Impervious Pavement Discussions before Culver Boards

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At the Culver BZA meeting on September 18, 2008 there was a variance request for expanding a nonconforming use.  The request was to allow an existing two car garage to be expanded to a three car garage.  This was an old garage that sat across the setback lines.  There was no doubt that the the existing structure should be replaced.  The expansion of the nonconforming use in and of itself wasn’t a big deal, but in the overall big picture, it was not only a structure issue, but an impervious surface issue.

Just two days earlier at the Culver Plan Commission meeting, there was discussion regarding the poor condition of the storm sewers in Culver and their inadequacies.  That was regarding another section of town that has poor drainage and another project that was adding impervious surface.  Even if the solution of adding new and larger storm sewers to correct these issues was economically feasible, it wouldn’t be environmentally appropriate. 

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What’s happened to Personal Responsibility?

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Outrage of the Month from uschamber.com - September 2008
Outrage of the Month from uschamber.com – September 2008

It seems that no one has any sense of shame anymore. No one is embarrassed about their actions. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions. Personally, when I walk down the sidewalk and trip over something that isn’t there, I try and look casual about it and hope no one notices my blunder. Too many people today look for ways to push the blame onto someone else. It couldn’t possibly have been their own fault! “Did you see what happened to me? Someone should pay!”

This sense of entitlement does nothing more than serve to keep lawyers employed and to drive the cost of everything up because of the potential liability. Insurance has become a huge expense to our industry (and probably all industries) because of that “what if” potential for liability.

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Sand Hill Farm – Zero Lot Line Homes

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Zero Lot Line Homes are one of the things I would like to consider for the Sandhill Farm PUD.  There are no provisions for Zero Lot Line Homes in Culver’s current ordinance and it is a missed opportunity on some of the smaller Lots of Record currently platted in town.

Currently there’s not a definition of Zero Lot Line homes on Wikipedia, so I don’t get to cheat and use that reference this time.  I did do some searches and found discussions regarding them here, here and for a negative viewpoint, here. 

Zero Lot Line Homes are usually placed in zoning districts with higher densities, such as R-2 and R-3 districts, but they are becoming more common as in-fill developments where small undeveloped parcels are subdivided in existing neighborhoods.  In a zero lot line development the setbacks are reduced to zero (but not always) on one or two sides of a property allowing the homes to be built side-by-side or back-to-back with a common wall on the property line.  Rather than building them in a row, like with multi-family town homes, they will maintain one Side Yard, a Front Yard and often a Back Yard.  They can be build in duplex, triplex and quadplex configurations.

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