LV takes a closer look at cluster housing

Cluster housing, considered to be the cutting edge of urban planning, could be coming to the Summerlin master-planned community in northwest Las Vegas.

Cluster housing refers to a way of positioning high-density residential lots, usually four, so that they share one entrance. The lots are very small, with usually no more than 10 feet between the homes. But to compensate for the small yards, the homes share large areas of common green space.

In most cluster housing developments, about 20 to 30 percent of the development is dedicated to such park space. Usually about half the homes in a cluster development are put into groupings; the rest are arranged with more traditional lot configurations but with much smaller lots than those of typical homes.

Las Vegas developer Nigro and Associates has proposed a cluster housing project for Summerlin. To allow for the project, however, Summerlin must amend its development standards, a process that needs Planning Commission and City Council approval. The plan was proposed to the Planning Commission last week.

The idea of cluster housing is one that many planners find pleasing. Resources are not wasted because residents can share pools and picnic areas. Though density is higher on the lots, there also is more intricate landscaping and the areas have a more urban, rather than suburban, feel.

"The lots are made smaller and built more closely together while leaving areas of common land," William Sherman said in describing cluster homes. An associate professor of architecture at the University of Virginia and a practicing architect in Charlottesville, Sherman is working on three such projects on the East Coast. "The advantage of the smaller lots is that, environmentally, areas can be left in a more natural state. Socially, people form tighter bonds with common spaces, and they can share better amenities rather than building their own."

"The higher density is trying to establish a sort of urban inertia," Sam Staley, director of the urban futures program at the Reason Public Policy Institute, said. "It would lend itself to the kind of stuff you might find in a downtown -- like walkable streets."

One example of such a project is the Presidio in Tucson, Ariz., where about half the homes are clustered into groups of four. Nigro, in an attempt to sell city planners on the idea of cluster, paid for a Las Vegas official to visit the Tucson project.

"It's a great project," Marc Castagnola, the city planner who visited the development, said. "We would love to see something like that built here."

He pointed out that such projects demand more than merely building high-density housing. Rather, they require a combination of other qualities to make the small lots more palatable to buyers.

For instance, decorative architectural details must be present around the entire house because neighbors will be close by. Also, it's necessary for the dividing walls between houses to remain comparatively short -- Presidio's are 4 feet high -- to keep residents from feeling claustrophobic. Putting garages in the back with alley access is another way of encouraging pedestrians to take to the streets.

Though city planners gush about the Presidio project and voice support for cluster housing in Las Vegas, they suggested the Planning Commission deny the request to change Summerlin's development standards to allow for Nigro's project.

Planning Director Theresa O'Donnell said it's not that the Nigro project is bad, but that it's not necessarily cluster housing as it's been done in other cities. There's only one park, filling little more than half an acre in the 205-unit, 31-acre development, and only about 30 percent of the homes are clustered.

"There are some questions about Summerlin's changes to its development standards," she said. "Though the Nigro project isn't bad, the change in standards could allow for much worse high-density projects to come in."

Some of the changes Summerlin would have to make in its plan include:

* Requiring developers to provide only 2 percent of their acreage for green space. If a development is within a half-mile of a park, that 2 percent is not required.

* Allowing garages to be only 5 feet from the property line in the front of a house. Currently, garages are set back 18 feet. However, there couldn't be more than five houses in a row with garages that close to the sidewalk.

* Allowing higher-density development for projects that place garages behind homes. There is, however, no minimum percentage for the number of homes required to have rear-entry garages. City planners said the way it's written, a developer could include only one or two houses with back garages and have high-density housing (10 units per acre) for the rest of the development.

* Allowing for shorter walls -- 4 1/2 feet -- but not requiring them so that most walls would still be 6 feet high.

Todd Nigro, vice president of Nigro and Associates, said that even though the lots are smaller than in most developments, he wouldn't be proposing the project if he didn't think it would sell.

"We have planners and consultants that have worked with us gathering information to design the project," Nigro said. "The bottom line is we're trying to sell houses. And building a cluster project in Las Vegas is not like building a cluster project in San Diego. The park space they have in those projects isn't really necessary in a community like Summerlin."

Nigro contends that while 10 units per acre may be high density for Las Vegas, especially for Summerlin, similar cluster projects in California can run as high as 14 units per acre. And, he said, if people in Las Vegas don't like the project's small lots and the way the houses look, they won't buy them.

"The most difficult thing is, you can't really point to a project and see what we're proposing," Nigro said. "You could look at any clause in Summerlin's proposal and pick it out and criticize. But what's important is to look at the entire package."

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