psukhu
03 January 2005, 07:25 PM
Alleys: They're behind you, but are you behind them?
Critics say lanes sacrifice neighborliness for looks, convenience
01:23 PM CST on Sunday, January 2, 2005
By LEE POWELL / The Dallas Morning News
Consider the lowly alley.
Almost secondary streets, the ribbons of concrete are as ubiquitous to suburbia as McMansions on cul-de-sacs, framed by spindly saplings.
North Texas may have the largest concentration of residential alleys of anywhere in the country, some planners say.
The development pattern of subdivision-street-alley sprawls for miles, starting in Dallas then repeating in Richardson, Plano and beyond. Some of the same developers worked in all three places.
The narrow byways are liked and loathed. Front-of-the-house views are cleaner, with no cars on driveways facing garage doors – a real estate agent's delight. They are places to put the trash and run utilities, a city planner's dream.
But for those yearning for neighborly ties, alleys can be off-putting: Pull into the garage (nestled against a wooden security fence also lining the alley), and you may never see another soul.
"It's really a canyon intersecting with another canyon," said David Smith, a vice president with the Plano Homeowners Council.
In the alley epicenter of Plano – with about 540 miles of them – the city is spending six figures to replace worn-out slabs, poured during the building craze years ago.
Nowadays, some newer developments are ditching alleys altogether: Blame rising land costs and safety concerns.
Paths through history
The history of alleys (the word is rooted in French, meaning "to go") mirrors the growth of cities.
Pathways separating row houses were needed to reach horse stables or servant quarters in the 18th and 19th centuries. They often exposed the grittier side of city life, a sort of service entrance for coal deliveries and garbage removal, says Michael Martin, an associate professor of landscape architecture at Iowa State University.
In Washington, D.C., they became common areas, with front doors and other dwellings separated by mere feet. The alley was communal property, with space not defined by physical barriers like private yards or porches, writes James Borchert in a history of Washington alley life.
The looming motor age spawned an alley-less Radburn, N.J. Houses were oriented toward green space, tied together by paths. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic would be separate.
As an auto nation boomed, all those cars had to be parked somewhere. Where garages went – and whether alleys followed – in some measure depended on where you lived and city planners' preferences.
Alleys were convenient places for cities to run utility lines and collect garbage, even if the garage backed up to the alley and a driveway ran along a side of the house. They also worked drainage wonders.
In a classically suburban setting like Plano, alleys became the norm as a street grid subsumed farmland. They spawned something else: screening walls of vegetation or masonry to shield drivers on thoroughfares from back-of-the-house views.
Many of the man-made walls are now crumbling, in need of replacement.
Social networks
So is there such a thing as an alley culture in these back ways?
Garage driveways sport basketball hoops. Small plots can become garden spots. You may know your alley neighbors better than the folks next door or across the street.
Mr. Martin of Iowa State says alleys can actually be ideal social environments. Buying into the street as the public realm is tough, especially if you have small children. He found a development in California designed for alley life, down to the short picket fences.
"When people had the choice, that's where they'd hang out," Mr. Martin said. "That's where it was a little safer, more informal."
But for some, the byways are not exactly hangouts.
Tall wooden privacy fences create blind spots and hair-raising curves, hiding a car or child.
And of course, there are speeders.
"People just do it out of natural tendency," said Frisco City Council member Matt Lafata, who recently admonished constituents in an e-mail to obey the 5 mph alley speed limit. "It's just like streets – people drive too fast on neighborhood streets, they drive fast through alleys."
Frisco resident Michelle Nelson is amazed people let their children play in alleys.
"By design, they're just dangerous," she said, with a little one in the family and another on the way. If her family had its way, they would go alley-free.
Tough to do in North Texas unless you live on a golf course or a creek.
Alleys also present something of a cruise way for burglars. They get in and get out quickly, swiping golf clubs, garden tools and beer from open garages – even a Plano resident's backpack full of gravel, used to weigh down jogs. A Plano police officer recovered it a short distance away, dropped when the thief discovered the not-so-valuable heist.
Police officers here will leave a note or ring the doorbell if they spy an open garage door.
"You eliminate the open garages, and you cut our burglary rate in half," said Sgt. Jeremy Watney, who oversees crime prevention at the Plano Police Department.
In some respects, alleys are really about preferences.
That alley-attached garage will cost you backyard space. Developers say buyers increasingly see this space as sacred, wanting more of it. So garages swing back out front, with alleys replaced by greenbelts.
Penny lane
And alleys cost.
"When you think about it from a cost standpoint, you've got another ribbon of concrete you've got to install," said Dave Williams, who built in Plano from the mid-'70s to the '90s and is now in Prosper.
That community is going with larger, alley-less lots.
Mr. Williams remembers living on a Plano cul-de-sac for 13 years and never seeing his next-door neighbor, who was on a different alley network. His Prosper home comes with a front-loaded garage, so neighborly relations are a bit different.
"You're just out there. You run into people. You can't help it," he said. "You're not shielded by that fence and alleyway."
