One of our thoughtful WCF readers asks this question:
Here's this morning's Standard-Examiner writeup:
"The block is currently populated with homes around its perimeter but is virtually vacant through the center," according to the Standard-Examiner reporter Mitch Shaw.
And to verify that statement, we've provided the Google Earth "bird's-eye" project view:
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| 2300 Fowler Avenue Infill Project |
What say you, folks?
Higher density housing might be something to contemplate, since a nascent Ogden Street Car project still remains on the transportation planning back-burner, or so it seems to us.
Now's your chance to play the role of Ogden City urban planner for a day.
And yes, this will be on "the test."
6 comments:
I
think single family homes is a good idea, but they have to be in a
similar historic style to the neighborhood. That is with keeping the
feel of the neighborhood.
I also believe the space across from there at
24th and Monroe should be a high density mixed use space that would
bring some of the businesses in the neighborhood historic homes into a
new development and allow those homes to reconverted back to single
family homes.
They should not build homes like the ones just a block west that totally fail to work into the vib of the neighborhood.
In the interest of keeping this project in historical context, we'll refer to an earlier WCF "News Roundup," wherein we "question(ed) the wisdom of plopping down a couple of dozen $170,000 'Arts and Crafts style spec homes' in the heart of Ogden's Central City":
http://wcforum.blogspot.com/2013/04/friday-morning-news-northern-utah-news.html
Wish I had paid more attention to the earlier article. But it appeared just four days after I broke my hand, so I have an excuse for being distracted!
Few things...
The demolition of the old medical building to the west took place over the last 6 months and was backfilled and compacted....who paid for that????
as for the "arts and crafts" homes....they would look a lot better without that hideous fake stone on them...not indicative of the vernacular...too much HGTV viewing in the development department and the constructed more down below Washington...around 28th and Grant I think....
This is not an area of Arts and Crafts...they are over building the same plans over and over....meh...
Lastly...what the Sam Hill is the city doing buying property and building houses!
Making contractors and developers rich at our expense. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Sorry to come late to the party over here at WCF. I have been following this discussion on Facebook since Dan asked the question. Here is my two cents.
Ogden City means well when they build houses. I agree there are some areas which need some "help" so they can be improved. I purchased one of the Ogden City "arts and crafts" homes in 2009. I love my home and the first 9-12 months was wonderful. Having said that once the city packs up and moves to another area of the city they seem to forget about what their goals are. Additionally, without the support of multiple city departments it is easy for these revitalized areas to return to what the city was trying to change.
Secondly, I worried about my ability to sale my house in the future when I bought in 2009, but I trusted what I was told and signed on the deal anyway. While I love my home, if I needed to move for work I would be unable to sell my house. While I accept responsibility for this I thought the city would continue working in my area and my house would slowly appreciate (instead of depreciating). The city seems to think they can build $170,000 (sometimes more) homes in whatever area they want and the whole area will appreciate in value. While the area probably does benefit, most neighborhoods where they do these projects cannot support homes in this price range. I purchased the most expensive house in the neighborhood at the time. My brother in law bought a house last October for 1/3 of what I spent five houses away.
I support the idea of higher density housing in this area (8-10 houses per acre). The homes need to be in line with the area and should be "starter homes" so Ogden can entice younger families to move into the area. Reusing the same style houses they have used over the past 5 years (Quincy, Fowler, Jefferson, 23rd St) is not appropriate for this area.
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