october 2 2024 work session packet

Exactly as extracted, unformatted — for checking against the original. The readable version is easier to read.

CENTREVILLE PLANNING COMMISSION
October 2, 2024
Liberty Building - 2nd Floor
107 North Liberty Street
7:00 p.m.
Work Session
A G E N D A
I. CALL TO ORDER – Kara Willis – Chair
II. Citizen Comment (Citizens are requested to keep their comments to three minutes)
III. Discussion
a. Residential in Central Business District Code changes
b. Tiny House/sketch concept discussion
c. Traditional Neighborhood District – Complete Neighborhood – Planned Unit Development
IV. Citizen Comment (Citizens are requested to keep their comments to three minutes)
V. Council Member Report
VI. Adjournment

the project for
The Katrina Cottage Movement
A Case Study
www.leanurbanism.org
CASE STUDY
Appealing, context-aware designs for small-scale homes in small-scale
neighborhoods grabbed national attention during the 2005 Mississippi Renewal
Forum after Hurricane Katrina. Though it took far longer for the ideas to find
traction than anyone imagined, trial-and-error progress has produced models worth
emulating, and just in time to address new realities in housing demand in post-
recession America.
Out of the Storm ever,” this was a housing market driven by a sense
The idea was
of urgency. It was an environment made for new
In early 2006, less than six months after Hurri-
to offer housing thinking about homes and neighborhoods in a
cane Katrina blew apart Mississippi’s coastal com-
new era.
that could be a munities and flooded New Orleans, a prototype
Katrina Cottage designed by Marianne Cusato at But in Mississippi and Louisiana, the hunger
safer, more livable
the 2005 Mississippi Renewal Forum in Biloxi was for new solutions diminished at about the same
alternative to put on display at the International Builders Show rate federal recovery money flooded state and
in Orlando. local agencies. And in the hands of local gov-
FEMA trailers.
ernments, those dollars targeted the priority
Cusato’s 308-square-foot, Mississippi-vernacular of getting things back to normal as quickly as
design was one of several in the Katrina Cottage possible. Which meant, in most places, conven-
portfolio our architecture team developed during tional suburban development with large homes
the Forum. The idea was to offer housing that on large lots at un-walkable distances from em-
could be, in the short run, a safer, more livable ployment, shopping and recreation.
alternative to Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) trailers as emergency housing, To get from that moment to one with viable
then transition to permanent homes in permanent models of Katrina Cottage-style neighborhoods
neighborhoods. required:
• An act of Congress
At the time, it seemed a no-brainer. With tens of
thousands of Mississippians made homeless by
• Tedious negotiations with federal and state
the storm, and with a mandate from then-Gov-
agencies.
ernor Haley Barbour to “build back better than
One of the first
Katrina Cottages
on display.
Credit: Bruce Tolar

For each level of
bureaucracy the
funding had to
clear, there were
new layers of
regulatory, design
and engineering
guidelines. It was
agonizing.
Cottage Square,
Ocean Springs, MS
Credit: Bruce Tolar
• More than a few dead-end discussions with designs by Steve Mouzon, another pioneer of the
manufactured housing companies and build- Katrina Cottage movement. The structures, all
ers resistant to anything that required adjust- designed to withstand 140-mph storm winds and
ments to systems they’d mastered. all elevated to accommodate federal flood-plain
rules, ranged from a 200-square-foot Mouzon
• And, once the cottages were available, battles studio to a 1,300-square-foot, two-story unit that
with community groups panicked that small- houses Bruce Tolar’s architecture office.
scale homes built with government help would
turn into crack houses. During the Forum, we argued for FEMA to divert
at least a sliver of the hundreds of millions of dol-
lars in emergency housing relief to what we saw as
From Cottage to Neighborhood
better solutions for the long haul. But because of
In Mississippi, the principal rare exception was FEMA’s statutory mandate to stick to temporary
the town of Ocean Springs. There, thanks to his- emergency strategies, the agency resisted.
toric models of walkable urbanism, sympathetic
local officials and the tailwind from the Missis- That debate was soon joined in Washington,
sippi Renewal Forum, we created a development where Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and
partnership for a mixed-use infill project of small the legislative delegations of his state and of Lou-
structures on narrow lots: Cottage Square. isiana had substantial sway. The result was that in
June of 2006, Congress provided $400 million for
Between 2006 and 2010, Cottage Square became an Alternative Housing Pilot Program for FEMA
permanent home to seven Katrina Cottage de- to develop and test alternative designs for disaster
signs, including Cusato’s original “little yellow housing. And FEMA began working with emer-
house,” a Louisiana-vernacular model built during gency agencies in the five hurricane-affected gulf
a 2006 charrette in Saint Bernard Parish, and two States — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama
Left Image: Installation
of Mississippi Cottage.
Credit: Bruce Tolar
Right Image: Permanently
placed Mississippi Cottages.
Credit: Bruce Tolar
CASE STUDY | THe KaTriNa COTTage MOveMeNT 2

