Sand Hill Farm

Entry Level Housing Sample

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Earlier this month Bill Hollingsworth, an Affordable Housing Developer, made a presentation to some of the key leaders involved in Culver’s Entry Level Housing Task Force.  The presentation was a combination of education for the Task Force members as well as an introduction to his company and the work he has completed in this arena.  He is currently working on a building rehabilitation project for an artist enclave which he was able to fit under the Affordable Housing umbrella.

As part of his presentation, he included some pictures of a new construction Affordable Housing project.  I thought I would share those pictures here.  The Affordable Housing moniker has some negative connotations.  This helped dispel that concern with the task force.

The Sand Hill Farm property is under consideration for this project.  It would require a PUD zoning in order to complete a project similar to what is shown here, but I think it would be a welcome addition to Culver’s housing stock.  At this point Mr. Holllingsworth has made an initial contact and has shown interest in pursuing this project.  The task force is hoping to leverage this into additional market based housing as well.

Sand Hill Farm Update

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Sand Hill Farm
Sand Hill Farm

There have been several status changes to Sand Hill Farm this Spring.  The first was the retirement of the County drainage easement through the property.  It was replaced by a new easement to the Town of Culver.  This was part of the agreement with the Town that saw the relocation of the storm drain from running diagonally across the property to a new location along the property line.  This also included removal of a large area of brush and scrub trees which generally improved the property.  The second was the inclusion of Sand Hill Farm in the talks regarding Entry Level Housing for Culver.  I have served on Culver’s Task Force looking into this issue and helped with the Request For Proposals (RFP) that went out to developers earlier this month.  I have been contacted by one developer who has shown interest.  We shall see how it proceeds from here.  The goal of the RFP is to explore opportunities to obtain an Affordable Housing project that can be parlayed into additional market rate housing through an additional portion of the property.  

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Marshall County Entry Level Housing Meeting

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I sit on the Affordable Housing Task Force for Culver and as part of that as well as wearing my MCEDC hat, I sat in on a meeting at the Culver Library with Darin Edwards, Underwriting and Closing Manager for IHCDA.  The meeting was arranged by Jerry Chavez, MCEDC Executive Director, and included representatives from the Marshall County communities of Culver, Argos, Plymouth and Bremen.

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Smaller Home Sizes

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My post regarding Starter Home Barriers sparked some conversation about the square footage of a starter home, particularly regarding the 2,000 minimum home size discussed in the Builder magazine article.  Many of the points about that possibly being unrealistically large for Culver were valid.  Since I was paraphrasing the article in the previous quote, it seemed appropriate to stick with their numbers and rationales.

3 bedroom/2 bathroom home Plan by Zero Energy Design

In any case, the discussion prompted me to do a little further research into smaller home sizes.  I did find the Zero Energy Design website which included several smaller residential footprints ranging from a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom at 624sf to a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom at 1120sf.  (Apparently in a ZED home no one watches TV as they don’t even appear to allow a place for one in their room furniture layout.)  While I know the boxy design is the most efficient, I would hope we can be a little more creative in our floor plans.

1-1/2 story house with porch and dormer from Hermann London

I also notice that almost all the small footprint homes are single story.  I don’t know if that’s because they are often geared towards the elderly and are trying to make them as accessible as possible or if there is just a predisposition to single story now.  Going back to a story-and-a-half design could provide some additional efficient space.  The boxy design lends itself well to prefabricated construction, but we have had good success with panelized construction which is also efficient where duplication of layouts is possible.

I think the infrastructure issues will be more telling than the house floor plan in what the end selling or renting point is.  As with their square foot home size, I think the lot buildout may be more economical here, but probably not by much.  Many of the same regulations apply and our Comp Plan pushes more measures such as “complete streets” which add costs.

Pocket Neighborhoods

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I had written a blog post a couple of years ago about Pocket Towns.  Recently Brent Martin of SRKM Architects sent me a link discussing Pocket Neighborhoods by a different architectural firm with a similar concept.  Brent alluded to this as a possible Affordable Housing solution for Culver.  As with my previous blog post, I can see this having potential in Culver and for Sand Hill Farm.  Currently there is a similar concept, though not an attempt at Affordable Housing, winding its way through a PUD approval at the Culver Plan Commission.  It is a development under consideration on the north side of town that I’m watching with interest.  The PUD framework would allow for the necessary zoning adaptations, but does require a commercial element.  I think the PUD under current consideration is stretching that concept, but technically meets it.  I think it can be done more effectively though.

I continue to think the pocket neighborhood idea is intriguing and while I do not see this working for a large development, I do see how it can be a part of a larger development and could be adapted to an Affordable Housing model.  Below is a sketch from the Pocket Neighborhood website that shows the concept.  Very interesting.

 

 

Picture sources:  Pocket Neighborhoods