Sandhill Farm – Suwanee Town Center

by

Last week Becky and I took a week and went to Georgia and Florida.  We drove down to Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day and spent that weekend with one of my best friends, Kim Whitten, who was also my secretary at my previous employer.  We spent the weekend with her family before going on to Florida and Key West.  We came back and stayed with them for the weekend on the return leg of our trip as well.  Even when I lived there, I referred to the area as Atlanta, but in reality, Kim lives in Suwanee, Georgia.  (Yeah, like the song.)

In touring around our old stomping grounds, we went to see Suwanee Town Center.  Rather than trying to revive the old downtown, Suwanee chose to create a new town center.  It is a P.U.D. in its truest sense, combining public service space, park space, commercial space and a range of residential types.  Read more about it here and here.

The Suwanee Town Center states their vision as “live…work…play…shop.”  This is something I would like to emulate in my proposed Sand Hill Farm development.  There are differences.  The Sand Hill Farm property is approximately 2/3rds the size and I have no vision for Sand Hill Farm to take the place of Downtown Culver.  Also, in keeping with the vision presented by the Culver Redevelopment Commission, I would like to keep an option open for a light industrial aspect to the development.

Read more

Sand Hill Farm – Zero Lot Line Homes

by

Zero Lot Line Homes are one of the things I would like to consider for the Sandhill Farm PUD.  There are no provisions for Zero Lot Line Homes in Culver’s current ordinance and it is a missed opportunity on some of the smaller Lots of Record currently platted in town.

Currently there’s not a definition of Zero Lot Line homes on Wikipedia, so I don’t get to cheat and use that reference this time.  I did do some searches and found discussions regarding them here, here and for a negative viewpoint, here. 

Zero Lot Line Homes are usually placed in zoning districts with higher densities, such as R-2 and R-3 districts, but they are becoming more common as in-fill developments where small undeveloped parcels are subdivided in existing neighborhoods.  In a zero lot line development the setbacks are reduced to zero (but not always) on one or two sides of a property allowing the homes to be built side-by-side or back-to-back with a common wall on the property line.  Rather than building them in a row, like with multi-family town homes, they will maintain one Side Yard, a Front Yard and often a Back Yard.  They can be build in duplex, triplex and quadplex configurations.

Read more

Sand Hill Farm – Front Porch

by

The New Urbanism movement has mourned the loss of the front porch for some time.  Part of the premise of this is that the rise of the car, caused the demise of the porch.  Older homes in older neighborhoods were close to the sidewalk and a front porch was a place to sit and talk to your neighbors as they walked by.   Subdivisions of the seventies began moving the home away from the street, added a long driveway where cars could park and the porch shrank to be nothing but a stoop where guests stood waiting to be allowed entrance to the home.  Large wrap around porches were replaced with double garage doors as a main feature on the front of the home.  The car as your way out of the neighborhood became more important than the porch as a connection to the neighborhood.

Read more

Maxinkuckee Village Preliminary PUD at Plan Commission

by

On Tuesday, August 19th, Mr. Gary Aker introduced his plans for Maxinkuckee Village to the Culver Plan Commission.  He was assisted by Mr. Allen Collins of CMD Construction and his Attorney, Mr. Fred Jones.  This was the first trial of Culver’s revised PUD ordinance.  The ordinance was revised last year to add a preliminary concept review by the commission to determine if the developer was on the right track or if the commission had fundimental issues with the proposed development.  There are still quite a few requirements at this stage including a site plan, topography map, boundary survey and proof of financial capacity.  I watched this with interest as it should be a precursor of what happens with the Sand Hill Farm PUD I am considering.

Read more

Sand Hill Farm – Fairfield Commons Comparison

by

Fairfield Garden Court SignAbout a year ago we completed Fairfield Garden Court in Plymouth, our fourth Garden Court project.   It was built in the Fairfield Farms development in Plymouth, just north of the hospital.  On a recent return visit I picked up a flyer for Fairfield Commons.  This is the next section of Fairfield Farms that is opening up across the street from Fairfield Garden Court.  I was intrigued by the size and mix of the units.

Read more