I know this picture is probably a bit hard for you to read and see. But that isn’t really the most relevant part of this post. As my wife and I were looking for a lot to build on, there were some factors that affected our decision.
First, we like to ride bikes. We’re not the racing bike sponsored spandex riders, but what I call casual bikers. That means we like to ride around town, to a restaurant to eat, downtown for a chocolate latte, etc. I also like to ride to work during the summer.
So one factor was bikability. And the lot we found is right on 15th Avenue, which is one of Eugene’s major bike routes.
Another factor is, in the current vernacular, walkability. LEED considers the walkability of a location and whether or not you are within a 1/4 mile or 1/2 mile of major amenities. A good resource is a website called WalkScore (http://www.walkscore.com). you can enter your address and it will give you a score on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the better. Our lot scored an 85, or “Very Walkable”.
The reason this is important (some of you were asking that, I’m sure) is that it reduces our dependence on a car. This has numerous effects: less emissions and pollution, lower money outlay (less gas purchases, maintenance, etc), and better health (walking or biking is good exercise, so you’re healthier and will probably spend less money and time at the doctor and buying medications). You see, everything is connected. And, since this is an urban infill lot, our City won’t have to spend money extending services to the suburbs because of our home construction: it’s all already there.
Plus, if you’re out walking or biking, you have a better connect with people. You might even get into a conversation. And that can only be good. We live in a society of air-conditioned homes, sealed automobiles and garage door openers. Many of us don’t know our neighbors.
So before we even started designing our new home, we carefully considered our site location.
