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I think you are fooling yourself as to how bad it can be. We tried living in our home during a minor renovation, that involved mostly new carpet and finishes and a few light fixtures, no major construction or remodeling and it was horrible. We finally moved into a motel the last week so we would not have to live with the constant dust, mess and odors.
The way we're planning to add on, the existing house will remain mostly untouched except for the kitchen. My dad was a compulsive remodeler/adder-onner to old houses, so it all seems normal to me. But I'm not discounting your advice
So yeah - UT needs to step up and build more dorms, and require freshmen and sophomores to live in them. The city needs to enforce its own zoning laws. There's room for everyone, but it won't happen by allowing neighborhood-destroying student duplexes to be built. I have lots more to say, but I have to restart my PC at the behest of IT.
UT-Austin long ago already expanded far beyond the original "40 acres". If UT Austin were to build more dorms, the university would likely look at purchasing property (through eminent domain) in West Campus, NUNA, Cherrywood or Blackland in East Austin since these neighborhoods are the nearest neighbors to the university.
And that scenario seems far worse than the stealth dorm conspiracy you were advocating earlier in the thread..wow
I think you have me mixed up with someone else - I'm aware of the concerns about stealth dorms, but I haven't talked about a conspiracy.
I think there are plenty of underutilized areas near UT that could easily support dorms without infringing upon single family neighborhoods. The answer, of course, is to build up, not out. Land is too precious in Cenrtal Austin to allow anything less than 10 stories to be built.
Good grief, has anyone passed through the heart of West Campus lately? We North Central Austinites should applaud the DENSITY that's taking place there now. I am astounded by the development and height of some of the buildings. Seriously, make a run through there. Blown away, esp if you lived here as a student, and haven't visited in awhile. Mixed use seems to be in play, with shops and amenities too. The evolution has been great and this is exactly what the surrounding mostly single-family zoned areas want. You'd think the development in WC would help.
Now some could argue that the new luxury-dorm-apt-condos are wiping out the charm of some old architecture, turning WC into canyons of bland buildings. But which would you prefer? Student rentals NIMBY, north of campus you say?
I am curious though about the affordability of WC for students. It always cost more to live there vs say Far West or Riverside. Will be interesting to see the results, and the impact of rental properties north of campus too.
The main problems? No storage, no place for a washer AND dryer (we have a combo and it is less than ideal), and no place for cat litter for our indoor cats.
I don't get why you need a 1000 sq ft addition if these are your main concerns. That sounds like an expensive project for more closet space, better W/D utility closet and a place to store the kitty litter.
Have you first considered?
1) getting rid of more stuff
2) total closet/shelf renovation; I had CA closets installed when I bought to maximize my tiny closet space; prob the best interior investment I ever made.
3) attic space accessible and maximized
4)can always buy 200sq ft in storage shed out back without a permit
5)going tankless free up some more space for say a front load stackable W/D?
Unless you need more bedrooms, or even looking to further develop the property for more rental (yay, more students! jk) I'd try to maximize your current space. You've listed all the great work you've already put in.
Can you further maximize your current closet/shelf/utility space?
I'm very happy with what I see going on in WC, and even creeping north along Guadelupe. The most frustrating part of watching Austin grow is that people here tend to be parochial. A lot of places all over the planet have faced these same issues, and have come up with some really awesome solutions. Not that you can simply transplant ideas from one place to another, but with some modifications, whatever Austin needs probably already exists out there. The roadblocks come from people who can't imagine living in a house that's less than 3-4,000 sq ft, who think that public transportation is for poor people, and don't know what a Bilbao, Spain is.
I don't get why you need a 1000 sq ft addition if these are your main concerns. That sounds like an expensive project for more closet space, better W/D utility closet and a place to store the kitty litter.
Have you first considered?
1) getting rid of more stuff
2) total closet/shelf renovation; I had CA closets installed when I bought to maximize my tiny closet space; prob the best interior investment I ever made.
3) attic space accessible and maximized
4)can always buy 200sq ft in storage shed out back without a permit
5)going tankless free up some more space for say a front load stackable W/D?
Unless you need more bedrooms, or even looking to further develop the property for more rental (yay, more students! jk) I'd try to maximize your current space. You've listed all the great work you've already put in.
Can you further maximize your current closet/shelf/utility space?
HA! I know plenty of people who have crunched the numbers on moving because of kitty litter issues.
1) Getting rid of stuff - we really don't have much compared to most people.
2) We should do this, but it would need to be done anyway
3) I hate putting stuff in the attic in the Texas heat. It can't be good for the stuff I want to store.
4) We just got rid of a hideous storage shed outside and added a custom shed to the side of our house. That's where the hub's tools and yard gear goes.
5) We've gone over the house with a fine-tooth comb looking for a place for a stackable W/D. It's just not happening, and I refuse to go the route of putting the washer and dryer on the deck. That is just too white trashy for me.
