3(b) Housing and Economic Development Sections

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public space.The interaction between the private realm and the public realm can be coded on an intimate scale to provide lots of flexibility for property owners while ensuring that each new development adds to the overall value of the public space. The value-added component is critical to attracting investments to downtown Pequot Lakes. Streets that are built on a corridor approach, where streets are designed to exclusively or predominantly accommodate cars, lack the value added component. Because the neighborhood is not experienced on a human level but instead from inside a vehicle,the scale of structures and their interaction with the public space becomes secondary concerns. Easy access becomes the highest value. The historic neighborhoods of Pequot Lakes wiil not be competitive with properties on the periphery of town if auto-accessibility is the predominant design consideration. TRANSITIONING NEIGHBORHOODS To respond to the current development pattern and the spatial mismatch that has been created between the areas of greatest infrastructure investment and housing values, the City needs to adopt a different approach within the urban, rural and transition neighborhoods. In urban neighborhoods,an approach that attracts more investment,and a higher-value investment,is critical to the long-term financial and social health of the City. Street standards need to be adjusted to ensure that a complex, neighborhood setting is created with good pedestrian connectivity in a safe,comfortable environment.A new set of development codes are needed to ensure that housing investments address the public realm in a way that adds value to adjacent properties.When each new structure adds value to the overall neighborhood,the task of attracting new investment will become much easier. In rural areas,where public investments are less but still exceed the tax revenues generated from adjacent properties (except for shoreline properties,which generally produce more revenue than they require in adjacent infrastructure maintenance),the City needs to work to limit long-term liabilities.This will require adjusting road standards back to a more"rustic"design.The City should not assume the maintenance liability on new roads and,for places with huge disparities in public cost/benefit, should look at ways to privatize those segments. T"^ ''�+., ^^�'^ ^^^�'� *^ "^ rti....�ti„��ti,��.,��a...,..,�n�,,.,,,...r,,:..*-,.,.,..,,,..��,. �r; t ::�r.K �rsr>[iiA;tdlytii� i� �f��E��;tiri�,� ��,�k)divisi0ttt��,ji+ ,. .� ;.j Transition areas must be managed using either the urban or the rural approach, but never a middle zone between the two.A mid-point will ensure that traditional neighborhoods cannot expand while the resulting development will be constructed at densities that do not provide for recovery of the long-term maintenance costs. To facilitate expansion of urban neighborhoods into the transition area,the City may consider developing a plan for extension of a neighborhood pattern. POLICIES The following policies are proposed to guide future housing decisions in Pequot Lakes: Build neighborhoods that are interconnected to the rest of the community and serve to enhance the public realm. Traditional approaches to zoning are inflexible, separating different styles of housing from each other and disconnecting neighborhoods in a way that is destructive to the character of the neighborhood. Placing large apartment buildings next to smaller-sized housing units detracts from each structure.The City's approach must be to provide many housing options—single-family, duplex, multi-family, studio apartment and more—but in a form that complements the existing character of the neighborhood.