Front drive garages to be thing of the past?

[speedog]

Front drive garages to be thing of the past - Calgary SUN story (link).

Our family owns and lives in a bungalow in one of these older neighborhoods (mid-50's - Highwood) where front drive garages are most definitely not the norm and our previous home (bungalow) was in a similar even older neighborhood (mid-30's-teens - Mount Pleasant). Huge elms, green ashes, manitoba maples and fir trees line the fronts of our streets and know pretty much everyone on the block by first name - in contrast, my sister-in-law and her family live in Tuscanny for over 15 years in the same home (font drive) and know virtually no one on their street. The difference - could be the design of the community as front drive communities tend to foster that come home, park it and stay inside kind of thing. The dog needs walking - drive to the dog park, not walk down the street where you might bump into another human being.

But there are negatives associated with no front drive garages - alleys can be a bitch during the winter. Lots of trees means lots of autumn clean-up and as well, bird crap on vehicles. Alleys can also become eyesores due to neighbors using them as storage areas for their junk.

Personally, I'd still take the rear drive alley entrance garages though - our neighborhood seems so friendly and busy even during the winter with people out walking and even just out relaxing during a nice summer evening in the front yard, something I've never seen in Tuscany or the likes. Problem is - is this what Calgarians want or is this proposed policy a sign of an out of touch city hall?

[project240]

I have to say I agree with the article.

We lived in Hawkwood for 3 years and literally saw our next door neighbour outside maybe 4 times during the 3 years.

I would be outside BBQ'ing on the weekend and would see people watchng me from their 2nd level kitchen (walkout) but they'd never come outside.

We would walk our dog in the neighbourhood and granted, we would bump into the same few other people out walking their dog or getting some exercise, but the majority of people didn't go outside from what we noticed.

I found the neighbourhood to be depressing, not just Hawkwood, but many newer developments throughout the city.

[Unknown303]

I live in Woodbine with front garages in our neighborhood and in the five days I've lived here have already met 2 of my neighbors just from them walking around. Some communities have nice people living in them, and some don't.

[dirtsniffer]

^ word, I grew up in woodlands and knew everyone on either side for about 10 houses

[speedog]

Another problem with this proposal - will new starter homes be affordable? Rear drive garages will mean that houses have to be pushed forward on their lots to at least provide some fenced in yard space or that houses will have to become smaller or that lots will have to become larger (affecting price points).

Our 1384 square foot 3 bedroom bungalow (4th bedroom down - double garage out back) comfortably fits the need of our family of five, but so many today seem to need that 2500+ square foot home for three people. What are people willing to make compromises for if this policy comes to be - smaller homes or increased prices? Or will the public raise this issue with city council members so as to make it known that it is not acceptable in Calgary?

Of note, out first home in Mount pleasant was a 690 square foot two bedroom bungalow (single garage out back with additional single parking pad) that suited our needs quite well until child number two came along. Of note, our current home sits on a 60x110 lot, first one was on a 37.7x120 lot - are 60x110 lots even affordable any more?

[superflychief]

Knowing your neighbors has nothing to do where the placement of your garage is. I used to live in Cougar Ridge and didn't know any of my neighbors at all. House was a front garage. Now I live in Copperfield and I am friends with and regularly hang out with quite a few of my neighbors. It has more to do with people just not wanting to be social then where their garage is. If you want to know your neighbors, talk over the fence, talk as you go get your mail, talk as you shovel the drive etc. Everybody having kids also helps getting to know people.

[botox]

Front garage here and we know plenty of neighbors around the block. Even had a barbecue and invited a whole bunch of them. If someone wants to be social they will, if not they'll just stay inside their cozy home and watch people from inside. Front garages definately make the neighborhood busier because of the traffic, but at the same time you get to see them and wave hi and have some small talk with them. If the garages were in the back that would never happen.

[xnvy]

I'm kinda split on this thing. The two neighborhoods I lived in both are based on front drive houses. In Douglas Glen I got to know everyone around me but in Cranston I rarely see the neighbours and the only contact we really ever have with them is just a hi/hello.

[Penis McNickels]

Originally posted by project240
We lived in Hawkwood for 3 years and literally saw our next door neighbour outside maybe 4 times during the 3 years.

I live in the aforementioned neighbourhood, Tuscany, and just this winter I was out shovelling snow with my daughter and so was a long term neighbour across the street with her kids.

I waved and said hi and she asked me if I was new in the neighbourhood and I told her, "yeah, I moved in here back in 2005." Then we both felt awkward and went back to shovelling our walks.

[Ven]

I'm excited to ditch this alley house and get into a front drive home soon. Of course I'm in the N.E. where most people use the alley as a dump. For example looking out my window I see 2 pallets, 2 tires, piles of broken wood so old they turned grey, fences that were never finished and now are rotting, appliances, and my favorite; my new comer neighbors who have managed to pile a pyramid of empty 4L milk jugs higher than the stacked stove and microwave they've left on the deck for over a year. Then there's the sneaky illegal dumpers that use the alley for they're garbage. Last year 2 couches, assorted rolling chairs, tables, and boxes or random crap. But lets not forget how fun it is in the winter trying to traverse that tundra. And in spring with the pot holes and mud. Summer brings great dust clouds which end up in the house. Ya, you keep you fucking alleys and shove them up your ass.

[Ven]

Originally posted by Penis McNickels


I live in the aforementioned neighbourhood, Tuscany, and just this winter I was out shovelling snow with my daughter and so was a long term neighbour across the street with her kids.

I waved and said hi and she asked me my name. I said, " It's Penis. Penis McNickles. It's a pleasure to meet you." Then we both felt awkward and went back to shovelling our walks.

