NaturalHome.com: A Hobbit House
elco...@gmail.com
Natural Home
This page was sent to you by: elco...@gmail.com
A Hobbit House
With a historical base, Gary Zuker built his hobbit house with a clay and straw mix.
elco...@gmail.com wrote:
here's an interesting article about a 900 sq ft home...
Marganne Meyer
First, I'm not seriously considering buying this property. I'm
wondering about the description and thought some of you might
understand it. I know this area well -- great location, semi-rural
but within 5 minutes of sizeable city. Link below. Parcel large
enough for several units with privacy.
Description says there is an (unstable) large house w/attached garage
w/living space above, plus two modular home sites (poor condition).
Zoning is RES.
Does this mean there this parcel is allowed to have 4 units, since
for already exist? Yes, a call to planning commission and/or agent
could determine answer. I'm just wondering, in general, if there is a
property like this that has 4 existing units, that means 4 small
homes could be put on the property.
Wondered if the two modulars could be replaces by 2 small homes, main
house could be shared or divided into two residences, then there
would be the apt. over the 4-car garage. Or perhaps all torn down and
start over?
Or if anything were touched, could planning restrictions bring this
back to only one unit? I couldn't be that easy, could it?
Michael Janzen
to see what modifications could be made to the existing units. Often
older structures are grandfathered in but when you go to change them
they need to come up to code. In the case of a trailer I'm not sure
what that would mean... got the trailer where it stands and rebuild?
The other thing to watch for is that while there may be other 'units'
on the property they may have never been legal dwelling units meaning
that fixing them up and moving in may be prohibited.
But the bottom line is "it depends" on the specific situation.
-Michael
> http://www.realestate.com/CA/Placerville/27808330-3341-Newtown-Rd-Pla...
Ron
or not.
One of the misperceptions I continually hear in the small house
discussion is that it is virtually impossible to find places to build
small. The reality is, from my experience, that every location has its
own zoning ordinances and the trick is finding the area that will work
for what you want to accomplish (and be willing and able to move
there). I am looking at a lot in a fairly desirable area of Florida
next week that is zoned to allow for 4 efficiency apartments - I am
pretty sure that as long as the zoning is there a good plan will allow
for minor modifications (like separate small cottages).
BTW - the property you linked to looked worth pursuing if it is in a
desirable area.
Marganne Meyer
depends'. Guess I also was looking for people to describes examples
they've found in their own communities where such a parcel is
'grand-fathered' in or made to 'come up to code'. The property had
two manufactured homes in poor condition. That doesn't translate into
trailers. It would be nice to figure out the percentage of lots or
acres for sale where it is zoned for more than one structure.
Think anyone will seriously look at changing town planning and zoning
to accommodate the increasing demand for housing? (Assuming part of
the solution is smaller homes.)
Marganne Meyer
>I am looking at a lot in a fairly desirable area of Florida
>next week that is zoned to allow for 4 efficiency apartments - I am
>pretty sure that as long as the zoning is there a good plan will allow
>for minor modifications (like separate small cottages).
Is this commercial zoning? If so, does this make the property more
expensive than a similar lot zoned residential, one unit?
Big-time research project: How much zoning exists in the U.S. that is
suitable for small house community development - or even allows small
homes of less than 1,000 square feet to be built? Variances always
are possible, but, if they can be avoided ....
I'll bet there is a study somewhere on the Internet where we might be
able to identify this information? Anyone want to take a shot at
trying to find it on the Internet?
>BTW - the property you linked to looked worth pursuing if it is in a
>desirable area.
As far as I know it's a desirable area. Used to live in Placerville.
This parcel is just west of town off a major highway, but far enough
away so there isn't traffic noise. It's pretty rural considering it's
so close to town.
As far as me pursuing it ... It's not something I could do on my own.
I could probably come up with a negotiated purchase price, but would
have no money left for demolition or improvements. I also don't know
how to do these things myself.
If a small of small housers would be interested in creating a
community on a 2.5 acre parcel that might allow 4 units, I'd be
willing to look at it. My general feeling for the list (as it was
about a year ago) is most people were not looking for this much
density.
