Well this will teach me that I should monitor HAIF more regularly. The discussion has been rather, er, lively. Red Scare wrote: [i responded to another poster who suggested that developers were riding the backs of the bungalow owners. While gentrification through remodeling and preservation causes property values to rise on their own, new construction ALSO raises surrounding property values. Gentrification includes remodels, preservation, AND new construction. ALL of these forms of construction improve the housing stock and the livability of the neighborhood. Clearly, some residents prefer remodels and preservation over new construction, and many residents prefer that new construction not be out of scale with the existing housing stock. However, for those residents to suggest that the large new McVics cause property values to decline is simply incorrect....I was merely correcting that incorrect assumption. ] Red, I did not suggest in my post that McVics cause property values to decline. My post simply stated that I don't want to see another one go up. My reasoning, which I did not include in the original post, is that they often use up the entire lot, causing drainage, access, and parking problems for their neighbors. That and they're generally poorly tricked out with faux-Victorian trim. Yuck. Having renovated 3 houses in the Heights during my 20 years in the neighborhood, I have a strong preference, as you do, for preserving the existing stock of homes. I am realistic that it can take a lot of cash to retrieve homes from the brink. However, when someone buys an old house, creates a mountain of trash from it, then builds a shoddily constructed monstrosity to cash in on the "historic" nature of the neighborhood, I think we are a lot closer to that wealthy enclave that you foresee. I agree that we need different kinds of homes. It just seems that most of the new ones are bigger and uglier than what they replaced. Or, to steal a friend's favorite phrase, I think we are in violent agreement. And I'd like to hear your reasoning on why the lot line ordinance is having the unintended effect of causing more teardowns and McMansions.