E-mail lkpowell@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/stories/010205dnccoalleys.36760.html
Critics say lanes sacrifice neighborliness for looks, convenience
01:23 PM CST on Sunday, January 2, 2005
By LEE POWELL / The Dallas Morning News
Consider the lowly alley.
Almost secondary streets, the ribbons of concrete are as ubiquitous to suburbia as McMansions on cul-de-sacs, framed by spindly saplings.
North Texas may have the largest concentration of residential alleys of anywhere in the country, some planners say.
The development pattern of subdivision-street-alley sprawls for miles, starting in Dallas then repeating in Richardson, Plano and beyond. Some of the same developers worked in all three places.
The narrow byways are liked and loathed. Front-of-the-house views are cleaner, with no cars on driveways facing garage doors – a real estate agent's delight. They are places to put the trash and run utilities, a city planner's dream.
But for those yearning for neighborly ties, alleys can be off-putting: Pull into the garage (nestled against a wooden security fence also lining the alley), and you may never see another soul.
"It's really a canyon intersecting with another canyon," said David Smith, a vice president with the Plano Homeowners Council.
In the alley epicenter of Plano – with about 540 miles of them – the city is spending six figures to replace worn-out slabs, poured during the building craze years ago.
Nowadays, some newer developments are ditching alleys altogether: Blame rising land costs and safety concerns.
Paths through history
The history of alleys (the word is rooted in French, meaning "to go") mirrors the growth of cities.
Pathways separating row houses were needed to reach horse stables or servant quarters in the 18th and 19th centuries. They often exposed the grittier side of city life, a sort of service entrance for coal deliveries and garbage removal, says Michael Martin, an associate professor of landscape architecture at Iowa State University.
In Washington, D.C., they became common areas, with front doors and other dwellings separated by mere feet. The alley was communal property, with space not defined by physical barriers like private yards or porches, writes James Borchert in a history of Washington alley life.
The looming motor age spawned an alley-less Radburn, N.J. Houses were oriented toward green space, tied together by paths. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic would be separate.
As an auto nation boomed, all those cars had to be parked somewhere. Where garages went – and whether alleys followed – in some measure depended on where you lived and city planners' preferences.
Alleys were convenient places for cities to run utility lines and collect garbage, even if the garage backed up to the alley and a driveway ran along a side of the house. They also worked drainage wonders.
In a classically suburban setting like Plano, alleys became the norm as a street grid subsumed farmland. They spawned something else: screening walls of vegetation or masonry to shield drivers on thoroughfares from back-of-the-house views.
Many of the man-made walls are now crumbling, in need of replacement.
Social networks
So is there such a thing as an alley culture in these back ways?
Garage driveways sport basketball hoops. Small plots can become garden spots. You may know your alley neighbors better than the folks next door or across the street.
Mr. Martin of Iowa State says alleys can actually be ideal social environments. Buying into the street as the public realm is tough, especially if you have small children. He found a development in California designed for alley life, down to the short picket fences.
"When people had the choice, that's where they'd hang out," Mr. Martin said. "That's where it was a little safer, more informal."
But for some, the byways are not exactly hangouts.
Tall wooden privacy fences create blind spots and hair-raising curves, hiding a car or child.
And of course, there are speeders.
"People just do it out of natural tendency," said Frisco City Council member Matt Lafata, who recently admonished constituents in an e-mail to obey the 5 mph alley speed limit. "It's just like streets – people drive too fast on neighborhood streets, they drive fast through alleys."
Frisco resident Michelle Nelson is amazed people let their children play in alleys.
"By design, they're just dangerous," she said, with a little one in the family and another on the way. If her family had its way, they would go alley-free.
Tough to do in North Texas unless you live on a golf course or a creek.
Alleys also present something of a cruise way for burglars. They get in and get out quickly, swiping golf clubs, garden tools and beer from open garages – even a Plano resident's backpack full of gravel, used to weigh down jogs. A Plano police officer recovered it a short distance away, dropped when the thief discovered the not-so-valuable heist.
Police officers here will leave a note or ring the doorbell if they spy an open garage door.
"You eliminate the open garages, and you cut our burglary rate in half," said Sgt. Jeremy Watney, who oversees crime prevention at the Plano Police Department.
In some respects, alleys are really about preferences.
That alley-attached garage will cost you backyard space. Developers say buyers increasingly see this space as sacred, wanting more of it. So garages swing back out front, with alleys replaced by greenbelts.
Penny lane
And alleys cost.
"When you think about it from a cost standpoint, you've got another ribbon of concrete you've got to install," said Dave Williams, who built in Plano from the mid-'70s to the '90s and is now in Prosper.
That community is going with larger, alley-less lots.
Mr. Williams remembers living on a Plano cul-de-sac for 13 years and never seeing his next-door neighbor, who was on a different alley network. His Prosper home comes with a front-loaded garage, so neighborly relations are a bit different.
"You're just out there. You run into people. You can't help it," he said. "You're not shielded by that fence and alleyway."
E-mail lkpowell@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/stories/010205dnccoalleys.36760.html