Stephen Rees’s blog

I have done a similar thing once before for Price Tags #44- but somehow that ended up more like a lament for the then unprotected trees than a careful examination of the impact of a new policy.

Richmond has decided to allow increased densities along arterial roads which are also bus routes. At the same time it wanted to encourage the use of rear lane access, to cut down on the number of driveways emerging on to through traffic routes. Williams Road is an east west arterial that has been reduced to one moving lane in each direction, with bike lanes and a centre left turns only lane. It works really well, except when the yahoos decide that the turn lane is for overtaking. The bike lanes also should mean no parking on street. Yeah, right. Not when there is a yard sale, or a realtor is showing a home. Or someone from California gets lost.

The road has always had partial bus service – but a few years ago now Translink introduced a Community Shuttle to cover most of the road.

We are going to be looking at the section between Shell and No 4 Road. Most of the houses here used to be bungalows or side splits. Short fat houses with quite large yards.

A 4 bedroom house like this is currently listed at $725,000. Here is the plan for this site.

So after rezoning there can be two homes. Each of which will be tall, long and thin. And look like these under construction next door.

Houses like this can have up to 6 bedrooms and also list around $700,000. When completed the redevelopment will look a lot like these new houses across the street. One thing that strikes me is that as these developments have progressed in small discrete increments, while there is a family similarity, there is not the rather dull regimentation that tends to characterise larger scale developments. I have always been quite surprised at architects here who praise the London terraced house, which I grew up in and still find a bit depressing in their lack of individuality. Owners of such properties tend to go a bit overboard in trying to distinguish their homes ( see “My pink half of the drain pipe”)

As you can see from the diagram on the rezoning notice, access will be from the rear lane for vehicles. This means that the front door is only actually used by visitors. Or, I suppose, the odd process server or transit user.

On the same listing search I found a site on Williams for “3 properties for potential townhouse site total 31,650 sf lot. High density district.” listed at $2.2m. What is noticeable about the area I have highlighted is that all the replacement houses were single family detached. Although, the degree of separation is minimal, and I rather think that they will be occupied by large extended families or have a secondary suite (Richmond will allow one per house, but many I know have more). I have no idea how many townhouses you could get onto a lot that size.

This is a quite large bungalow, still very presentable and, in my eyes desirable, if out of my league financially. The large yard is what I like – but the new houses have no space around them. The ground level is also about a foot or two higher – using grey, dredged river sand as fill. So there is not much recharge of the ground water here. The increased weight of the houses and the lack of rainwater penetration means this land is going to be sinking ever lower.

It seems to me that if this is the sort of redevelopment pattern we can expect to see across the region’s older suburbs, much of the anxiety has been overdone. In my view, the transit service in Richmond is still less than adequate. It is not at all unusual for me to get a call from my daughter for a ride home after school as the overloaded shuttle bus has passed her – and it’s a 30 minute wait for the next one. The new homes do not have parking out front – which means that the general street ambiance is improved over the older rented properties which all seem to have a large number of vehicles parked around them – many immobile.

For reference a typical new home is around 2000 square feet, on a lot 35′ wide and 120′ deep. Oddly the listings I have been looking at do not specify the number of parking spaces but at this price I would expect a 2 car garage. Given the land value and the typical cost of a wood frame structure, the profits in this kind of development are substantial, but the main requirement for a developer is having access to a workforce. The construction technique is labour intensive, with very little prefabrication. It is not uncommon to see workers on site 7 days a week, and tipping up frames by hand. Finishes have usually been vinyl siding made to look like lumber, or stucco. Recently some truly tacky fake brick and stone facades have appeared on the “build to suit” sites. Most development has been on spec, to a fairly standardised appearance, I think owing a lot to the “craftsman” image.

In back of the arterials, the subdivisions are also changing but more slowly. The density of houses per unit of area does not seem to be changing, but lot coverage certainly is. I noticed a house down the street standing empty, with its windows gone, and the garden full of slash. So I expect to see the JCB move in soon. I will keep my camera eye on it and do a follow up later.