Windermere: All that's wrong with NOVA

Builder greed around here never ceases to amaze me. I thought Moreland "Estates" was a bad deal at first (and its initial sales pace proved me right, but they have lowered prices to reflect the lot sizes now), but Windermere is a new low.

The recipe: take a beautiful piece of land, cut down every living organism on it, bulldoze it over and carve huge ugly drainage ditches into it, pave streets into a perfect characterless grid, cut it up into the smallest lots you can, then slather it with long narrow 3000sf "boxes" for $550k. Toss in a few "luxury townhomes" and the package is complete.

The result: increased population density that exacerbates traffic and school woes that the taxpayer is left to figure out. Never mind what 3000sf homes at $550k will do to house values that are already plummeting (does Pulte really care that it sold the same size house for $100k+ more 18 months ago -- nope!).

My opinion: Pulte is yet another bad citizen publicly traded builder in this county who has no concern for the negative external implications of their projects, and the public officials are absolutely sleeping on the job by letting it happen. I am fine with controlled growth, but this is just blight in my opinion. Apologies in advance for offending potential owners.

 

BFF/Wife and I took a trip to the suburbs of Chicago over the weekend to visit some peeps there. While there it struck me as to what the problem really is and it's not the builders - it's a total lack of commuter infrastructure in this area.

Chicago was built on rails, literally & figurativly. You can live as far north as Wisconsin and still keep your job in Chicago with a 90 minute train ride to & from. The trains are cheap, clean & run in all weather conditions. The guy we visited commutes from the Lake Forest area by train. The trip is about 35 minutes one way and, on his monthly plan, costs $120 + $100 parking at the station. So for about 5$ he has a reliable, stress free commute.

The result on quality of life was stunning. Homes that sit as close together as they are here (if that's your style) to homes that sit on an acre of land with huge trees and well established shrubs - no cut & build in sight.

Sadly - this solution will never be seen in our area unless the transit fols are willing to pick a few straight lines radiating from Union Station in DC, condem everything in that line and start building rail to places as far out as West Virginia & PA. Not gonna happen because we simply don't want THAT in our backyard. So, builders & governments are simply going to react to a market demand of more people wanting to live "out" while getting in their shiny metal box to commute "in" and then complain about the traffic.

 

well said guys I agree with you. The problem is that we are stuck with this model (realistically) and I am not sure that we can do to improve our immediate needs... other than to push our opinions on the local leaders and hope that it trickles up hill I guess.

 

I believe we could make progress. If a 8-10 mile highway connection between 28 north and 370 in Gaithersburg were made, traffic would improve immensely between Sterling and Bethesda. I would love someone to show me a greater population (Montgomery, Fairfax, and Loudoun) somewhere in this country that is separated by such an insignificant obstacle (The Potomac). That Montgomery feels the such a road would upset their rural goal in Western Montgomery is silly. If you have good zoning and government, you certainly couldd preserve the rural character. That Frank Wolf backed down so quickly when a few homes in his district (Broad Run Farms) raised a stink is regretable. Politicians need to have backbones sometimes, and see the greater good.

Solutions like these could make a difference.

 

But it looks pretty on the website!