Starting a Business…in a New Community

Welcome back!

Part of the attraction of some new urbanist communities is the infrastructure that has been put in place to support entrepreneurs. Often times these developments are approved for mixed use zoning so you can have a local grocery store or cafe or financial services office, etc., within walking distance of your new home.

This is ideal for those of us hoping to start that dream business right smack in the middle of a growing community. In todays Suburban Journal (St. Louis), life in new urbanism community New Town at St. Charles (Missouri) is examined from an entrepreneurial perspective. The publication profiles a few residents and their live/work plans or experiences in their new community.

Mr. Satish Pardeshi, a resident who purchased one of the live/work units (homes that have been zone approved for a residence and on-site business) is still working full-time elsewhere but hopes to open his dry cleaning business in a few months. There are over 2000 residents living in St. Charles and in 10 years 3,000 more residents are expected. While these numbers are encouraging a concerted marketing and promotions effort is still needed to get folks to shop locally. The developer and local business owners do their best to attract residents and visitors to the town’s core through weekend activities and special events.

I love reading about these kinds of stories because I feel like as a nation we are taking back our communities and allowing ourselves to realize our lifestyle dreams through these intentional communities. Imagine creating neighborhoods that allow mom and pop shops, and small business owners to build businesses that can take care of their families…talk about everything old being new again!

Counter Global Warming with our Trees

I just read an article in the Toronto Star that shared an interesting fact about our trees.

“…two 32 foot trees will produce enough oxygen to supply a person’s needs for a year” (Shelly Sanders Greer, Toronto Star, September 22).

The article goes on to note that trees and shrubs, if they are planted in the right places can “significantly lower heating and cooling costs and intercept rainfall, which reduces runoff.

Our backyard has two enormous trees that are at least 32 ft. and I can vouch for their effectiveness in lowering our energy costs.  Our maples provide lots of shade and pleasant breezes in the summer that cool off the back of our home eliminating the need for air conditioning on many days.

Unfortunately it appears that quite a few new home developments are not planted with enough trees and even when  there are sufficient trees planted often times they don’t thrive because developers leave behind poor soil. If you are in a new subdivision and can relate to this kind of situation encourage your local government to put in place more rigorous standards for developers regarding soil. You can also go to your local professional nursery with a soil sample to see if they can tell you whether your soil needs some help.

For those of you who are city dwellers and live in one of those communities where you have great old trees…take care of them! Make sure you don’t have any of those pests that ravage trees. Best of all enjoy the fall…even the raking since it’s great exercise for our waists and it gives you a great reason to relax with some warm apple cider or a glass of wine after the work is done!

Urban Home Treasures – Beautiful and Affordable

Some of us are living in the home and community of our dreams, others are still looking. If price is a factor for you here is yet another reason to look at your urban centers and the new urbanist communities that are springing up around the country.

 

The thing about new urbanism is that it forces us to look again at our urban areas through the eyes of those of with the creativity, passion and ability to renew old communities. Terra not Terror is a great blog about environmentally friendly lifestyles that I came across yesterday because of blogger Terra’s discussion of the recent Akron Metro Living Tour.

Akron, Ohio is a city I discovered about 19 years ago when I was just finishing school in Michigan. I met someone at school who hailed from Akron and who seemed flabbergasted that I’d never heard of the city before. “You haven’t heard of Akron – the once rubber capital of America?” he said with great offense. Being from another country to the north, I think I could be excused from this essential piece of knowledge .

Anyhow that began my odyssey of discovering a gem of an old city named Akron. Visiting my friend’s West Akron family home on the weekend became something I truly enjoyed as I roamed the heavily treed streets, fantastic old stores and scenic parks nearby. What got me then was how affordable some of these grand old homes were. One draw back – the best deals needed the greatest renovation work. Anyhow, jobs took us to other states, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Akron and the fellow who introduced me to this city (he’s now my husband).

If you need to understand what kind of benefits there are to gain in living in an urban center like this, besides the great financial bargain to be had, take a look at this site for an example of urban living that might be available near to where you live. Many of the Akron neighborhoods featured are situated close to downtown and unbelievably beautiful metro parks.  These are added bonuses for those of you who want and appreciate great architecture, decent sized homes and the sense of community awareness that are core to revitalized communities like this.

