Biscayne Park is a Very Charming Neighborhood. Or it Should Be. Or it Could Be. Or it Will Be? Part 3.

One of the things many of us, even those who resist change(/improvement?/upgrading?), have argued is that a critical way to protect the sense of charm, and what some see as resulting property values, is to demand adherence to the Codes.  Those Codes mandate construction standards, design style (quality and consistency, not homogeneity), freshness of paint, cleanliness of roofs, and state of landscaping (intention and order, not extravagance).  In fact, it's not hard to conclude that there seems to be "universal" agreement that absent any other attempt to legislate neighborhood improvement, BP property-owners should be made to honor our Codes.

That's not an unfair assertion, and if anything, it's nice that so many of us, regardless of our other approaches, agree about it.  At least we can fundamentally assert that many of us want the neighborhood improved.  Some of the more tentative of us think adherence to the Codes will provide improvement enough.  Others of the more ambitious of us want adherence to the current Codes, as well as other Codes that will mandate even more class and improved "character" for the Village.

Our most recent foray in that direction is a series of proposals about front yards.  Our attention was directed to driveways and swales.  I think all of us on the Commission, and certainly the members of the Code Review Committee, agree that parking on grass, or the dirt that might once have been grass, is not what we want.  I'm not sure that absent other consequences, like cost, we wouldn't also agree that it would be preferable if BP home occupants did not preferentially or primarily park on the swale.

In fact, as I listen to others, it seems to me the biggest objection to new mandates about driveways and swale management is due to cost.  It costs more to have a driveway than not to have one, and it costs more to install nicer surfaces, like turfblock or gravel or brick, than it does to lay concrete or asphalt.  And all other things being equal, we wouldn't choose to ask people to pay more instead of paying less.  But are other things equal enough?  And what does the range of possibilities do to the concept of community charm?

I advocate "For the Best We Can Be."  I'm the first one on board the "improved parking surfaces" train.  And whatever we do, for whatever reasons we do it, I want the neighborhood to look and function the best it can.  In my opinion, a neighborhood that looks good, that has streets in proper repair, and that has medians, if it has any of them, that are well-developed and smart-looking, has more charm than one that is tired-looking and not well-kept.  Neighborhoods that have problematic pooling of water after heavy rains are not, in my opinion, charming.

It seems to me untenable, in a self-respecting community, that people should be allowed to park on the grass or on front yards that are just dirt.  I haven't heard anyone disagree with that.  The swales, and even front yards, serve purposes, other than just looking nice.  If they do look nice.  In our neighborhood especially, and in keeping with the express purposes of swales, these are emergency public access ways.  Swales are part of the "public right-of-way."  They are owned by the public.  They are not owned by the property-owner, although it is he or she who is charged with keeping them.  Sidewalks are on swales.  In BP, where we don't have sidewalks, the swales still have to permit pedestrian passage.  If something is blocking the pavement of a street, it is the swales that are the emergency detour around the obstacle.  Swales also have important ecological significance, since they are to absorb water.

If swales are developed with trees or other imposing plantings, they cannot be used for emergency traffic passage, or maybe even for pedestrians.  If they are covered with impervious material, they cannot permit drainage.  Water collected on them during heavy rain will sit there, or spill onto the street, instead of the intention, which is that water in the street will drain through the swales.

Obstructed passage, or pooled water, is not charming.  Modestly and neatly finished swales, and streets that are easy to pass in the rain, is charming.  It might be trouble and expense to improve front yards, including swales, but it should be part of our charm.

When BP residents want to propose an insult, they suggest we wouldn't like to look like Hialeah.  Hialeah is where you find large expanses of concrete, and whole front yards that are paved and used for parking.

We can strive for better.  We can strive for charm, without stuffiness.  We will always be low key, but we don't have to be untidy, or unkempt.

We have our innate charm.  We can increase it, through adherence to Codes that are intended to promote a level of style and decorum.  The Codes shouldn't over-regulate aesthetics, since the Park is not a uniform development.  But they should require us to be "The Best We Can Be."   And if we can think of other improvements, and include them in the Codes, we should.