LandChoices: Enhancing Subdivision Value by Randall Arendt

Land Choices: Changing Development in America

Enhancing Subdivision Value Through Conservation Design
Introduction
Features

The 4 Steps
Indentify Areas
Locate House Sites
Align Streets
Draw Lot Lines

Enhancing Subdivision Value
Through Conservation Design By Randall Arendt

Introduction Features Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Next Page >

Step 2: Locating House Sites
The second step involves locating the approximate sites of individual houses which for marketing and quality-of-life reasons should be placed at a respectful proximity to the conservation areas, with homes backing up to woodlands for privacy, fronting onto a central common or wildflower meadow, or enjoying long views across open fields or boggy areas. In a full-density plan, the number of house sites will be the same as that shown on the “Yield Plan” — 34 in this example (Fig. 5). In this process, an important goal is to lay out the actual development areas so that they can take maximum advantage of the property’s conservation elements, thereby capturing the added value those elements convey.

In this case, objectives for arranging development areas are to screen them from the public road, to provide them with access and views to the meadows, and to conserve for them as much undisturbed woodland buffer as is possible. With regard to the property’s woodlands and fields, the conservation/development choice is sometimes an “either/or” proposition, depending on whether the forested areas or the farmland is deemed to possess greater significance. In this case, a compromise has been judged to be most appropriate, preserving the most critical contiguous areas of woodlands and streamside habitat, while also conserving most of the meadows and fields.

Enhancing Subdivision Value Through Conservation Design						Next Page >
Introduction	Features	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 4