Latest news with #UrbanForestry
Yahoo
26-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
City of Albuquerque to host public meeting on potential changes to tree-related ordinances
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The City of Albuquerque's tree-related ordinances are being reviewed, and officials want community members to provide their input. According to the city, the goal of the review is to recommend code updates that 'support protecting and growing an urban canopy that enhances every neighborhood.' Story continues below Education: APS Board members respond after vulgar text messages sent during board meeting Trending: Working group offers recommendations for AI use in schools to NM lawmakers News: Metropolitan Detention Center reports 6th inmate death this year Urban Forestry staff are planning to meet with members of the community to share ideas, discuss goals, and get feedback. A virtual meeting will be held on July 30 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Registration is required and can be completed here. The city also asks that community members take the updated tree ordinance survey that can be accessed here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
21-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
They couldn't afford to buy a house in L.A. Could they build one themselves in their budget?
Lindsay and Daniel Sheron dreamed of buying a home of their own. But in Los Angeles, where housing is expensive and in short supply — the median home price is roughly $1 million, according to Zillow — purchasing a home can be difficult for first-time homebuyers with limited equity. So after many years of renting various homes, including a Craftsman house in Portland and, most recently, a small bungalow in Eagle Rock, the Sherons, who are both 36, reached a tipping point while searching for a house in northeast Los Angeles. They quickly realized that they couldn't afford to live in their neighborhood. 'We weathered the pandemic in a 900-square-foot bungalow in Eagle Rock,' Lindsay, who is an architect, recalls of the house, which their landlords had listed for $900,000 before they decided to rent it out. 'I thought, 'If that's what $900,000 gets you in Los Angeles, why don't we look at land and see about designing and building our own house?' she adds. 'Maybe we can gain more value that way.' (The bungalow sold for $1.3 million after they moved out.) Using Zillow, the couple scouted several hillside lots and eventually purchased a 4,300-square-foot hillside property in 2021 for $212,000. Located at the top of a small ridge at the end of a cul-de-sac in Mount Washington, the north-facing lot was on a buildable slope with lovely views of the San Gabriel Mountains. More importantly, the vacant lot had access to utilities such as electricity, gas and water, including a sewer manhole at the bottom of the property. There are many lots for sale, Lindsay notes, but many of them don't have access or utilities. With their entire savings invested in the land, the Sherons took a cost-saving, hands-on approach to the next step: construction. In addition to Lindsay's design services as an architect, they decided to serve as general contractors and subcontract the major trades, including the concrete foundation, tile, framing, exterior siding and hardwood floors. Although the architect was thrilled at the prospect of designing her own home, she had never built one before — or bought one, for that matter — which perhaps is why she could ponder the formidable tasks of securing a construction loan, deciphering Urban Forestry and municipal building codes in a neighborhood with strict development regulations, permitting the house (which took seven months with the help of an expediter) and deciphering new development fees linked to affordable housing. 'Every step of approval is not straightforward,' Lindsay says. 'We were on our own for all of the inspections.' 'It only worked because Lindsay knew how to do it,' says Daniel, who is a musician and, by his admission, had never used a nail gun before tackling their 1800-square-foot home project. 'Because she has a background in construction administration on huge commercial projects, she had the answers when a concrete contractor had questions about what PSI [pounds per square inch] concrete to pour.' From the outset, nature was a priority for the architect, who, like Norman Jaffe and Joseph Esherick and William Turnbull, Jr. of Sea Ranch fame, was concerned with the relationship between architecture and landscape. Mindful of her neighbors, Lindsay devised a plan for a modern three-bedroom house that did not overwhelm the cul-de-sac: a two-story house that steps down the hill and is complemented by a pitched roof that soars parallel to the natural slope of the hillside. 'I designed the house to descend into the hill rather than being perched on top of the street,' she says. 'That would have felt invasive. I wanted to bring nature in and blend into the hill as much as possible, even in an urban setting.' The effect, Daniel says, is a sense of wonder: 'It feels like you're living inside the hill.' Working together, the couple completed a significant portion of the work themselves, including the interior trim, and Lindsay even built a bench that doubles as the HVAC register. They also undertook extensive waterproofing on the exterior of the house and around all of the doors and windows, dug a trench for their water line and spent most weekends filling in the gaps where labor was lacking. When Tropical Storm Hilary marched through Southern California in August 2023, they crawled on top the house and frantically covered the framing with 100-foot-long tarps. 'That was stressful,' Lindsay says with a sigh. 'If we had a crew, we could have asked them to help.' There were other unexpected fees. When all was said and done, the couple paid the city more than $80,000, with some fees meant to stymie new home development , even as there were discounts for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. If they had added an ADU, the calculation for one fee would have been $1.08 per square foot rather than $8.30 per square foot, they later learned. 