2207 Neil
- Side setback: 3ft
- Front Setback: 25 ft
- Sidewalk: 5 ft
- Width of property: 30 ft
- Length of Property: 52 ft
1.) Residents can park their cars behind the house and on Neil Avenue. The abutting alley is most likely frustrating to the residents because it produce high volumes of traffic in and out of the alley. The land use for this specific property is residential, the surrounding area is residential, commercial, and educational. The house is next to a neighborhood on the north, but commercial to the south, and campus immediately next to the commercial area. The land use of the house is compatible with residential neighborhood to the right of it. The immediate area only makes sense on a college campus, or a densely populated area. The Harrison Apartments are visible from the rear of the property, creating a none too pleasing view for the residents. A benefit of living at this property is its close proximity to campus, food, and a convenience store. Drawbacks are that the house is so close to a major road on campus, meaning there is a ton of traffic. We felt that we wouldn’t want to live in this house because it is too close to the extremely busy Neil Avenue. It would also be nice to be somewhat closer to High Street.
2.)
Norwich Street View
Norwich is poorly lit and notably so on only one side of the street, with the lights pretty spaced out. Above ground utilities on the street include telephone poles with electric wires/boxes, there doesn’t appear to be a specific pattern to their placement. The west side of Norwich closer to Neil Avenue has more apartment buildings. As you move east there appear to be more houses. It gives the street a neighborhood feel.
3.) We measured the width of Norwich to be around 27 ft. It seemed pretty narrow but the fact that it was a one way street lessens the traffic flow on the road despite the on street parking taking up space as well. If the road was widened it would be more comfortable/safer for automobile traffic and the parked cars. A two lane road may help but it would probably increase the amount of traffic on the road, which might take away from the character of the street because of noise and reducing walkability slightly. The on street parking helps for those living on the street to have space for their cars. There is additional parking in the alley behind the houses but the on street parking is more accessible to… the street. The sidewalks we measured to be about 4 ft. They were relatively narrow, though two people could pass each other (it would just be uncomfortably close)
4.) The average front setback of the houses on West Norwich Avenue was around 15 feet back from the sidewalk right of way. This was less than the average on West Northwood Avenue which was around 36 feet however the lots still felt spacious enough for campus housing because of the wider side setbacks of 10 feet.
5.)
The housing complex of 128-134 West Norwich Avenue stood out from the rest of the residences on the road in part due to the alley that ran beside it and perpendicular to W Norwich. The complex is not frontally positioned towards W Norwich and is instead facing the alley which also allows for the extra parking necessary for a multi-person building. There is a drawback to this however as there is no yard at all, but many people would be glad to have the assigned parking spaces instead of having to search the nearby streets for one.
6.)
The practice of double parking is a troublesome solution to the high demand for parking. Not knowing if you’re going to be able to get your car out to go to work in the morning can be a stressful lifestyle to live. However, without major cooperation between landowners to invest in an alternative form of parking, perhaps a parking garage, this style of parking does answer the demand for a large number of parking spaces, for a space with little room to do so.
7.)
There is an unusual aesthetic feature on Northwood Ave and Williams St. On the right side of the street when facing east, there appears to be a red brick wall that blocks part of the view of the houses behind the fence. Houses with walls didn’t have a porch and vice versa on the other side of the street. At first glance it appears unusual and unnatural aspect of the residence. One would think it is meant to provide security and privacy, but this design feature satisfies neither considering that it is not a full fence and doesn’t block the view of the home. What is most interesting is that there appears to be a set of green space next to the right of way where the brick wall is located, but this is not the case on the other side of the street. If I were to take a guess as to what the purpose of the red wall bordering the front of this street, it would be establish the exact frontal boundaries of the resident houses and also to provide separation of space from the public right of way or present aesthetic value. Additionally, the red wall is not continuous and as a result is ineffective.
8.) Northwood Ave had a greater width than Norwich Ave. Both were one-way streets with equal sidewalk width. Both seemed to be of relative quality to one another. Considering both are one-way streets, it does seem to be advantageous to allow for parallel parking on the street and ease of flow through the neighbor. The unfortunate aspect is that is easy to get lost if you are unfamiliar with the area.
- Street Width: 30 ft
- South Sidewalk: 4 ft
- North Sidewalk: 5 ft
9.) The Front Setbacks of buildings on Northwood were estimated to be 36 ft from the sidewalk and the side yards were measured to be roughly 10 ft wide. The houses are set back much farther than those on Norwich, those were only about 15 ft from the sidewalk. As we walked further north the streets seems to become slightly nicer, I would say that this street was the nicest one that we saw. The houses on Northwood were very well kept and the yards were much bigger and more functional. Likely this is due to the fact that many of the homes were owned by the same company, meaning that it takes less cooperation between owners to maintain the streets and grounds of the properties.
10.) The building on 2244 Neil Avenue is the house of Kohr Royer Griffith-Real Estate. We suppose that the structure of the house is a little weird, for it doesn’t have the sloping roof as other buildings on the same street. Furthermore, as the leasing house of the estate, the eave in front of the door obstructs the view of the sign indicating the building’s purpose. In other word, this building is not suitable as the leasing house. From the structure, we speculate that the house was originally used as an office or something and there is a garage beside. We think that this building can be used as the convenient store because it is located in residential area. Apparently, the house is designed as the center of this area. The zone was recently changed to a higher density residential than before.
11.) We think the pavement beside the parking lot is not a good design. It raises safety concerns. Since there is no fence between the parking lot and pavement, people may get hurt if a car is heading back toward the pavement at nighttime. Also, if the car loses control, there is no protection for people who walk on the pavement and the car. There is nothing to distinguish between parking lot and regular pavement so that the drivers may not park their cars in right position, which may influence the use of the pavement and also parking lot. We think that if there is a tiny garden functioned as the fence, the situation will be better. The garden can not only provide protection, but would be a good green space and is aesthetically pleasing.