At some point,
the forces of
demography and
labor economics
will bulldoze past
the old barriers to
attainable housing
and small-scale
housing clusters.
Oak Park, Ocean
Springs, MS.
Credit: Bruce Tolar
and Florida — to get units into recovery areas. housing to deliver homes of site-built quality, pro-
vided — and this is a big caveat — manufacturers
It was a classic “be careful what you wish for” sit- were held to strict standards of design and materi-
uation. For each level of bureaucracy the funding als. While the argument over unit costs of manu-
had to clear, there were new layers of regulatory, factured or modular housing compared to site-built
design and engineering guidelines. It was ago- structures persists, there’s no arguing about the
nizing. And the clock was running. The process potential for controlling quality and speed of con-
forced delays and pushed costs higher. Develop- struction in a weather-proof factory environment.
ers, builders and communities that might other-
All eight Mississippi Cottages were delivered and
wise have been interested in participating looked
set on permanent foundations within four days.
elsewhere for opportunities. Perhaps because we
That brought our first model neighborhood to 15
had already devoted so much time and so many
units on the two acres.
resources to making this work, we hung in.
Manufactured Housing Another Model
During the Mississippi Renewal Forum, many of Next door to Cottage Square, where an old trailer
us became convinced systems-built techniques, park aged into blight, a 29-unit cottage cluster, the
including manufactured and modular housing, Cottages at Oak Park, was completed in 2011. a
could help close the gap between the costs of developer acquired the land. Construction, a mix-
building at the levels of design and materials we ture of factory and systems-built techniques and
demanded and the price points we wanted to tar- conventional on-site work, was financed by funds
get. That assumption would be tested in a hun- remaining from FEMA’s Alternative Housing Pilot
dred painful ways over the next few years. Program and managed by the Mississippi Emer-
gency Management Agency (MEMA). Units were
Finally, in 2008, Cottage Square got eight of the fully leased within 60 days of Oak Park’s opening.
first manufactured units inspired by Katrina Cot-
tage designs. Rebranded as Mississippi Cottages, Nonprofit partners — Mercy Housing and Hu-
the one-bedroom, 396-square-foot units fell short man Redevelopment, Enterprise Community
of the standards of the best designs the Forum Partners and Gulf Coast Renaissance Corpora-
team created three years earlier. But when they tion — were key players in arranging financing
were settled in place on narrow Cottage Square paths and in coordinating rental management for
lots, we immediately achieved two things. the income-qualified housing programs in both
Cottage Square and the Cottages at Oak Park.
First, Cottage Square and the government-funded Their participation made it possible to bridge the
Mississippi Cottages put to rest concerns that small gap between entirely subsidized, temporary disas-
had to mean ugly and uncomfortable. People lined ter housing units and permanent, mixed-income
up to rent them. And the neighbors’ fears subsided. neighborhoods capable of attracting private-sec-
tor investment.
Second, despite the delays and frustrating back-and-
forth negotiations, this first batch of one-bedroom The Cottages at Oak Park included a private de-
units demonstrated the potential of manufactured veloper drawn to such an arrangement. Next, the
3 CASE STUDY | THe KaTriNa COTTage MOveMeNT