'If I had known the difference would have been $2,000 versus $23,000, I might had added an ADU,' Lindsay says now of the attached studio they installed at the front of the house alongside the carport. Similarly, when they went to obtain their Certificate of Occupancy last December, they learned they owed a parks and recreation mitigation fee — a payment that would go toward 'improving park and recreational facilities for new residents,' according to the city website. 'We were tapped out at that point,' Daniel says. 'We had to pay $8,000 or they wouldn't issue us the certificate.' They put it on a credit card. Three years and more than a few hassles later, the couple has a finished home that is a testament to their perseverance. Walk past the carport, which was influenced by Buff, Straub & Hensman's historic Poppy Peak neighborhood in Pasadena, and a path gently curves around the side of the house to the front door, which opens to a central stairway with breathtaking views that connects the upper and lower levels. Two bedrooms are located on the top floor, while the stairway descends to the living room, dining area and kitchen, all of which are designed to be loftlike, creating an open floor plan bathed with natural light. 'We say this is a house with no hallways,' Lindsay says of her efficient space planning. 'You circulate in a connected space. The stairs are connected to the space; the hallway to the bedrooms is connected.' The larger living areas are neutral, with warm oak floors and exposed Douglas fir beams that are accented with bold moments. The kitchen is a standout, featuring bright green custom kitchen cabinets painted 'Raw Tomatillo' by Farrow & Ball, which add vitality to the single-wall layout. A custom metal hood by Practice Fabrication, powder-coated the color of a Pixie tangerine, adds a sense of fun. 'I wanted our house to feel really warm and bring nature inside,' says Lindsay, referring to the Western hemlock tongue and groove planks that she and Daniel installed on the walls and ceilings. 'Wood does the heavy lifting in accomplishing that.' The exterior of the house, which is clad in shou sugi ban charred wood siding from Nakamoto Forestry, was a priority for the architect but a mystery for the subcontractors. 'Everyone presumed we were going to add stucco,' she says, 'because that's what everyone else does.' She created a small mock-up to illustrate the rainscreen infrastructure system, which offers both fireproofing and insulation benefits. 'It's like putting a down jacket on your house,' Lindsay explains. 'It's a sustainable way to build out your exterior, providing more thermal insulation and allowing your siding to dry. It's not attached to sheeting so it can breathe thanks to an air gap behind it.' Toward the end of construction, when they could no longer afford their rent, the couple stayed in a friend's spare room for four months. Then last April, once floors and drywall were installed, they moved into the house and showered at the gym. 'We were squatting in our own house,' adds Daniel, who says he listened to island exotica music while working on carpentry projects late at night to help combat the stress. 'I'd fill the house with the dulcet tones of Les Baxter,' he says, smiling. Looking back, the couple says the most challenging part of the process was that everything started and stopped with them. 'We did not have a third person where we could say, 'Hey, can you go do this?'' Lindsay says. 'So many times I wished we could make a to-do list and give it to someone.' 'There was no one to fill in besides us,' adds Daniel, who is now working as a project manager for a residential contractor in the Pacific Palisades. 'When the city wouldn't approve the permit for their driveway, he drove to Norwalk and consulted property records on microfilm to try to determine the history of the shared driveway. 'We could have written a show about the experience,' Lindsay says, to which her husband responded, 'It would be a comedy of errors.' It also taught them a new level of collaboration. 'We had never collaborated on anything to that extent,' says Lindsay. 'I'm an architect. He's a musician. We're very different, but I relied on him a lot. He was freelance and could be at the house a lot more while I worked full time, so he would call me with questions or he would send me a picture and I would sketch on top of the photo.' 'I gained a deeper appreciation for Lindsay's iterative approach,' Daniel says. Longtime friend Nicolas Sohl, who attended Middlebury College with Daniel, remembers walking the boundary lines with the couple after they first purchased the land. 'Their love for each other is evident in the attention to detail in the home they chose to build together,' he says. 'They saw it as an opportunity not only to advance their careers but create lasting friendships in their neighborhood.' Though their goal was to build the home for under $1 million, in the end, they borrowed a little over that amount. Even so, they estimate they built their house for approximately 45% less than what a similar home would cost. They have seen three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom homes on comparable lots in their neighborhood sell for around $2 million. On New Year's Eve, the couple put aside their power tools and opened their home to 30 of their friends. Celebratory champagne flowed freely and thanks to the home's open floor plan, dancing spilled into the kitchen. Such joyful moments are especially meaningful after three years spent working as general contractors. 'Our friends say we seem way more at ease now,' Lindsay says.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Foley saves $300K with new Urban Forestry Unit — how it's preventing danger in the city
FOLEY, Ala. (WKRG) — The City of Foley created the Urban Forestry Unit in January to trim and cut trees on city property and rights-of-way. Since then, the new unit has saved the city about $300,000 in contractor costs. Mobile police investigate weekend shooting at apartment complex According to a City of Foley news release, before the unit was established, many projects to remove trees on city property had to be contracted out to private contractors. Corey Parker, who oversees the unit, said trimming trees to a height that allows larger vehicles like tractor-trailers, campers and fire trucks to navigate the road unimpeded is part of their job. 'We also take down any dead, diseased trees on the right of way that can be a potential hazard,' he said. As Parker was talking, his crew was taking down a tree on West Orange Avenue. 'The tree could fall on the (nearby) house,' he said. 'We've already had one of these limbs fall and hit a car that was parked here.' Vehicle crashes into Remington College in Mobile Parker said Foley is not responsible for cutting trees on private lots, but the tree in question was on the city right of way for West Orange Avenue, making it public property. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hamilton Spectator
