Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND)

If you've been wondering what TND stands for here's your chance to find out. Traditional Neighborhood Design is a reference to the style of community building popular in the United States before World War II. TND's typically have a variety of housing sizes, close together, with set back garages at the end of skinny driveways. The houses are fronted with porches and built right up to the curb with only a small front yard. The streets in a TND are narrow, usually have parallel parking, a planting strip for trees, and then a sidewalk before reaching the front yards. Often there is a more sizeable back yard and even a service alley behind that.

But wait, there's more. A successful TND is a true mixed use development. Remember the "corner store" that seems to have disappeared in the modern subdivision. Well it's back in the TND. Along with town homes, row houses, and some light commercial. Ideally a resident in a TND could walk or ride a bike to the corner store for milk and along the way greet their neighbors who are sitting on their porch. A TND resident may even be able to walk to work while their child walks to school. If you think of a great neighborhood from your childhood, it's probably a TND.

So, what's that got to do with Victor. Victor is currently considering a TND zoning overlay for a one square mile block of downtown. This size was arrived at by looking at the distance someone can easily walk in 15 minutes. This optional zoning overlay is intended to encourage infill development by offering density bonuses to downtown land owners. Infill development is a way to grow a city from the inside out with a gradual increasing density gradient as you move further away from the city center.

On Wednesday March 19th, there will be an open house at the City Hall from 8:30am to 8:00pm. Valley residents are encouraged to come by and learn all the ins and outs of the TND as well as our upcoming re-addressing and the proposed new Impact Area. After the open house there will be a more formal public hearing during an upcoming Council meeting. The TND ordinance has already passed through the Planning and Zoning Commission 5-0.

Links:
List of TND's across the country.
Mountainside Village - Victor's TND
smartgrowth.org
TND Power Point Presentation