DEVELOPMENT
CONTENTS 2
CALLOUT DIAGRAM
4
INTRODUCTION
6
NEIGHBORHOOD PATTERNS
10
EXISTING CONDITIONS
14
ANTI-DISPLACEMENT
16
PRECEDENTS
18
TECHNIQUE
20
QUALITATIVE SECTION: PROPOSED
22
POLICIES
2
GOALS AFFORDABLE HOUSING INCOME SOURCE RESPECTS EXISTING HOMES
ALLEY-FACINGDEVELOPMENT A STRATEGY THAT SPLITS PARCELS TO ALLOW INCREASED DENSITY WHILE ENABLING CURRENT RESIDENTS TO STAY IN THEIR HOMES.
Currently, single-family homes sit on large parcels with wide streets, setbacks and often alleyways. In Central City South, there are also many vacant lots. Front yards are often utilized as social spaces.
Often, new development aggregates adjacent lots and creates proportionately massive structures, disrupting the neighborhood atmosphere. Single-family homes precariously co-exist with monolithic apartment buildings, while owners who sell lose generational equity opportunities.
Single-family neighborhoods can support additional density while retaining the village-like atmosphere and private space that makes them attractive to families. People maintain ownership and equity for future generations but can sell portions of their lots facing an alleyway-easement.
4
N
NEIGHBORHOODPATTERNS alleys vacant lots light rail corridor park infill potential light rail visibility RESIDENTIAL STREETS
6
N
existing alleys potential alleys Many neighborhoods were built to utilize alleys, but the potential exists to add pedestrian easements between homes as part of parcel reconfiguration in additional neighbrhoods.
ALLEYMAP
8
50% OF THE LAND AREA CONSISTS OF STREETS AND SETBACKS
60% OF STREETS IN CENTRAL CITY SOUTH DO NOT HAVE SIDEWALKS
In response to complaints of criminal activity, the City of Phoenix has attempted to simply closed and locke many alleys in Central City South and move trash collection to the primary streets.
Streets are wide and built for cars, not pedestrians or bicycles. Large setbacks separate the paved street from property lines, and many streets lack sidewalks.
EXISTINGCONDITIONS
A utilized but empty alley in decent shape
A utilized but empty alley in derelict shape.
10
“BACKYARD LOTS” UNDER-USED EXPANSIVE BACKYARDS
“ALLEY” COMPLAINTS ABOUT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY; TO BE CLOSED BY CITY
QUALITATIVE SECTION EXISTING
MONTEZUMA STREET
HADLEY STREET
THIRD AVE
FOURTH AVE
TONTO STREET
BUCKEYE ROAD
“VACANT LOTS” EMPTY, GRAVEL LOTS; SPECULATIVE LAND-BANKING
12
anti-cultural-displacement: identity Alleys offer opportunities for small, hyperlocal home businesses to cater to their neighbors in an intimate setting that encourages local identity.
anti-economic-displacement: opportunity Alley development fights economic displacement by offering opportunities for home-based income creation for residents, even if they are renting their homes.
anti-physical-displacement: housing Alley-facing residential will be affordable for renters, and homeowners with units on their property will be less susceptible to physical displacement.
ANTI-DISPLACEMENT The current state of alleys in Central City South, and across many parts of Phoenix, is less than ideal. In responses to complaints about safety and trash in the alleys, the city is attempting to move trash collection to the streets and block off access to the alleys. But what if instead of letting city-owned land go to waste, what if the city utilized an asset that’s already there, and it spurred development in the neighborhood? Alley-facing development advocates for the benefits of alleys and proposes even the creation of new alleys. The practice of additional dwelling units, additions and granny flats is common in Central City South and across Phoenix. Simultaenously, front yards are active spaces. If these secondary dwellings were encouraged to front the alley directly as a house fronts its street, the alleys would become active and social spaces. Property owners would gain supplemental income from rent or the outright sale of a subdivided lot. Density would increase organically in a way that retained the comfortable, village-like atmosphere. Since properties would be developed by their own neighbors, the development is inherently in and of the community. Properties could be residential, commercial or combined, depending on the local market factors and wishes of the property owners. It is in the public’s best interest to decrease the negative aspects of the alleys, so property owners who sell their land along the alleys are incentivized to do so by taking part in parcel reconfiguration, where they gain property rights to what is now setbacks and paved right-of-ways along their respective street frontages.
14
Relatively newly-built home facing the alley in Central Park
This built project completed in 2010 by Vine Saccento, the Mod Box, is a trio of prefabricated living spaces sit on what was once a empty lot. He was able to rezone it from single family to multifamily in order to accommodate the Mod Box designs.
PRECEDENTS
Residential properties featuring, from south to north: a split parcel, an ADU that spans two parcels and an ADU on a single parcel.
16
existing conditions
single rental per existing house
own lot
own lot + shops
TECHNIQUE
multi-lot + shops
shared-space + shops
shared yard
18
“HOME” AFFORDABLE DWELLINGS
“FRONT YARD” LATENT POTENTIAL STRENGTHENED
“ALLEY” COMFORTABLY SCALED PATHWAY
“CONVEN LIVE/W
“AZOTEAS” OPPORTUNITY FOR EXPANSION
NIENCE STORE/ABARROTES” WORK-STOREFRONT SPACE
QUALITATIVE SECTION PROPOSED
MONTEZUMA STREET
HADLEY STREET
THIRD AVE
FOURTH AVE
TONTO STREET
BUCKEYE ROAD
“HOME” LIVE/WORK-AFFORDABLE DWELLINGS
20
POLICIES open alleys Instead of closing alleys due to trash accumulation and undesirable activity, the city should encourage the activation of alleys to take advantage of unused land, encourage appropriately-scaled density, enable income-producing rentals, add housing stock and create pedestrian-friendly streets.
ADU permitting Backyard rental units create simple, dependable income potential and create pathways for property ownership for low-income popoulations. Higher density and human-scale buildings encourages walkability. Permitting for new structures should be streamlined and made affordable and accessible for all residents.
parcel reconfiguration Wide streets built to favor cars and large public right-of-way setbacks can be shrunk while giving land back to homewoners as incentives to densify their neighborhoods themselves, on their own terms, while retaining the comfort of a low-scale residential neighborhood.
land trust In exchange for land along the current streets, landowners could donate or sell at a below-market price their land fronting the alleys to a community land trust that would be dedicated to long-term affordable housing and commercial space.
co-op living The land along the alleys could consist of parcels for ownership along the lines of a land trust, or could combine in a co-op housing scenario. In the event parcel reconfugaration does not take place but alley developemnt occurs, a co-op rental system could develop where owners retain the rights to their land but the occupants of alley housing have more custody, and incentive to care for, their buildings.
Affordable Housing Requirement for Developers New parcels created by reconfiguration can be placed in a trust subsized by the affordable housing requirement for developers, wherein instead of placing units within the primary development, the entity finances construction of affordable units nearby. Developers could also directly fund secondary dwellings. Higher-rent units along Central Ave. could be offset by neighborhood infill along the alleys and vacant lots.
22