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Monday, March 25, 2013

How Would You Feel if This Moved in Next Door?



Let's say you've lived in this little white house for decades (as the couple that lives there now has). Then lets say that someone buys the lot next to you, scrapes off what's there and builds a house that is 5,200 square feet larger than your own house. Or to put it another way... Imagine the house that you currently live in. Now imagine a house being built next door that is seven and a half times larger than yours. That's what this couple has had happen to them. How would you feel when the first thing you see every morning as you leave your house is this monstrously large single family house next door?

Ordinance 033, the "Good Neighbor" ordinance that the city council approved on March 5th, has been written to allow people to build larger living spaces without being bad neighbors. Let's grow smart, Old Town.

Heres's a aerial shot of the green house and several of the other houses on the block so there's some context for this situation. This aerial view was pulled from Google maps.



Sources: 
All property size figures used in this article were derived from the Larimer County Assessor records.
The second photo was taken from Google Maps.

Amendment:
Actually, it looks like the couple that has owned this little house for decades has moved to LaPorte. They probably rent the house out now. Perhaps little houses next to large new builds are more likely to become rentals. It's unlikely someone would want to buy the property unless their goal is to also scrape and rebuild, in which case Old Town would slowly but surely become New Town.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for showing us photos. Would love to see pictures of some of the majority of great Old Town homes that have had additions that fit right in with the existing homes. How about your house, Meg, and the house on Grant next to my garage as starters?

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  2. Heres an article I wrote in 2009 for the Matter Daily. It isn't online anymore, so I put it in my blog. Please read if you care to.

    http://littlemaninside.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/you-tell-me-this-town-aint-got-no-heart/

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