We really do need to add another bedroom and bath (we're currently a 2/1), so that's the thinking. Utility room for the washer/dryer/cats/storage, a nice new master bedroom, and a 2nd full bath. Maybe squeeze a room for me in there, too
1000 square feet is a lot. Having the plans drawn up and actually being able to add on 1000 square feet without being hassled by the city every step of the way are two different things. I imagine that adding on that much would be very expensive in itself, not to mention the stress involved with a major renovation to your home with a kid either in or entering Elementary school soon.
I would decide very quickly as I'm sure you're not alone in your worries about your neighborhood. If everything that you see happening in the future looks real, you could probably get the most money for your home this summer while the market is very hot and not have to worry about that area getting overrun with students.
I do think you brought some adverse comments upon yourself by calling East Oak Hill "creepy" which sabotaged your thread a bit. I think most people don't know quite what to make of that.
Yes, the creepy comment threw me a bit. This is obviously some person who believes they are entitled to living amongst certain people and don't want to tolerate students and large structures that they fear will ruin their property values. Oh, I must live in the city, it's so cool but I'm going to create my own HOA and kick out students that need a place to live.
Hyde Park and North University are among the most desirable neighborhoods in Austin because the single-family houses there exhibit historic and architectural integrity. After what happened to these areas in the 70's and 80's, I hardly think you can blame the NAs for being protective. Austin has done a terrible job of planning for just about everything - I think we can agree on this.
Most college towns don't allow undergrad students to just cram in wherever they want. And towns that have allowed this are starting to change their tunes. One example is Boston, one of the most college-y towns ever. Mayor Menino recognized that student neighborhoods were a blight, to say the least, and he put serious pressure on Northeastern and BU, the biggest offenders, to build dorms. The universities weren't too happy about it, but it's eliminated a lot of the student ghettos. "Student-y" areas are one thing, but whole swaths of cities with student noise and student over-parking aren't good for anyone.
So yeah - UT needs to step up and build more dorms, and require freshmen and sophomores to live in them. The city needs to enforce its own zoning laws. There's room for everyone, but it won't happen by allowing neighborhood-destroying student duplexes to be built. I have lots more to say, but I have to restart my PC at the behest of IT.
1. NUNA and Hyde Park are barely historic by most cities standards. I can name a couple of dozen many times more desirable neighborhoods in cities all across the world that aren't tied to the nonsense that the only way to be a good city neighborhood is to have an over abundance of single family detached houses.
2. What happened in the 70s and 80s was generally horrible. And bears zero relationship with what is happening today.
3. Austin has done a terrible job yes. I am quite certain we do not disagree on the solutions.
4. The very best student towns acknowledge an accommodate the existences of students into sensible housing alternatives that allows them to live close to campus an easy walk or bike ride away from their classes. Hyde Park NA and NUNA would be happy is the students remained in the student ghetto on Riverside.
5. The problem with noise and crammed parking etc, is all easily solvable by allowing for multi-use verticle development. When students don't cram 6 to a house and live an easy walk to campus they don't need a car, they tend to be quiet, and even if they are not they are only bothering other students.
6. The solution is to allow for development to occur that acknowledges and accommodates students in a sensible fashion. Otherwise, you end up with exactly as is occurring now. NUNA and Hyde Park bring this on themselves. And the city should stop listening to the crankpots that run the neighborhood associations.
1. NUNA and Hyde Park are barely historic by most cities standards. I can name a couple of dozen many times more desirable neighborhoods in cities all across the world that aren't tied to the nonsense that the only way to be a good city neighborhood is to have an over abundance of single family detached houses.
2. What happened in the 70s and 80s was generally horrible. And bears zero relationship with what is happening today.
3. Austin has done a terrible job yes. I am quite certain we do not disagree on the solutions.
4. The very best student towns acknowledge an accommodate the existences of students into sensible housing alternatives that allows them to live close to campus an easy walk or bike ride away from their classes. Hyde Park NA and NUNA would be happy is the students remained in the student ghetto on Riverside.
5. The problem with noise and crammed parking etc, is all easily solvable by allowing for multi-use verticle development. When students don't cram 6 to a house and live an easy walk to campus they don't need a car, they tend to be quiet, and even if they are not they are only bothering other students.
6. The solution is to allow for development to occur that acknowledges and accommodates students in a sensible fashion. Otherwise, you end up with exactly as is occurring now. NUNA and Hyde Park bring this on themselves. And the city should stop listening to the crankpots that run the neighborhood associations.
Just to be clear, I'm not the one freaking out over stealth dorms. I acknowledged them as a possibility, and if the neighborhood is going in the direction of all student housing, I probably won't sink $150K into a new addition.
That said, we only disagree on two things: 1 - urban renewal made plenty of people jumpy, so it's not the least bit surprising that aggressive NAs have sprung up all over the country. Personally, I find them less odious than HOAs. 2 - YMMV (and I'm sure it does), but scraping bungalows and replacing them with the kind of tatty student apartment complexes I see around here makes Austin a less appealing city overall.
I've actually lived in some great college towns (Ithaca, NY, Boston, my own hometown) and preventing students from ruining homeowners' property values is a totally legitimate undertaking.
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