adequately addressed. I believe it will only be sufficiently confronted until approved density is similar to <br />the established density of the surrounding environment and its natural, non-human-made features. <br />This is one of the first co-housing projects. Don't get too enthusiastic. You're like a kid in a candy store. <br />Develop it, but do it well. Be conservative. Make density low. Blend with neighbors and environment. <br />Set a good example. Build upon that. Future co-housing developments can use this project as a model if <br />it develops in density-harmony as its surrounding environment. Denser co-housing projects can go in the <br />city center and places where density is already dense. <br />OLD-NEW CONTRAST <br />All of the existing residences look seasoned-in. They're not all old, but they look similar. They are in <br />scale age-wise to the maturity and size of their landscaping. They fit with the casual loose gravel drive <br />that is their road into their residences. No lines are rigid and straight. There are no concrete curbs. There <br />is no black hot-mix asphalt with reflective plastic-paint foglines. There are no concrete sidewalks. The <br />road is not wide. It is quaint and lovely. Now, if you contrast this to what will be built right next to this <br />charming old-fashioned neighborhood - brand new, with sharp straight edges (house walls, concrete <br />walks, asphalt drive, brand new chainlink fence, landscape beds, street trees and plants installed in a <br />formula-driven on-center fashion), all tall, wide, and tight, then you are going to have a vivid contrast <br />between what exists here and what was just built. And it is permanent. Why bother with all that trauma? <br />Don't approve it. Revise accordingly, to BLEND new with old, to MINIMIZE contrast, and I am sure <br />you will garner approval from the neighbors more readily. <br />FILL-CUT CONTRAST <br />The gentleman whom I spoke with gave me a quick tour of the site. He told me there would be four feet <br />of gravel fill to make the development level. This creates a fill-cut contrast. The built contrasts with the <br />existing grade in a most repulsive way. I charge you, this will be most obvious. It will be the constant <br />eyesore that whimpers and cries and yells and screams continuously for attention. You will not be able to <br />ignore it. The design MUST be revised to remove these kinds of elevation arguments. It is more than <br />being clever, it is more than being responsible, it is more than being creative. You are going to have to do <br />some soul-searching to find the right design solution that snakes sense, and it must be as much as <br />compelling as the repulsiveness of inches to feet of fill. Fill-cut contrast not allowed. Revise. <br />HOUSE SCALE, SPACING, AND VIEWS BETWEEN <br />The houses themselves. Scale should be in keeping with surrounding houses. Cottage-like or whatever, <br />one story in height. Small. Groups of small. Groups not too wide. Spacing should be proportional to the <br />scale of the houses or groups of houses, and to the generous horizontal plane of the field, and the great <br />height of the Cottonwood wall. Spacing should be enough to provide liberal views through open <br />landscaping, unimpeded, to the great Riparian Forest. My intuitive sense says the distance between <br />houses should be equal to or greater than the width of house or group of houses. <br />RHYTHM OF GROUPS OF HOUSES <br />All houses, as a single unit, should respond to the context. Often the layout is established to cram in the <br />maximum number of units per acre. Sometimes time is a constraint. Whatever the reason, the units and <br />administrative house look like a big blob in plan view. There is no seeming rhythm or sense, or <br />relationship to this place. Revisions are called for here, too. When density is lowered from 14 to 4, or <br />whatever lower number is decided upon, then the houses or groups of houses should be moved about in <br />plan view to establish a pleasing rhythm and relationship to everything else. Even entry drives and <br />ancillary buildings should be part of this rhythm. I am not sold on a row of separate garages. It's like a <br />pic-a-dilly mix 'n match. Revise the drawing. Have some fun. Make it sing. Make the neighbors cheer. <br />You can do it. Make it beautiful. Get the beauty into it. <br />HOUSE APPEARANCE - PERSPECTIVE <br />Show houses in perspective, the way people see it when they go on a walk. Don't fill the background <br />with fake stuff. Use a photorealistic background. Show exterior materials and colors and textures. <br />636 <br />