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� 1 2 SIDEBAR ON NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN 3 Neighborhood design is the historic development pattern that Pequot Lakes was originally built with. The unit of 4 development in neighborhood design pattern is the block. With blocks there can be a conscious effort to ensure 5 the pattern of development is cohesively scaled. In a traditional pattern, a large apartment building would not be 6 placed next to a small single-family house, for instance. A block increment also assists in the organization of the 7 public space.The interaction between the private realm and the public realm can be coded on an intimate scale to 8 provide lots of flexibility for property owners while ensuring that each new development adds to the overall value 9 of the public space. 10 The value-added component is critical to attracting investments to downtown Pequot Lakes.Streets that are built 11 on a corridor approach, where streets are designed to exclusively or predominantly accommodate cars, lack the 12 value added component. Because the neighborhood is not experienced on a human level but instead from inside a 13 vehicle, the scale of structures and their interaction with the public space becomes secondary concerns. Easy 14 access becomes the highest value. The historic neighborhoods of Pequot Lakes will not be competitive with 15 properties on the periphery of town if auto-accessibility is the predominant design consideration. 16 TRANSITIONING NEIGHBORHOODS 17 To respond to the current development pattern and the spatial mismatch that has been created between the areas 18 of greatest infrastructure investments and housing values,the City needs to adopt a different approach within the 19 urban, rural and transition neighborhoods. 20 In urban neighborhoods, an approach that attracts more investment, and higher-value investment, is desperately 21 needed. Street standards need to be adjusted to ensure that a complex, urban setting is created with good 22 pedestrian connectivity in a safe, comfortable environment.A new set of development codes are needed to ensure 23 that housing investments address the public realm in a way that adds value to adjacent properties. When each 24 new structure adds value to the overall neighborhood, the task of attracting new investment will become much 25 easier. 26 In rural areas, where public investments are less but still exceed the tax revenues generated from adjacent 27 properties (except for shoreline properties, which generally produce more revenue than they require in adjacent 28 infrastructure maintenance), the City needs to work to limit long-term liabilities. This will require adjusting road 29 standards back to a more "rustic" design.The City should not assume the maintenance liability on new roads and, 30 for places with huge disparities in public cost/benefit, should look at ways to privatize those segments. The City 31 code needs to be examined to ensure that new subdivisions are not added where they create a long-term public 32 tax liability greater than the subdivision will generate in tax revenue. 33 Transition areas must be managed using either the urban or rural approach, but never a middle zone between the 34 two. A mid-point will ensure that urban neighborhoods cannot expand while the resulting development will be 35 constructed at densities that do not provide for recovery of the long-term maintenance costs. To facilitate 36 expansion of urban neighborhoods into the transition area, the City may consider developing a plan for extension 37 of the neighborhood pattern. 38 POLICIES 9 1 P a g e