Has Greg's Ning.com Small House group provided for a place where
people could put up a profile that shows the type/location of a
property where they would want to live?
Sherman Johnson
both WV and CO do not have any zoning laws, but I may be mistaken or maybe
things have changed.
This Wiki article explains the various types of zoning, and might be
useful -- if for no other reason than to understand what's most prevalent
and which type is likely to be the most lenient with regard to small houses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning
Here is another good one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning_in_the_United_States
I'll pass your question on to Greg, in case he didn't see it.
Sherman
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Low Cost Community Housing" group.
> To post to this group, send email to
> low-cost-comm...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> low-cost-community-...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/low-cost-community-housing?hl=en.
>
Ron
Sarasota today and he was familiar with the pocket neighborhood
concept and was very favorable for that type of development on infill
lots. He told me that in multifamily zoning they allow from 8 to 13 (I
think) units per acre depending on the area of town. It takes 3500 to
5000 sq. ft of land for each unit and goes down as the lot size goes
up. In the downtown area they allow the most density and would allow 4
small houses on 1/3 acre lot. They were not concerned about the size
of house and also allowed accessory buildings with each home which
could include up to a 600 sq. ft living space. That is very promising.
The idea to profile your interests on Ning is a great idea - I will
look into it. Also, if you find three other people for Placerville, I
will be glad to help.
Ron
Sharon Villines
On Jan 27, 2010, at 7:42 PM, Marganne Meyer wrote:
> Think anyone will seriously look at changing town planning and
> zoning to accommodate the increasing demand for housing? (Assuming
> part of the solution is smaller homes.)
One possibility is looking closer at center city areas.
In Manhattan there is a building that is 12' by 12'. I read about it
more than 10 years ago in the NYTimes. The developer built each floor
as a separate apt expecting to sell apts to people who came to NY on
weekends or during the week, not to full-time residents. Full time
residents bought the apts.
He was asked why he built a 12x12' building, and he said because
that's how large the plot of land was.
But since he could build that in the city, suggests that zoning might
be less restrictive there than the suburbs, which are very restrictive.
Another place to look for ideas and examples of small housing in
cities is Scandinavia. I saw a television program -- Oprah, I think --
where the children's rooms were VERY small. Nice big windows with a
window seat and a single bed built into the wall across from it. The
apartment was beautiful, and tiny.
Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Save Our Planet. It's the only one with chocolate.
E L Cobb
I noticed an announcement in the local paper here that a local town is
getting ready to vote on draft revisions to the zoning code. That
nearby town is beloved of hippies and artists... I'm beginning to
suspect that once people buy in to land without zoning requirements,
they want to close the barn door so to speak, to keep out people *they*
see as riff-raff, or else, to keep the remaining land as pristine as
possible...
Does land ownership change people, so that they want to control the land
around them?
And I was ruminating driving up from my parents' house a week ago, a
place they had built 30 years ago literally at the end of the road at
the confluence of several rivers... 30 years ago, most of the way to
their house from dc was a small two-laned road. gradually, as the years
rolled by, stretches were converted into interstate-grade road, divided
highway, two lanes per direction... the last two-lane stretch looks as
though it's being widened, more pines chopped down... it's close enough
to dc to be a weekend-commuter -- 2 1/2 hours with no traffic. there
are a lot of moneyed federal retirees down there... they've displaced
the waterman economy that was down there... docks have turned from
working, community-owned docks to private docks with expensive playtoys
tied up. i'm driving and thinking that the people with money and suv's
and fancy second homes have a lot to do with roads still being built and
widened... they don't want to spend so much time on the road fighting
traffic to get to and from their vacation home every weekend...
i think we're doomed...
pam callaway
Check the U S Census, it has those figures... We do what we know..when we know better, we do better....Maya Angelou--- On Wed, 1/27/10, Marganne Meyer <marg...@macnexus.org> wrote: |
|
|
|
Whitney Schmidt
Under separate email cover I'll explain the project in the next couple of days. It's a small project, & semi rural (by my definition).
Whitney.
From: Sherman Johnson <mrnat...@comcast.net>
To: low-cost-comm...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, January 27, 2010 8:49:41 PM
Subject: Re: [LCCH] Re: Zoning question