Keeping that homey feeling

By Holly Michels, The Montana Standard - 08/19/2007

This Sunday we kick off our series about the development buzz going on around this little lake between Butte and Philipsburg. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

On the south side of the Georgetown just before what used to be Denton’s Point, there’s a sign announcing a meeting about the proposed Lakeside at Georgetown, a subdivision that would put 10 single- family homes and six-duplexes on 16 half-acre lots, property formerly home to the Georgetown Lake Lodge.

Growth is coming to the lake, and it’s probably unstoppable. But it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, even if the word “subdivision” gives off more creepy vibes than Phil Spector.

I grew up outside Portland, Ore., in a small town built mostly in the 1950s and later infiltrated by subdivisions when they first were en vogue during the 1970s and ’80s. In terms of architectural design concepts, the era of disco and Spandex was also the worst possible time for people to start building really similar-looking homes really close together. The split-level house in which I grew up with shag carpeting was ugly enough, but 50 packed onto one street is the aesthetic equivalent of being stabbed in the eyeballs.

With subdivisions, there’s the good, the bad and the ugly. Most fall into the last two categories.

My mom used to joke that residents of newer subdivisions could reach out their bathroom window and ask their neighbor for a few sheets of toilet paper if they ran out. On some streets in my hometown the only thing distinguishing one house from another is a different shade of window trim.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out Orenco Station, just 15 miles from Portland. The Web site is www.orencostation.net. It’s a new subdivision, but that’s hard to tell when driving through because it’s cleverly disguised as a small city.

The development just won an award from Sunset Magazine as best of “New housing developments that feel like real communities.” It supports 2,600 people on 260 acres, according to the Web site. The focus is on “complete communities instead of just bedrooms,” which is why planners centered their designs around mass transit and filled the town center with places to buy food, clothes and access to the light-rail line. That’s development done the smart way.

I moved to Montana to escape a sea of three-bedroom, two-bath clones, so here’s my plea: Instead of building a Lake Lane, Lake Drive, Lake Avenue and Lake Way, build one Main Street. Put things like stores and shops in the middle of subdivisions so people are encouraged to walk and don’t spend an hour commuting for groceries.

Subdivisions at Georgetown have the potential to be positive development. People are going to build houses and it might be nice if they were close together. That way it takes up less space, neighbors don’t have to walk far to borrow a cup of sugar for apple pie and Georgetown can keep its small-town, homey feel.

Reporter Holly Michels may be reached via e-mail at holly.michels@lee.net.