Tag:Culver
Pocket Neighborhoods
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
Living in a Box!
Shipping Container Home
As the song goes, “I’m Living in a Box”. Maybe this is an answer to Culver’s Affordable Housing Crisis? I ran across this on the Viralands site. I’ve seen several different versions of Shipping Container Construction, many of them designed as affordable housing, including some that are multi-story which I showed here before. I think this is one of the more attractive ones though. There are more pictures at the site here.
Currently this would not fly under Culver’s Zoning Ordinance without a variance since the square footage would be too small. It would probably also spark a spirited discussion with the County Building Inspector since it wouldn’t fit neatly into current building codes. It is an interesting concept though and at the stated $2,000 for a used shipping container, it would be hard to beat that price for the shell of your new home. This would have to be some of the ultimate recycling as well, so it’s definitely green!
Picture Source: Viralands
Warts and All
I haven’t been posting as often as I would like the last few weeks as I’ve been working on getting another project up in our portfolio. (Not to mention dealing with the holidays, Will and Kathy’s retirement, etc.) Yei-Yei’s Game Room is a project that we’ve been working on since the summer of 2013. We expect it to wrap up this Spring. The project is unique. It is an underground game room with two bowling lanes as the center piece. The challenges of the underground structure adjacent to a lake with the associated waterproofing along with learning a plethora of bowling alley minutia were something out of the ordinary. Anyway, I thought I would include the link to the draft here for anyone who wants to watch the creation and editing process as it goes. I don’t want my lurkers to get bored!
I’m attempting to create some slide shows to illustrate some of the sequencing like I did with the Logansport Library page. I did a slide show for the stairs there. (I’m always amazed when I see how many pictures I’ve taken and yet don’t have the one I want.) There is an issue with the program where it doesn’t like more than one slide show on a page, so I’m attempting a work-around on that.
If you go there and find errors, feel free to let me know. I’m still considering it a draft until I put it in the portfolio link structure so you can find it from the main website menu.
Marshall County Job Growth
Culver government has taken a long break over the November/December holidays. I know the holidays are tough for scheduling meetings, we are having some changing of the guard on various boards and commissions, and we haven’t found a new Town Manager yet. <sigh!> Acknowledging all that, business is moving forward. The article to the right cites “2,153 new jobs expected state wide over the next few years.” That number doesn’t seem as big when you consider that Marshall County businesses are projecting the addition of 500 jobs THIS YEAR! Aggressive Manufacturing Innovations (AMI) is mentioned here adding 250 jobs in 2015. In Culver, Elkay is projected the need for 100 new employees during their tax abatement hearing last year.
Culver’s To-Do list includes the following:
- Complete an Action Plan. This was discussed at the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Meeting last fall. This would be the first step in defining steps to implement the Comprehensive Plan, which leads to To-Do list #2;
- Complete a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). This would put dollar amounts on the Action items so that things can be further prioritized and necessary funds can be budgeted.
- Address the Housing issue. The Town Council made promises to Elkay that they would form a Task Force and address the issues, but so far, the Task Force has yet to meet. I did attend the Affordable Housing Summit in Chicago which was a useful first step, but we’ve yet to have a meeting where I can relate what I learned. (Which is fading fast in my limited memory!)
Next week the Culver Town Council will convene with the new board members, elect leadership and begin making their appointments to the subsidiary boards and commissions. Taking the next steps to kick off the Affordable Housing Task Force and hold an Action Plan meeting can’t happen too quickly after that. Time is of the Essence…
Image Source: Scan from Pilot News 12-20-14
Happy New Year!
Well, here we are heading into 2015. Happy New Year!
Will & Kathy’s Last Day
It’s going to be interesting starting the new year here with Will and Kathy‘s retirement. We wish them the best. We also lost several friends who passed away, including former employee Dave Epley, and two long time clients, Don Neidig and Richard Ford. They will be missed. Dave was a carpenter with Easterday Construction who was responsible for a lot of detailed work of which we’re quite proud. A fair amount of Dave’s work was performed for Don and Richard, both of whom appreciated fine craftsmanship.
There’s no doubt that the new year will bring new challenges. We can only hope they are ones that intrigue us and help us grow. 2014 brought us a mixed group of clients. Some of these were repeat customers that we consider friends and some of them new clients where we hope we have created friendships. Some of our work has been fairly mundane but necessary like replacing roofs, while others will be memorable such as the new Veterans Memorial at Fletcher Cemetery and the bowling alley we helped install in Yei-Yei’s Game Room. For all of it, we thank our clients for their trust and confidence in us.
On the lighter side (hopefully), I ran across this article from Dorkly about all the things we should expect in 2015 per past science fiction movies. None of the films they cite show rosey pictures for 2015, but at least we’ll finally get flying cars from Blade Runner and that cool hoverboard from Back to the Future II! Then again, Arnold Schwarzenegger cloning himself is a bit scary.
Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2015 to all our friends and clients!
Kevin
Image Source: Will & Kathy by Julie Heise
Image Source: Terminator Arnold borrowed from giphy.com
