Sustainability vs Sprawl - UGB (Portland, Bend: apartment, new house, buying)

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by Dry Side

It will be interesting to what happens as more BB "retire". Sobering statistics show 60% of them have less than $25K saved.

Now that is scary!

[Coniferian]

When I moved from Aurora (Denver suburbs) to Conifer (foothills), property with a view of snow peaks and/or city lights was very desirable and my lot had neither. When I left 34 years later, Denver had spread so far to the south that there was now a view of city lights. I read that a retired couple needs savings of at least $250K just to cover their medical expenses after Medicare. Maybe baby boomers trying to live on $1,200 a month social security will form Senior Communes, garden and raise chickens. Nah.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by kapetrich

...........
Are the houses on the westside between Galveston and Newport not on small lots?.........

...........it isn't changing density at all. Just changing the footprint on that lot....

You piqued my curiosity, so I had to go and take a look.

I owned a house in Old Town, built in 1924. The lot it is located on is .17 acre, which I consider to be a small lot. If my math is correct (no guarantees), houses on .17 acre means 5.8 houses per acre. The new density of .11 per house means 9 houses per acre. That's a big difference.

Note, I am pretty sure that house of mine was originally on a septic and the new small lots are all on city sewer. A big difference, that.

The people who bought that house from me added on until it is a huge house with a mother-in-law over the garage. The lot is pretty well covered. Setbacks have been changed over the years and it is possible to build much closer to property lines. I checked when I bought that and it would not have been possible to add much to it without going up, because of the lot line setbacks. Nothing like it ended up, with darn near the whole lot covered.

Many of the people who have gone into Old Town and removed mill shacks and replaced them with huge houses have also added mother-in-law units, which is allowed in that area. That does increase the density because all of those mother-in-laws appear to be (illegally) rented out.

Veering slightly off topic, once upon a time, those mill shacks on Old Town were selling for $25,000-$30,000 and they would rent out for about $125 a month.

[kapetrich]

Thanks for doing the leg work!

I took this shot last week with 'snapchat' (uhg, I know!) for a few of my friends to show them what has been going on... Sorry, I really and truly didn't intend to post it here, but I think it illiterates well what you're describing (small(er) older lots, ~.17, with small footprint being torn down and replaced with a bigger footprint-ed house):

~1145 NW Columbia, between Newport and Galveston


This build is now complete and is on the next block North of above:

[redguard57]

Yes, I live not too far from a build like that. They look so ridiculous. With the high fence around it, it reminds me a little of the Osama bin Laden compound.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I just received a notice that 4 lots in Woodriver Village have sold. ($690,000). Those are most likely 1/4 acre lots.

I don't see anything on-line about lot line adjustments or building permits, but my bet is that those lots will have the old tin mobile homes taken off and they will have row houses/ condos built on them, similar to the condos across the street.

So, an estimate: Some one bought 4 old houses and can now replace them with 9 row houses ( .11 acre building sites). That area is zoned for row houses, with a varience and I know the city has already given a varience to build row houses on a couple of different properties in that area, so the permits aren't going to be difficult.

If any of those lots were bigger than 1/4 acre, that means more row houses can be built there.

[BendLocal]

Bend UGB plan community meetings scheduled

The city of Bend encourages residents to attend one of two upcoming community meetings to learn more about and comment on the City’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) Remand project.

The UGB is a line on the City’s General Plan map that identifies Bend’s urban land. This land represents an estimated 20-year supply of land for employment, housing and other urban uses.

The community has an opportunity to help shape the plan for future growth that reflects the community’s values and meets state planning requirements.

[Dry Side]

Hopefully wild fire will be taken into consideration when expanding the UGB. Good news is Bend's West side for the most part is bumping up against the Deschutes National forest. So I expect most UGB expansion will be North and East. Of course now there is much more pressure to look for infill.

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Bend UGB plan community meetings scheduled

There are also Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings taking place next Monday and Tuesday. To my knowledge, they are open to the public.

Here is a link to each meetings documents: City of Bend : Document Central (This is dense material)

These meetings will take place ~ once a month for the next 4 months with each meetings having a specific scope, focus and recommendation votes by TAC members.

There are three TACs: Residential, Employment and Boundary/Growth Scenarios.

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

It would be very short sighted because boomers are downsizing.

Baby Boomers’ Second Act - New York Times

The statistics do not bare the same conclusion, even during the 'Great Recession' years.



Source: http://www.fanniemae.com/resources/f...hts-061214.pdf

I truly hope the shift talked about in this NYTs article and Snownuts perspective comes true post 2012. It is almost certain it has to as the boomer generation ages becoming less and less self reliant, due to age constraints, forcing them into higher density living. Along with economic and housing preference changes.