18-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
6-storey mixed-use proposal in Moody Centre faces questions over size, trees, and affordable units
A new proposal to build a six-storey mixed-use building just steps from the Moody Centre SkyTrain station has been submitted to city hall, though staff caution the project may be trying to fit too much into too small a site. The application for 2805–2811 St. Johns St., which aims to rezone two single-family lots into a 52-unit mixed-use development, was before Port Moody's land use committee on June 2. Under the province's newly legislated Transit Oriented Areas (TOA), the developer is allowed to build up to a 12-storey building. The application includes 15,317 square feet, of commercial space at ground level, topped by five floors of strata housing, and a rooftop amenity patio. Six of the units are being proposed as below-market rentals, along with 71 underground parking spaces. Although the developer is opting for less height, they are pushing the upper bound for maximum allowable density. The floor area ratio, which measures a project's total floor space against its lot size, it set at 3.84, which approaches the 4.0 limit permitted under the TOA guidelines. City planners say this attempt to hit maximum density without exceeding the six-storey form has created 'significant challenges,' including massing impacts on neighbouring lots, a lack of sufficient open space, and conflicts with urban forestry goals. 'Trying to achieve the density of a 12-storey building within a six-storey envelope makes it very difficult to meet design and livability standards,' the staff report stated. City policy calls for a minimum lot size of 25,833 sq. ft. and 197 feet of frontage for this scale of development. However, the proposed project covers 17,427 sq. ft. with 131 feet of frontage – both well below those thresholds. Staff say this could orphan adjacent lots, making redevelopment more difficult in the future. The report recommended acquiring a neighbouring lot – particularly to the east – to achieve a better fit and reduce design impacts. The building's rear access along St. Andrews Street is also a concern. Instead of contributing to the city's vision for a pedestrian and cyclist-friendly corridor, the project proposes using much of its frontage for parkade access, loading bays, and a transformer. Environmental concerns are also raising red flags. City staff pointed out that the proposal includes no plans to preserve mature trees or incorporate new canopy coverage, falling short of Port Moody's Urban Forestry Strategy. Of particular concern is a red oak tree at 2805 St. Johns, believed to be over 100 years old and potentially at risk. The inclusion of affordable housing also falls short of city expectations. Although the applicant says six units meet the 15 percent requirement, staff say the calculation is based on 'sellable area,' not total residential floor area as required. By the city's measure, only 11.5 percent is being offered. Despite these concerns, city staff acknowledged the proposal aligns with the area's Official Community Plan (OCP) designation and brings active commercial frontage to St. Johns Street. The project is in the early stages and will undergo a more detailed review by staff and council before any decisions are made. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers discover unexpected benefit of new trend in lawn care: 'Can be a hotspot'
Researchers have made a surprising discovery about maintaining traditional lawns, showing that the less they're messed with, the better the food chain can become. reported on a new study from Cornell AgriTech that was published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening showed less intense management of lawns, like mowing and adding pesticides and fertilizers, has resulted in a greater diversity of organisms in the soil, meaning a stronger food web and overall soil health. Cornell AgriTech tested the campus lawn in high-, medium-, and low-maintenance categories over the course of two years, measuring a variety of factors. Hayden Bock, a postdoctoral scholar, noted they found 87 different types of soil organisms, adding: "It's hard to find 87 species of animals, or even insects, above ground in such a small area, but below ground, there's a wealth of biodiversity that people may not be aware of. Turfgrasses can be a hotspot for biodiversity, even in highly urbanized landscapes." Traditional monoculture lawns can be an option to provide green space and environmental benefits, but they don't necessarily make up for the benefits provided by native plants and yards. As ScienceDirect noted with the study, they "did not observe changes to soil microbial biomass or carbon or nitrogen decomposition, all aspects of soil ecosystem functioning which are mediated by soil fauna." They also mentioned that "turf aesthetic assessments" decreased with lower maintenance. Native plants provide a low maintenance and, more often than not, aesthetically pleasing way to manage your lawn. They provide better water and soil retention as well as storing excess carbon, according to the American Society of Landscape Architects. Pollinators also thrive with native plants, as they provide food and shelter for bees, birds, and bats, and help spread pollen to plants, ensuring their growth cycles. The lower maintenance requirements are also a money saver, lowering water bills and fuel costs for lawnmowers. Some natural lawn options, like clover lawns, only need to be mowed twice a year. If you want to upgrade to a natural lawn, check out this guide here. If you were to switch from a grass lawn to a more natural option, which of these factors would be your primary motivation? Making it look better Saving money on water and maintenance Helping pollinators No way I ever get rid of my lawn Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
