House lots shrinking in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, Woodland: fit in, to rent)

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by BobMarley_1LOVE

Lol you can't get anymore cookie cutter than this

Sure you can, just go a couple blocks over where every house is a post-WWII bungalow . Apparently if you have a big tree in your yard you can't be in a cookie cutter neighborhood.

We flew into Calgary several years ago and it was almost scary how close the houses were together. Why ANYONE think that looks good is beyond me.

[Beenhere4ever]

Well, there are parts of Minneapolis that are actually developments added in postwar years. They are a bit like Levittown. They've been incorporated so long, you think they must always have been part of the city. But south of Lake Street was all farmland in 1912. So any neighborhood down there is newer than that. And in many cases, the houses were thrown up in a hurry for newly urbanized people who were eager to get into a house, any house. They didn't tour Kenwood for ideas what it should look like.

[sparksals]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Sure you can, just go a couple blocks over where every house is a post-WWII bungalow . Apparently if you have a big tree in your yard you can't be in a cookie cutter neighborhood.

We flew into Calgary several years ago and it was almost scary how close the houses were together. Why ANYONE think that looks good is beyond me.

When you fly into Calgary, presumably from MSP, you fly over the east side of the city, a large portion of which is industrial and new residential development. There are no more 'cookie cutter' developments in Calgary than there are in any other major city, MSP included. Fly over the other areas and you will see the vast majority of the city is vast, spacious with large, mature lots. Moreover, the RE market in Calgary is HOT. No real estate bust there, jobs a-plenty, high wages and a very high standard of living.

Fly over PHX, DFW, MSP, ORD... any major city has the same. Don't know why you have singled out Calgary... Oh wait... I forgot... you think are an expert on everything without knowing what you are talking about.

[Beenhere4ever]

Only thing that bothers me in these big spacious lots is the sheer waste of all that lawn. What a total waste of water. At very least people could raise something to EAT on all that space. Water has better uses (it can be part of brewing beer just for one obvious example).

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Only thing that bothers me in these big spacious lots is the sheer waste of all that lawn. What a total waste of water. At very least people could raise something to EAT on all that space. Water has better uses (it can be part of brewing beer just for one obvious example).

Again, you seem to be assuming that large lots are automatically assumed to be grass. In many cases, that is simply not the case.

Here's an aerial view of my part of northwest Mableton, a suburb of Atlanta in roughly the same position relative to Atlanta as Minnetonka is to Minneapolis.

I've also added a closer shot of the circle on which I live.

These homes almost all have largish lots. Mine is .42 acres, and it's about average for our circle.

What's the main feature you see in these photos? Is it grass? Or trees?

Do you feel that trees and associated undergrowth are harmful or beneficial to an area?

Oh, and the big rectangular grassy area in the left picture is a horse pasture. They have roughly a half-dozen horses, and that ranch or whatever it is has been there since the 1950's at least from what I can tell in past satellite photos.

This is six miles from the City of Atlanta.

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by sparksals

Unfortunately, those cookie cutter neighbourhoods are not only in Calgary and Toronto.

Lots of them in Phoenix, Tucson, Nashville, Flagstaff - every city I have lived in. It is not only Calgary and Toronto. Kind of surprised these two cities came up as cookie cutter type neighbourhoods.

Originally Posted by sparksals

When you fly into Calgary, presumably from MSP, you fly over the east side of the city, a large portion of which is industrial and new residential development. There are no more 'cookie cutter' developments in Calgary than there are in any other major city, MSP included.

Fly over PHX, DFW, MSP, ORD... any major city has the same. Don't know why you have singled out Calgary

It is not just that they are "cookie cutter" developments, we know those exist all over. When I brought up the subject, I was pointing out the huge house sizes on the really tiny lots. I have not seen houses that big on lots that small with the homes that close together anywhere in the Twin Cities area or in NC when I lived there. Can you find a picture of a development in the Twin Cities metro area with houses as close together as the picture that I posted above? The picture above was a Toronto suburb, but I just drove through Calgary twice last week and saw some very similar development.

Maybe new developments put the homes closer together in PHX or DFW? I have just noticed it most in Canada.

[moving123456]

The one thing that I do like about new developments that I have seen around Toronto is that the houses usually seem to have full brick exteriors. That development above would be covered in vinyl siding if it was in MN. One development on my side of town has brick fronts, but vinyl sides and backs which looks bad and cheap in my opinion.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by moving123456

The one thing that I do like about new developments that I have seen around Toronto is that the houses usually seem to have full brick exteriors. That development above would be covered in vinyl siding if it was in MN. One development on my side of town has brick fronts, but vinyl sides and backs which looks bad and cheap in my opinion.

The low maintenance of a real brick house would be nice. There are a lot of brick ramblers in the Atlanta metro built in the 50's, and some of them are on huge lots, but only some have basements which makes them a little small, and most don't have garages (car ports at best, which is basically a roof extension).

[Beenhere4ever]

A horse pasture on a "lot" less than an acre? But are we talking countryside here? I thought it was about city lots. Which normally does NOT include horse pasture. So there may be some drift in the thread here. I'm talking about large city lots with huge lawns. Frankly, a lot covered with trees makes a lot more sense to me. I've known a couple of people who did that.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

A horse pasture on a "lot" less than an acre? But are we talking countryside here? I thought it was about city lots. Which normally does NOT include horse pasture. So there may be some drift in the thread here. I'm talking about large city lots with huge lawns. Frankly, a lot covered with trees makes a lot more sense to me. I've known a couple of people who did that.

Nah, I was talking about the first aerial photo in case someone pointed to that bare area and said "see, that big rectangular area is a huge clear-cut area. Typical suburb".

No, not really. It's a horse pasture. Not typical for city or suburb, I suspect.