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1 2 HOUSING 3 INTENT 4 Create a housing approach that accommodates people in all stages of the life cycle, provides quality housing for 5 people and families at all income levels, builds neighborhoods that attract investment and connects those 6 neighborhoods to key destinations within the community. 7 BACKGROUND 8 The historic part of Pequot Lakes is built primarily on a traditional grid pattern.The original housing was located 9 between the railroad stop and Sibley Lake.The original development pattern was mixed-use, so residential and 10 commercial ventures were interspersed throughout the grid. 11 Over time,residential development coalesced into neighborhoods with housing that was compatibly scaled.Single 12 family and multi-family homes were built throughout these areas using a traditional pattern that spaced houses 13 across the right-of-way at distances that enhanced the public realm. Dwellings were built near the street while 14 accessory structures were placed in the rear of the lot.The neighborhoods were connected by narrow streets 15 I (narrow by current standards),sometimes with sidewalks.While modest in size and scale,these neighborhoods Deleted:often 16 had a sense-of-place characteristic of this era of development. Fragments of these neighborhoods can still be 17 found in Pequot Lakes. 18 At the same time, Sibley Township, which surrounded the city, developed in a traditional rural/recreational 19 pattern.Most of the development was either farmsteads on rural roads or lake cabins. 10 Following World War II and into the 1980's,the style of housing began to shift.As streets and rights-of-ways were `►21 reconfigured to increase automobile accessibility,the orientation of homes changed as well. In the urban area of 22 Pequot Lakes,the typical home was a little larger and positioned further back,with accessory structures moved 23 forward or attached. Some multi-family dwellings were constructed along this same pattern, with emphasis on 24 large parking areas and green space along the public street. Lake cabins in rural Sibley Township continued to be 25 added as transportation improvements increased their accessibility.Farmsteads remained largely unchanged. 26 As area development began to pick up in the 1990's,the significant housing investments were transitioning out of 27 urban Pequot Lakes to where property owners could have larger acreage and/or direct lake access. Sibley 28 Township began to transform into its current rural/suburban nature,with suburban-style subdivisions interspersed 29 throughout lands formerly used for agriculture or logging.Many lake homes were converted from seasonal cabins 30 to year-round dwellings,with significant increases in property values corresponding with increases in development 31 intensity. 32 This is the development pattern that was evolving at the time of the merger between Pequot Lakes and Sibley 33 Township and it continued up through the national subprime mortgage crisis that began in 2007. New housing 34 development slowed and now has largely ceased while an excess of empty lots remain. DRAFT-November 2010 9 1 P a g e