House lots shrinking in the Twin Cities (Woodbury, St. Louis Park: houses, landscaping)

[Cruz Azul Guy]

House lots shrinking to meet demand | StarTribune.com

As a proponent for higher density developments I am all for this trend.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Cruz Azul Guy

House lots shrinking to meet demand | StarTribune.com

As a proponent for higher density developments I am all for this trend.

Doesn't that reduce the percentage of green space (and increase the percentage of impermeable surface) in a given residential area? You could make that up with park space, of course.

I love my current suburban neighborhood ... our lots are around .3-.5 acres, but almost everyone's back yard is mostly trees, resulting in a lot of greenery surrounding and enveloping the entire subdivision. I would say that roughly half of our "yard" area is actually trees, and in our case even the grassy front yard is mostly shaded.

[golfgal]

Then you end up in stupid looking developments like Cobblestone where you can reach out your kitchen window and shake hands with your neighbor in their kitchen. The idea certainly didn't take off. Not appealing at all.

We used to have a yard full of trees....until the winds blew them down in that storm a couple weeks ago. Small yards don't support enough trees, you lose the shading efficiency too.

[kuan]

I never understood the preoccupation with the lawn. What purpose does perfectly manicured lawn serve?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by kuan

I never understood the preoccupation with the lawn. What purpose does perfectly manicured lawn serve?

It has nothing to do with being "perfectly manicured" and everything to do with having a place for the kids to play, to entertain friends, etc. We also have a dog that enjoys the freedom of our fenced in large yard and the rabbits she can chase. We've had city sized lots before and no thanks.

[pzrOrange]

Originally Posted by kuan

I never understood the preoccupation with the lawn. What purpose does perfectly manicured lawn serve?

it is esthetically pleasing to an eye. similar to a clean shirt or cut nails I guess.

[northsub]

Originally Posted by kuan

I never understood the preoccupation with the lawn. What purpose does perfectly manicured lawn serve?

This doesn't sound like a serious question, but in case it is...

If you get rid of "perfectly manicured" and just think about a lawn:

1) A place for kids, pets, and adults to play.
2) A place to grow food (fruit trees, vegetable gardens, berry bushes).
3) Water runoff/absorption.
4) Habitat/food for animals.
5) Space for privacy.
6) A source of slow-paced outdoor activity. I do think a lot of people enjoy lawn work (maybe just a small amount of lawn work). Maybe this is more about a sense of satisfaction of a job well done, or at least done.

I think the main appeal of perfectly manicured lawns is that they look nice. They also can feel nice to walk on barefoot. I do think a lot of people treat a well-manicured lawn as a hobby as well.

[sparksals]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Then you end up in stupid looking developments like Cobblestone where you can reach out your kitchen window and shake hands with your neighbor in their kitchen. The idea certainly didn't take off. Not appealing at all.

We used to have a yard full of trees....until the winds blew them down in that storm a couple weeks ago. Small yards don't support enough trees, you lose the shading efficiency too.

Cobblestone is a perfect example of developments ramming houses in compared to Rosemount across the street with larger lots and more mature landscaping.

There sure were lots of homes hit in our area. We were lucky. No loss of trees, but our sprinkler system got zapped and we had to buy a new control panel.

I would take a large property with trees and grass to something like Cobblestone anyday. The prices in there were way out of our range when we were looking, now many are under water b/c their values have gone down so much.

[uptown_urbanist]

These "small" lots are still pretty big -- the article points out that most of these new lots are still 60-65 feet wide.

[1stpontiac]

I didn't read the whole article but the size of the house on the lot is an important factor, too. I imagine a "small" lot in Woodbury would look a whole lot (pun sort of intended) bigger with a St. Louis Park-sized house on it.