Carlsbad, like many Southern California towns in San Diego County, has experienced substantial growth in recent years (about 95,000 currently), and is expected to continue that growth. The growing pains have included more traffic, issues of affordable housing, preservation of open space, providing services for residents, schools, environmental concerns (e.g., beaches, wildlife, and erosion) and much more.
Recognizing the need to cope effectively with growth and to plan for the future, Carlsbad voters wisely approved the Smart Growth Plan many years ago to help manage the expected development in Carlsbad. This has been, in my opinion, one of the smartest things Carlsbad could have done to help control the impact of development.
Carlsbad is now focusing more urgently on growth issues with regard to the remaining undeveloped space in the town. And that focus is now on creating LIVABLE COMMUNITIES. Rapid growth, despite the planning and open space preservation, has lost some of the trends and qualities of community life that were so much a part of developing towns many years ago and that made them so appealing – for example neighbor interaction and quiet tree-lined streets.
According to the city council, LIVABLE COMMUNITIES emphasizes more pedestrian-oriented living areas, greater and easier access by emergency vehicles, improved ease of evacuation for emergencies (e.g., fires), increased interaction among neighbors, and more interesting and diverse architecture. Indeed, such communities may be more lovable!
LIVABLE COMMUNITIES will result from several strategies – livable streets, traffic calming (now THAT’S a nice thought), planned development and neighborhood design – and Carlsbad, and its residents, will benefit in many ways.
- Livable streets become more narrow, and thus safer (new streets will be 34 rather than 40 feet wide), with changes in where trees are planted and the width and placement of sidewalks (sidewalks to be further from the curb and closer to property lines, with a wider parkway area with trees adjacent to curbs).
- Traffic calming will be achieved after extensive study of issues within communities and approval of residents, implementing increased speed monitoring, enforcement by police, medians and other measures.
- A new planned development ordinance was approved in 2001. This regulation increases the amount of recreational and passive meeting spaces, adds to the minimum required space in backyards, mandates that a home’s square footage be proportional to the lot size (common in a number of area communities), discourages gated communities and cul-de-sacs which are more cumbersome but also impede navigation and evacuation, and reduces the use of building methods where large garages are the dominant visual of homes on the street.
- Neighborhood design will shift, with more focus in varying heights (single vs. two story homes), placement and style of doors and windows, and use of porches.
Carlsbad continues to impress with the focus on improving the town and making it a model community in Southern California, and elsewhere.
It is no surprise that Carlsbad remains a highly desirable community for a wide range of residents.
*********************
If I can provide more information about Carlsbad and surrounding areas, or the housing market in general, or otherwise assist you in your homes search, please contact me by phone or text at (760) 840-1360
or email me at JDowler@remax.net.
All content copyright © 2007 Jeff Dowler Carlsbad Homes and Real Estate Tidbits
;)
Links;)
Tags (Tag Cloud);)
Archives
I was just thinking about how nice it would be to be talking about growth. Southern California is experiencing it's fair share of the foreclosure market, and growth (in some areas) at the same time. For those areas where property taxes are no longer being collected, maintenance would be a luxury! With tax dollars no longer being collected at the same rate it's going to be sad to see schools closing, roads falling apart and libraries in disrepair. We are living in strange times......