My Built Environment: Good, Bad, and Really Ugly

A couple months ago, I visited a friend of mine in Oakland, CA. This trip was a bit different from other visits I have made to metropolitan areas. Usually I stay in a hotel, and visit the touristy spots and roam around in a rental car usually looking specific neighborhoods or development projects. This time, I stayed with my friend and did all of our touring using public transportation, or our own feet to get around. One day, we walked around a significant portion of Berkeley, visiting the campus, The Berkeley Rose Garden, and neighborhoods in between. I will have to admit, while I have been to the bay area several times over the years, I have never spent any real time in Oakland or Berkeley. Of course, I have heard all the rumors about how Oakland is rough and tumble, the gangs, the high crime rate, etc. I admit, from the places I have lived, I have been pretty sheltered, not really exposed to a wide range of diversity of ethnicities or lifestyles. Oakland and Berkeley are very diverse cities, having huge variety of ethnic populations. Touring the UC Berkeley campus I quickly figured out that being a white male, I was a distinct minority. Not that this bothered me at all mind you, it just opened my eyes some more. One thing that I did really appreciate though, was the overall tolerance and acceptance of not only the diversity, but for different lifestyles. I saw openly gay and lesbian couples roaming around, mixed race couples, and about everything else too. I found it all to be refreshing and enjoyable. In my opinion all communities should be this way.

Oakland and Berkeley both have a significant population of older working class homes, of all vintages. Oakland also has one of the oldest and strongest historic preservation programs in the country. Over the coming days, I will be posting several pics and descriptions of what I saw, both old and new. These posts will be organized by subject, so it will be easier to find images.

This summer I had the pleasure of being able to tour South Main in Buena Vista, Colorado. I have heard about this community through various news articles and publications, and I have visited the web site many times. I was not prepared though, for how wonderful and beautiful this neighborhood has become! First it was a little hard to find. I had a vague idea of where it was in Buena Vista, but there were no real estate signs directing you to it. However, you could see it from the main highway through town. Fittingly, you drive down Main Street in Buena Vista to get to South Main. This community is only just beginning, but already you can get a feel for what this community will become. The homes range from fairly modest, to large custom homes, but they all exhibit an attention to detail, and fine craftsmanship that insures these homes will be around for generations to come. Mixed in with the homes, are some scattered mixed use and commercial buildings. It is obvious that this is only the beginning of the commercial core, but what is there embodies the best of commercial architecture. Instead of massive look-alike buildings, or even large buildings that are designed to look like they were built over time, these buildings actually are individual, and will truly be built over time, giving them some real character and individualism. Even the streets have character. There is one street that is built of river cobble, presumably from the river that is adjacent to the site.

As unique as this community is, the story behind it is every bit as unique. The community came to being behind the vision and drive of the sister brother team of Jed Selby and Katie Urban. Neither one had developed a community before, much less having really been involved in real estate. Being life long residents of Buena Vista, and avid kayakers on the Arkansas River, they learned that this 41 acre site was being proposed for development, and would likely cut the river off from the town. Instead, they parlayed a family investment into the ability to purchase the property, vision a community based on sound design principles, and that keeps the river open for the enjoyment of all residents.

While I have enjoyed touring many wonderful New Urbanism communities, this one is a diamond in the rough. It is being masterfully crafted and carried out. My hats go off to Jed and Katie. I only hope that my own development projects turn out as well done as this one it.

As is common knowledge by now, Fort Collins, as with most local governments, has had a serious reduction in tax revenue during this economic downturn. As a result, the city is having to make some pretty serious cuts to the budget. This is something that is undisputed, and is understood. However, this is one cut being proposed that I, and a lot of other people, are against. There is a current proposal out to cut 1 full time employee from the Historic Preservation office. To many, cutting one person does not sound like much, but in the case of historic preservation, that is over 50% of the staff, as this office only has 1.8 full time positions in the first place. I don’t know of any other departments getting cut by over 50%. This office is involved in working directly with homeowners and business owners on helping them to get there properties designated as landmark properties, they help with grant writing, they help people understand the financial resources that are available to them for renovation and preservation projects on private properties. These are investments that people make in there own homes and businesses to improve these homes and businesses. These are also involved with meetings with new development to ensure that new construction is compatible with existing historical structures. These are two busy people! It is these preservation and improvement efforts that have made downtown and the general old area as popular as it is. Also note, the square foot value of real estate in Old Town is among the highest in the city, since even in down times, these properties are still in demand.

People do ask, what are the benefits of historic preservation? They are many. Historic Preservation is an economic driver. Fort Collins historic preservation efforts are nationally re known. We have among the largest collections of buildings of sandstone construction in the country. When you see pictures of Fort Collins in the national media, you don’t see pictures of the mall, you don’t see Front Range Village, you don’t see Walmart, you see one of our beautiful downtown buildings. During the last 10-15 years, we have seen private owners take on the rehabilitation of many of the buildings in downtown, to make it the success it is today. Downtown is a destination unto itself. How many communities can say that there downtown is more popular and is doing better than the mall? Not many. It is something to be proud of.

Recently I came across this photograph at Ulrichs, located at 111 S. Meldrum It was taken in the 1920-30’s sometime and showcased some beautiful homes. Sometime in the late 1960’s to 1970’s these homes were torn down in the name of Urban Renewal, as was done across the country during the time. This was done in the name of progress, and for rebuilding of downtowns.

So what was built here?

A parking lot.

Is this really progress? Not in my mind. This was done before Preservation became important to the City of Fort Collins. I have also attached a photo of what the same corner looks like today. This is what historic preservation has done for Fort Collins, it has prevented things like this from happening again.

Of course, preservation does not mean keeping it all as is, and not moving forward. Fort Collins has some fabulous examples of new construction and infill development that fits right in with the neighboring historical properties.

Imagine what downtown Fort Collins would be like today if we had lost most of those buildings and we had newer Key Bank style buildings? It would be like almost anywhere else USA.

So I encourage those of you who think this is important, make your views known to City Council members as they wrestle with the budget. I don’t envy their position, and they will have to make some hard choices, as we all have had to do. This is one though, that could be a million dollar mistake in the years to come.

My wife found this site with several photographs of abandoned buildings in the Detroit area where vegetation has taken over the buildings. It is fascinating look into what nature can do, and a sobering reminder that nature always winds.

As recently noted in the LA Times Blog, Los Angeles is offering homeowners up to $2,000 to replace their lawns with a sustainable landscape. Other cities such as Las Vegas have done this aggressively. In the blog, it is noted that Las Vegas has removed enough lawns to save 7 billion gallons of water a year, or about one-tenth of their annual water supply. Closer to home, Aurora has had such a program for years offering $1 per square foot for turf that is removed, the same as LA. While I don’t know how successful the program has been overall, I have worked with several HOA’s to reduce the turfgrass they have, and create more appealing communities in the process.

So when is Fort Collins and other Northern Colorado communities going to do the same thing? We keep preaching about water conservation, xeriscape, etc., but no money where the mouth is. Also, other communities such as Aurora and Castle Rock have more restrictions on creating water thirsty landscapes in the first place. When is Northern Colorado going to catch up? Did you know, that in the engineering standards for road design in Larimer County, which Fort Collins and Loveland use as well, it actually requires turf grass to be planted in the parkway strips? This is non-sense. Time to get on the bandwagon and really pay attention to this stuff before the next drought hits.