Smart Design: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Skinny Doors, Streets, and Parking Spaces
Why are the parking spaces, streets, and the front doors of new home communities like the ones in Dublin, CA getting thinner even as the average American’s waistline and cars are getting wider? Many experts refer to the trend of building tight parking lots, skinny streets, and densely packed homes as “smart design.” Regular folks call it annoying. The new home communities in Dublin serve as a wonderful Petri dish to look into “smart design” in action.
The Villas at Dublin Ranch Villages by Toll Brothers is a wonderful community of luxury townhomes and condos located directly across from Grafton Station. As gorgeous as the homes at the Villas are, at what point did Toll Brothers think that the front doors should only be three feet wide? Yes, I have packed on some weight over the years, but threatening me with getting stuck in the front door to my home is not a good incentive to lose the extra weight. A home should not make visitors feel like a Gargamel in the Smurf village. Many homebuilders in and around Dublin have relied on the “smart design” concept to squeeze in a few extra units to boost their bottom lines.
Street design has evolved over the years. Once upon a time in a land far, far away, city planners thought wider streets make better streets. To heck with the bicyclists and pedestrians who value good health and fitness. Just look at El Camino Real in Sunnyvale for a peek into the past. If streets were designed like Anna Nicole Smith then, they look a lot more like Kate Moss now.
The purpose behind “skinny streets” is to calm traffic. According to proponents of “skinny streets,” if drivers have the fear of hitting pedestrians or running into oncoming traffic constantly hanging over their heads, they will be more likely to slow down when driving through the residential neighborhood streets. In fact, the bike and pedestrian lanes on “skinny streets” in some communities seem to be wider than the car lanes. Whether “skinny streets” actually slow down traffic remains up for debate, but they sure make driving more fun. When a double-parked vehicle blocking the single-lane northbound Brannigan Street traffic, drivers are forced to play a game of chicken with cars coming from the opposite direction.
Just as the doors and streets have gotten skinnier, the parking lots have gotten tighter as well. Drivers now have to make six-point turns to back out and exit the compact parking spaces. Parking in these newer lots is like playing a game of Russian Roulette. You never know which car will be the one to ding your door. The only winners from these ultra compact parking spaces seem to be folks with hoopties. When I enter a parking lot in my beat-up Corolla with a missing hubcap, the flow of traffic parts like the Red Sea and other drivers do everything they can not to park next to my car.
Please check out the Antiplanner Blog for a more comprehensive analysis of government planning quirks and developments.
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9:21 AM on March 21st, 2011
We own a new home in the Positano community, in Maranello by Braddock and Logan. Our house is made for giants. Seriously. The doors (interior and exterior) are super tall. Even the windows are super tall. They are higher off the floor and go really high, to the point where I cannot reach the top to pull the shades down without a stool or something. Of course our ceilings are super high too, but I’m pretty sure this is to make all the rooms appear larger.
I’m not sure what all of this has to do with smart design, but it’s definitely a trend in Dublin. I’ve also noticed that local retailers like Lowe’s would be smart to stock longer drapes/window panels. Because everything is so massive, we need drapes that are 108″ to reach the floor. Lowe’s stocks up to 96″. They would make more money if they catered to the local builder designs and stocked the appropriate items! As it is, I will have to order the drapes online, so local retailers lose business and the city loses tax dollars.
10:57 AM on March 21st, 2011
“The only winners from these ultra compact parking spaces seem to be folks with hoopties.”
Hey, don’t forget the local body shops. They must be doing “bang up” (pun intended) business these days with all the tight parking spaces. There seems to be no way to avoid getting the side of your car dinged by other drivers’ car doors unless you park at home in your under-sized garage and walk the many miles to the shops. I no longer cry when I see a new ding in my formerly beautiful luxury car. I’ve learned to accept that my car is destined to soon look like a Rent-a-Wreck. However, it does at times seem that some people deliberately slam their doors into luxury cars, no matter how carefully you park within the narrow lines. Maybe that will stop once my car looks like a jalopy. Or maybe that’s a good reason to buy a junker for shopping in Dublin. At this rate, pretty soon Dublin parking lots will resemble a big Demolition Derby.
I’ll bet if you follow the money you’ll find that the local body shops are contributing big time to the election campaigns of the city council members who appoint the planning commissioners who approve the tiny parking spaces proposed by the developers who are also contributing big sums to the same politicians. Come to think of it, that probably explains why the body shop I go to on Dublin Blvd has a big sign in the office that says:
“As a public service, we are proud to provide free dent & scratch repair to vehicles owned by Dublin’s elected officials.”
Greg T.