper Saddle River, where you are required to have at least two acres to build and the houses are huge. He says that he goes into these houses and they all have empty rooms with no furniture in them. They aren't even using all that space.
They probably are cutting down on the McMansions. I'm talking about twenty - twenty-five years or so ago when all this happened.
They are cutting back, at least where I live. The Swedesboro area went through quite a housing boom over the past ten years, particularly in Woolwich Twp. While Logan where I live stayed relatively stable we did have a couple new developments go up. Most of them were more standard sized, say 2,200-2,500 sq.ft. on around .25 acres. However, there was one development that was started as what can only be described as McMansions.
The houses were 3,200 sq.ft. at a minimum with most averaging 3,500+. They were also built on slightly less then .25 acres. The first phase was built out, but the builder (Orleans) had issues and was bought out. They are now starting to build again and while phase 2 was supposed to be the same size, they have switched to smaller homes. The new ones going up start around 2,400 sq.ft. and they top out at ~2,800. The main reasons cited were cost of homes (the first units sold in the $500k+ range, while the new ones are starting around $350k) and that people didn't want that large of a house with the cost of utilities and the fact that most of the space ended up being redundant or unused.
My son has a friend who lives in one of the largest models in that development and while the house is nice (for what amounts to a giant box), I'm constantly shocked by how empty it feels inside even with normal furniture in each room. Also, while they actually have furniture in all the rooms on the main floor, two of the bedrooms are completely empty and the finished basment has no furniture, just a big open room with some toys in it.
As someone who is almost done Architecture school, I believe I have a valid comment here on those McMansions. The main issue with them, at least from my own observations, is that they are designed not around human comforts and needs, but around maximizing space and profit. They are designed to give people as much square-footage as possible for as little money as possible. These decorated boxes give people the objects they want in spaces that are just poorly designed. They take up the whole yard putting strain on drainage systems, put strain on the local utilities and roads, and typically tick of locals by taking over fields and forests they played in and inviting annoying people from the city over (not that everyone in these developments is that way)
What the heck is a "McMansion"? I've seen this term quite a bit. Someone please elaborate and enlighten.
It's basically a house designed solely for maximizing square footage. There really is no clear definition or picture that encompasses what it is (it's kind of the SC definition of porn, "you know it when you see it"), but just imagine what most developers are building these days in suburban subdivisions. All the houses are giant and use odd mixed architectural elements so they aren't really any kind of style, just some generic box with gingerbread tacked on.
Some examples...
As you can tell from the pictures, large houses (generally way out of proportion to what is in the rest of the area) and no real architectural style (everything looks like it was basically tacked on to a giant box).
As you can tell from the pictures, large houses (generally way out of proportion to what is in the rest of the area) and no real architectural style (everything looks like it was basically tacked on to a giant box).
And man are they U-G-L-Y!
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heh heh
