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1 larger, used more land and were set back in an independent style. This form of housing combined with further 2 street widening to reduce the connectivity of neighborhoods. 3 Most homes within the urban areas of Pequot Lakes are now independent of their neighboring dwellings, a pattern 4 that creates patches of both value and blight. Multi-family apartment buildings out-of-scale with the surrounding 5 housing was also built during this period. Redevelopment except in rare cases, is non-existent or the purview of 6 government despite the fact that the largest amount of public capital investment in infrastructure serves these 7 properties. 8 What has happened in the urban parts of Pequot Lakes is similar to what has happened in small-town 9 neighborhoods across the country.What our original homes lacked in size and scale,the original builders made up 10 for in design. Building neighborhoods on a human scale enhanced the public realm and ensured that the houses 11 provided value, and retained value, more than the sum of their parts. 12 As the City changed orientation from neighborhood design to a more auto-centric, independent style of living,the 13 City attracted some short-term investment but ultimately lost out to properties outside the City that provided 14 even more independence and greater auto accessibility.The more the City"invested"to increase auto-accessibility 15 in its neighborhoods the more it devalued those neighborhoods and the housing that was there. Today 16 investments in housing improvements are random and almost always out of scale or incompatible with adjacent 17 development. 18 Pequot Lakes cannot be successful over the long-term when its lowest value properties border the most expensive 19 infrastructure investments in the city. Right now,these areas do not attract significant private-sector investment. 20 A city with Pequot Lakes' parks ball fields public access to a lake downtown full of vitality well-located school 21 property, low crime rates local churches and opportunities for an engaging civic life should not be experiencing 22 stagnation and decline of its urban housing stock.The CitV is built on a framework of neighborhood design.Trying 23 to adopt a suburban development pattern on a traditional framework has made Pequot Lakes' housing stock less 24 competitive. 25 For the CitV of Pequot Lakes to improve its housing—which is essential if there is to be any sustained, long-term 26 growth for the area—it needs to restore its neighborhoods.This means returning to a pattern of development that 27 emphasizes sound site design proper building placement structure compatibility and the interconnectivitV of 28 neighborhoods. 29 30 31 32 " 33 34 35 !-FGW\A iRg Ce Rt., wh'Gh had a peiceeRt density g .,th 36 37 38 39 believes that the City is ptl, at ated with Rtal heusiRg eiatiens 71 Page