Price tag: There are many neighborhoods, but among the best deals are those featured in West Hill.  These homes range in price from $40,000 to $180,000. The neighborhood has also become a project of the Cleveland Restoration Society’s Heritage Home Program. The program serves as a benefit for rehabilitating and remodeling these gorgeous homes.

Best of all “The presence of the Historic District at West Hill has increased the value of the area in terms of city awareness, neighborhood pride and reclamation of housing stock and increased property value.”

High Quality “School Communities” – Finally…21st Century thinking

How many of you chose a neighborhood because of the quality of the local schools there? I bet quite a few of made your decision that way but I bet you’re also concerned about the general trend of public schools in our country.  The problems in our worst schools become a problem for the nation.  More specifically they affect our communities.  Good schools attract families who care about education.  Bad schools are populated with many families who have no choice in the matter. The problem is EVERY public school should be a good school. No child in our country should be disadvantaged because of the quality of their school.

I just read an article on the Urban Planning Institute’s website by an educator who is also engaged in the development aspects of schools. David Ethan Greenberg makes some very interesting observations about the incentives and good solid thinking that is needed to encourage developers and school districts to access and build the resources needed to sustain quality education in our neighborhoods.

“Public schools indisputably influence real estate values.’ Given that the United States is widely perceived as falling behind in generating educated students able to compete in the global marketplace, and given the increasing anxiety of parents about the need for their children to become competitive by attending four-year colleges and beyond, good public schools could become the ultimate amenity for master-planned developments.”

Aha…new urbanist communities fit the bill! Here we have a community trend that is tailor made for the kind of creative thinking and cooperation that is suggested by Mr. Greenberg. Developers don’t get involved in school development and usually leave that to the school district. But school districts barely have enough to address deteriorating facilities and other issues in their existing schools. We end up with a situation where new developments are often without adequate schools or have insufficient space in their schools for the growing community. Mr. Greenberg gives an example of the following best practice to deal with this problem:

“Create an independent entity to advocate for school quality. Sophisticated developers are creating and funding nonprofit foundations, such as the Stapleton Foundation and the Foundation for Educational Excellence, to assume responsibility for ensuring that publicly funded schools are providing high-quality instruction. These foundations, often funded by development or transfer fees, bring in educational experts to help keep school district leaders current on “best practices,” to provide supplemental programs for schools, to underwrite design competitions for new school facilities, to pay for recruiting school leaders, to help in grant writing, and to take advantage of other opportunities as they come along.”

Not only is this a good idea for new developments, but I think struggling inner city schools could also benefit from similar strategies (re: setting up non-profit foundations).

We all value high-quality schools in our neighborhoods and we need to encourage more creative and progressive thinking between developers, city planners and our city politicians to ensure that sustainable solutions can be put in place to support quality public schools in every community throughout our country.

Buy Local – My Local Farmer’s Market

I’ve posted before about the joy and benefit of buying local (see more under the “Green Living” tab). This Saturday morning my husband and I took a short trip to our local farmers’ market.

Our suburb is surrounded by farms to the north of us (those that haven’t been gobbled up by developers). It is a real treat to be able to purchase food and products from local farmers and other businesses. The food travels less, so we pollute less and there are less preservatives…best of all we’re supporting our local economy.

Between the two of us we enjoyed a freshly made peameal bacon sandwich, an omelette, and sweet cinnamon bun (deliciously made by the folks at “Buncha Farmers” Country Store – that’s Paul from Buncha Farmers at the right). Live music was playing and we enjoyed the company of our community neighbors. It was a wonderful Saturday Morning.

The Top Ten List of Communities is Here!

As promised many moons ago, I have finally compiled the “Top Ten List of New Urban Communities” and it is ready and waiting for your review – complete with colour pictures and commentary! For those of you who are interested in what some of the developers are offering in new home/condo construction take a look at the new list under the “Top Ten Communities” menu tab above. The list features communities from all over, including Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Canada.

Please note that some of these communities are located in the suburbs and others are in the city. Since new urbanism is all about quality, affordable living that supports “green” lifestyles in communities that are walkable places designed for people and socializing (not cars!) the communities selected offer or plan to offer those very things.

Please take a look for yourself and call the appropriate contacts to better determine the suitability of these housing options for your family. At the very least you’ll get some ideas about what you’d like to find for purchase or rent in your own region or what you’d like to add, change or enhance in your own cozy community. Remember our communities are what we make them to be!