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Where I grew up the alleys were used for utilities and trash collection. The meters, phone lines and electric lines were all back there so if one of the utility departments had to make the repairs the trucks didn't take up space on the traffic streets out front. Also that is where the trash trucks drove.
It also created a little separation from your backdoor neighbors so you didn't need a 'privacy' fence.
Alleys have several problems
1) They reduce the amount of land that can be included in lot sizes which generate profits for developers
This is the number one reason why they have died.
2) They increase infrastructure maintenance costs. The City/Town/County has to maintain them (including plowing in snow country). Since they are narrower and don't have space to push snow off the travel surface they require special equipment and/or effort to keep clear.
My experience with alley ways has been the DFW area- The maintenance costs are usually for the H/O's through their HOA.
3) they are a nuisance for enforcement efforts. People leave vehicles close to or in the travel lanewhich causes damage to vehicles or property
Enforcement efforts are a neighbor-thing. It's those that have "too many cars" (by opinion of course) and park on the entrance pad of the garage entry. Then the there's the ones that remove a section of fence and park cars in their backyard!
In our state they increase the 'impervious surface' requiring storm water mitigation.
Storm water management (due to a growing impervious landscape) has become a major environmental problem. Managing the water itself is fairly straightforward- it's what comes with all the water that's the major headache. And of course there's no way to predict how much rainfall an area will get at any given time- but I think it's safe to say that the changing climate has had an effect on what's considered "normal rainfall".
Some new developments around me in Florida are reverting back to the prairie style architecture with narrow lots and garages that back onto alleys. I like it, but it does appear to allow for much higher density housing.
RM
I live in what's called a new urban development that is like this. We are in a city and the higher density is deliberate because there is a lot of shared green space with lots of parks including little pocket parks every few blocks
The concept is to promote interaction between neighbors so that activities that are typically done in a private backyard are done in a shared space instead
Alley loading garages are part of the concept because it allows for the houses to be closer together and people interact more because they pass by the front porch of people's houses instead of large expanses of concrete driveways and front yards that are often not really even used because people with larger yards tend to hang out in their back yard instead
We do have side yards, and I put a nice deck in mine and we cook out and eat there and hang out a bit but for more active things, we go to the pocket park around the corner instead
We don’t have alleys in the subdivisions in metro Detroit lived here for 65 years never seen them in the suburbs. Alleys are located in older major cities.
Alleys have several problems:
increased infrastructure maintenance costs. The City/Town/County has to maintain them (including plowing in snow country).
So not true.
The Socialist Paradise of the City & County of Denver does not plow alleys.
Our street is not plowed.
The Sun God Rah will provide.
Some new developments around me in Florida are reverting back to the prairie style architecture with narrow lots and garages that back onto alleys. I like it, but it does appear to allow for much higher density housing.
RM
We have quite a few neighborhoods like this in the Charlotte area too. I'm not a fan myself.
We don’t have alleys in the subdivisions in metro Detroit lived here for 65 years never seen them in the suburbs. Alleys are located in older major cities.
Or in newer cities like Dallas or Houston - where subdivisions built as late as 2010 have alleys.
I saw these in new developments in Oceanside, CA and Seal Beach, CA. The oceanfront lots were SO narrow there was no room for a garage in front. So the lots were deep and in the back was a wide alley with the trash cans, and closed garages. I liked it. Keeps the front look so pleasant and not dominated by some ugly huge garage door.
'Course that's not snow country....
I know exactly where you are talking about, in O'side. (I had the property on Sportfisher & Cleveland) that now has 5 row houses on it. (1/3rd acre.)
When those were built, they are 6 feet apart. 25 foot wide lots, 150 feet long (towards the railroad tracks.)
The City put a limit of "25lb dog" maximum size to the land owners there.
Those houses were $279K back in 2000. Now, they're $1,000,000+ each...
So not true.
The Socialist Paradise of the City & County of Denver does not plow alleys.
Our street is not plowed.
The Sun God Rah will provide.
Who owns those streets and alleys? Is it the city or are they owned by an HOA in order to restrict access and prevent parking?
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