Lessons from the
experience are
humbling. They’re
about realizing
how difficult it is
to manage the
transition from
business as usual,
even when the
usual business
ignores a ready-
made market.
Cottages at Second Street, Oak
Park, Ocean Springs, MS.
Credit: Bruce Tolar
same combination of partners turned to an even as a permanent mindset, it’s nevertheless a per-
more challenging location in Pass Christian, Mis- spective that continues to corrupt conversations
sissippi, where Katrina flooding had all but wiped about community planning and development.
out the town’s neighborhood structures. There,
the Cottages at Second Street, another 30-unit Cottage Square and the follow-up projects
cottage cluster, arose in early 2012. This time, the demonstrated a viable new approach based on
units were elevated eight feet off the ground to ac- market realities.
commodate new FeMa flood plain requirements.
Changing Markets
It took seven years, but the opening of the Cottag-
es at Second Street raised the number of perma- New demographic and economic factors are
nently located, Katrina Cottage-inspired examples changing the housing sector. Aging Boomers, 78
to 70 units in three neighborhoods. All were leased million strong, are finding that “aging in place”
as residences or commercial spaces. All were de- in car-centered exurbs is more difficult than they
signed and built with market-rate appeal, yet made thought. Many who can afford the move are look-
viable by public-private partnerships that could be ing to downsize in walkable environments. Many
replicated anywhere. who remain will become isolated, causing poli-
cy-makers to rethink infrastructure and regulations
A complete model for how to do these neighbor- that inhibit density, mixed uses, and mobility.
hoods was in place.
Millennials, even more numerous than the
Boomers, are struggling to launch careers and
Impediments
families with college debt in an economy in slow
Lessons from the experience are humbling. They’re recovery. Homeownership is lower than for oth-
about realizing how difficult it is to manage the er generations. The same goes for cars. They’re
transition from business as usual, even when the attracted in higher numbers to rentals in urban
usual business ignores a ready-made market. It’s areas with transit.
been the better part of a century since well-craft-
ed bungalows, cottages and other small-scale The gap between supply and demand for walkable,
dwellings defined “home” to most americans — close-in locations is driving up rents and home
and since designers and builders produced them prices. Mortgage-lending guidelines have been di-
on a large scale. The metrics of housing value aled back to the strictest requirements for down
tend to be about size and price per square foot, payments and proof of income at a time when
with big being better and small being for losers. middle-class families are struggling to overcome
“Affordable” translates to either “subsidized,” devalued net worth and stagnant wages. This is
which in turn translates to “projects,” or to “mo- alongside a real estate development/finance/reg-
bile homes,” which implies “trailer trash.” Either ulatory system shaped to prioritize housing of the
way, anything small and affordable threatens to wrong type at the wrong price in the wrong places.
lower market values. While this cannot persist
CASE STUDY | THe KaTriNa COTTage MOveMeNT 4

• Partnerships are necessary, at least for now.
Lessons Learned
Incentivize living At some point, the forces of demography and
To take advantage of this broadening market, we labor economics will bulldoze past the old bar-
in small places
should keep in mind what we learned in the Ka- riers to attainable housing and small-scale hous-
with the options trina Cottage effort. ing clusters, but that will require more exam-
ples to demonstrate the opportunities for both
available beyond
• Small-scale housing needs small-scale con- private-sector developers and communities that
the home: parks, texts. Proposing even beautifully designed need affordably priced housing. For now that
800-square-foot units for neighborhoods in requires strategic collaborations between non-
plazas, places to
which they’ll be surrounded by homes two or profits with a track record of bringing resourc-
eat, drink, and three or five times their size won’t work for res- es and expertise to the table and development/
idents or for the NiMBYs in the neighborhood. construction teams committed to the tech-
shop without
They’re better together, if not in a stand-alone niques above.
having to get into Cottage Square-type infill community, then
in what Ross Chapin calls a “pocket neighbor-
a car.
hood” of homes site-planned together within a
broader residential or mixed-use context.
• Infill locations rule. You incentivize living in
small places with the options available beyond
the walls of the home: easily accessible parks and
plazas, and places to eat and drink and shop. All
without having to get into a car for every task.
• Design really, really matters. The smaller the
space, the more crucial the need for livability
and for eye-pleasing detail. This includes interior
space — particularly attention to ceiling height,
lighting, open floor plans, etc. and it includes
the look and feel of what’s just outside the door
in the way of landscaping and privacy-protecting
features. To overcome the inevitable NiMBY
suspicion and the political veto their fears can
influence, these little homes have to signal qual-
ity and curb appeal equal to or beyond that of
adjacent neighbors in bigger dwellings.
The Project for
Lean Urbanism is
managed by the
Center for Applied
Transect Studies.
The Project is
supported by the
John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation and
the Kresge Foundation.
Bruce B. Tolar is an architect, planner, and de- as a developer of model cottage communities in
veloper living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. To- the state.
lar helped shape the Katrina Cottage movement,
first as a member of the Mississippi renewal team
created by the Governor’s Commission, and later
Ben Brown is a career journalist with national Ben has worked with architects, planners and lo-
newspapers and magazines who turned his full- cal officials in the gulf hurricane zones and be-
time attention to Smart Growth advocacy in the yond on cottage neighborhood solutions to both
late 1990s. He was communications director for resilience challenges and to changing demograph-
the Mississippi Renewal Forum in the wake of ic and market demands. He’s been a partner in the
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Coastal Re- international consulting firm, PlaceMakers, LLC,
covery Commission of alabama after the BP Oil since 2008.
Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Since 2005,
5 CASE STUDY | THe KaTriNa COTTage MOveMeNT