Star Tribune Article 7-5-06
Is it the end of the road for the cuI de sac?
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Is it the end of the road for the cui de sac?
Homeowners love their dead-end lanes, but in Minnesota and across the
nation, planners are concerned about traffic problems, public maintenance
costs and neighborhood insularity.
Darlene Prois, Star Tribune
Joanie and Craig Aasen wanted to run from their newly purchased Vadnais
Heights home after discovering $60,000 worth of hidden mouse damage. Now,
a year later, they're thankful they didn't. Their now mouse-free home has a
feature that was worth every headache:
It's on a cul-de-sac.
"We don't know what our lives would be like if we hadn't moved here," said the
36-year-old oncology nurse. "Our social life is here."
Like many suburban families, the Aasens prize how quiet and child-friendly their
lollipop-shaped street is. But not everyone shares that affection. In Minnesota
and across the nation, concerns about traffic congestion and increased road
maintenance costs are causing a growing backlash against these icons of
suburban life.
Local governments across the country, including some in Minnesota, have
passed zoning ordinances to limit cul-de-sacs. In Oregon, which embraced
"smart growth" land-use concepts decades ago to combat sprawl, 90 percent of
the state's cities have ordinances limiting new cul-de-sacs.
Minnesota cities are more permissive, but some are also taking steps to limit
new ones. City councils in St. Cloud and Northfield, for example, prefer to
routinely deny new cul-de-sacs unless there is a physical necessity for them.
In Blaine, a fast-growing Anoka County suburb, "All things being equal, we try to
minimize them when we can," said Bryan Schafer, the city's community
development director. "But the market likes them, and people like living on them.
Developers like them because they can get more for them. It's all a balance."
The Metropolitan Council, which oversees development in the Twin Cities, also
isn't a fan of the dead-end development. John Kari, a Met Council planning
analyst, said the agency isn't "necessarily against cul-de-sacs" but prefers
interconnected neighborhoods with "multiple routes to a place,"
Kari also believes there's a social advantage to minimizing cul-de-sacs.
"You may get to know the neighbors in your cul-de-sacs, but you don't get to
know your broader neighborhood," Kari said.
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Is it the end of the road for the cuI de sac?
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An oft-cited concern with cul-de-sacs is that they often result in overly congested
connecting streets. All those cars from neighborhoods of dead-end streets have
to go somewhere, critics say.
But traffic isn't the only concern. When Josh Tenney, a 27-year-old truck
salesman, moved into his "sweet little" cul-de-sac in the northern suburb of
Hugo two springs ago, he never once thought about winter.
"Where does all the snow go? Spread across all the yards," he said. "Where
does the sand and salt go? Spread across the yards. Where do all the rocks,
gravel, and winter trash go? You guessed it, spread across the yards."
But Tenney remains convinced that the positives of living on a cul-de-sac
outweigh the negatives. Not so Joe Imholte, maintenance supervisor for the St.
Cloud Public Works Department. He thinks the difficult-to-negotiate streets
should be banned.
"We can plow one-and-one-half to two miles further down the road in the same
amount of time (it takes) to clean a cul-de-sac," Imholte said. "Where do you
push the snow? People complain because they have more snow than the
neighbor... we have gone so far as to pile it up in the middle. Very time-
consuming."
More than money
The limitations on cul-de-sacs have led to a growing debate among developers
and city planning officials.
"They argue that it's taking away a more marketable property," said Matt
Glaesman, St. Cloud's planning director. "Does that impact outweigh the public
cost?
But Michael Noonan, vice-president of the Builders Association of the Twin
Cities thinks there are issues beyond profit. He points out that not only are
buyers willing to pay more to live on a cul-de-sac, they strongly prefer to.
There's research to back him up. A 2004 National Association of Realtors
survey showed that one-quarter of buyers were willing to spend more for a
home on a cul-de-sac.
Another poll, done by a California-based market research firm, showed buyers
preferred them to regular, gridded streets by a margin of almost 2-1.
"We're here to serve the public and market, and planners have to bear that in
mind," said Noonan, who is a planner by training, and the Minnesota division
president of Toll Brothers, Inc., one of the largest home building companies in
the United States.
"Planners are of a philosophical mind-set that's out of step with the market."
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Is it the end of the road for the cuI de sac?
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Noonan objects to planners acting as social engineers trying to impose their
world view on the market at large.
"They say cul-de-sacs don't build good neighborhoods," said Noonan. "I live on
a cul-de-sac. It's private, we feel comfortable with our kids playing in both the
front and back yards, and we have strong relationships with our neighbors. It's a
wonderful environment."
Looking out at the lively scene outside her front door, Joanie Aasen agreed.
"We would have sold this house and run as far away from it as we could if it
hadn't been for the kindness of the new neighbors," she said. "Every day, I am
thankful for this little street of ours."
Darlene Prois · 612-673-4280 or email DarleneProisatdprois@startribune.com
@2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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7/5/2006