[Abeo]

I've lived in:
-Highland Park (rear alley), got to know one neighbor well
-Canyon Meadows (front driveway), got to know a number of neighbors well, and lots of people in the neighborhood with familiar faces would say hi
-Tuxedo (rear alley), introduced myself to two neighbors and chatted, haven't talked with them again. One neighbor and I shovel each other's sidewalks, but its an unspoken thing.

I think the differences in my experiences is being in areas of renters vs owners. Most homeowners just don't care about meeting the new renters.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by superflychief
Knowing your neighbors has nothing to do where the placement of your garage is.

This just sums it up. However, I personally hate the front garage look. Usually there's more garage than house, and I like the look older neighborhoods have. With sidewalks, and green space between the side-walk and road, especially with trees planted down it.

Another added bonus (for some, not others), is the "complaint" that the roads will be narrower.... that's not a bad thing, narrower roads means less little shitheads using them as their personal racetracks. As much as I hate driving down my street when there's snowbuildup (you can just barely fit two cars passing eachother because of the street parking), it also forces cars to slow down, and navigate carefully.

[bignerd]

Front drive here. Know/n quite a few of our neighbors for a long time, we have all lived in the neighborhood for about ten years. Don't think the garage makes a difference, but does make you more visible to your neighbors I think being front drive (as someone said, more cars driving on street but then neighbors see you out working on car, cleaning garage etc...).

I like not having an alley, only time our garage or anyone I know of with a garage has had it broken into was when it was a an alley garage.

Detached garages are nice though in that they are bigger I think, as long as you have enough back yard to accommodate one.

[speedog]

Originally posted by Penis McNickels
I live in the aforementioned neighbourhood, Tuscany, and just this winter I was out shovelling snow with my daughter and so was a long term neighbour across the street with her kids.

I waved and said hi and she asked me if I was new in the neighbourhood and I told her, "yeah, I moved in here back in 2005." Then we both felt awkward and went back to shovelling our walks.

So why do you not know your neighbor? Is it as a result of urban design or is it something else? I would dare say it's something else - I would dare say that people are afraid to get to know other people. A sense of community - it just doesn't exist for the most part these days. How many of you have ever attended a community function or are even aware that there are community events? Our last community event attended - this past Saturday night, the Highwood Chili Cook-off, over 10 years running now. Great event but ended way too early mostly because of all of the young families in attendance - but the party just moved to a close-by neighbor's home.

Other past events attended, our block's Stampede block party (12 years running), Thursday and Sunday night pick-up shinny at the community rink, bicycle polo during summer evenings at the rink, lawnchair theatre at the community centre, Christmas craft sale, community bbq's at the outdoor community pool, community Stampede breakfast. Question is - do newer communities even do this stuff and if they do, what percentage of community members in these communities are even aware of the stuff going on in their community - certainly, IMHO community design isn't going to get people to know their neighbors, getting to know one's neighbors is something that takes some real effort.

[lilmira]

Houses don't stop people to socialize, people do.

The thing is, back in the days, there wasn't much to do by yourself for entertainment, so you hang out with people literally. Now, people hide in their own corners doing whatever they do without physically interacting with each other face to face.

Nothing to do with house in my opinion.

[GQBalla]

as long as the back alleyway is all paved and the garage is still connected to the house i wouldn't care.


i don't think having the garage location will make a difference.

all my neighbours seem to stick to themselves. I wave hi or say hello.

The only time my one neighbour talked to me was to threaten me he was going to tell my dad i smoked (back than i was 16 and i said whatever)

The only time i spoke with the elderly neighbour was when i brought home a motorcycle and he said it was nice. ( i wave to him everytime i see him though)

[Feruk]

I think it's all based on your neighbors. There have been some communities that I've known my neighbors in, some that hated me for having parties, and some that I haven't seen anyone out front of their house.

I grew up in Edgemont, and the trend I found there was more ethnic than anything else. I knew or regulairly talked to most of my white neighbors. However, of 3 ethnic (Chinese and Fillipino) neighbors, one set turned out to be running a grow op, one had the husband kill his wife, and one set (next door) you only EVER saw as they drove in and out of the garage. Obviously not very social.

[88CRX]

Originally posted by lilmira
Houses don't stop people to socialize, people do.

The thing is, back in the days, there wasn't much to do by yourself for entertainment, so you hang out with people literally. Now, people hide in their own corners doing whatever they do without physically interacting with each other face to face.

Nothing to do with house in my opinion.

Exactly!

I wonder how much time and money was wasted to come to the conclusion that front driveway homes cause people to not be friendly with each other and makes neighborhoods ugly. LOL. Maybe they should just ban garages in new communities all together, then everyone needs to take transit and everyone will be able to socialize on the bus every morning. Plus it keeps cars off the road! A+ idea.

Ald. Shane Keating says the customer’s dollar should determine what streets look like, not city policy. “I’m opposed to a cookie-cutter plan for the entire city,” said Keating. “Double sidewalks are fine, trees are fine, but you can’t make the entire city look like 70-year-old streets in the downtown core.”

[Mibz]

Separate to the socialization issue, has anybody driven through areas like Parkland and Midnapore where trees line the streets? The streets are FUCKED. Sidewalks are FUCKED. Curbs are FUCKED.

Roots cause havoc to all of it. One area of Parkland along the ridge has the worst section of road I've ever traveled and they haven't done anything about it in over a decade. I'd hate to have that in front of my house.

Trees are pretty, but I'll be fucked if I give up an attached garage and proper roads for them.