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Texas copycats!! :)

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I guess it is easy to miss the flaws of "New Urbanism," which isn't so new at all, when you are focused only on the pretty little community. I wonder if BeachTown will also put up signs to keep the public from coming into their town.

From the link:
"While New Urbanist communities such as Seaside often are pitched as real towns, critics say they tend to become little more than playgrounds for the rich....

Because the project is below Galveston's sea wall, built after the 1900 hurricane that killed more than 6,000 people, houses must be built some 20 feet aboveground. But the project will be surrounded by 780 acres of newly designated parkland, something of an oasis in this fast-developing city."

Seaside would look very different with houses built 20ft above the ground. That is like two floors of nothing with a house on top of that.
 
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We live in Houston and had seriously looked at these "quaint towns". Believe me when I share with you that they are NOTHING like what you have in Seaside or elsewhere in SoWal. There is NO WAY I would buy one of these playhouses even though (due to our location) I could use it every weekend.

Galveston Beach is not somewhere I even let the kids swim, though occasionally, they are allowed to walk along the water's edge with their water shoes on. I like going there to hear the sound of the surf crashing and the seagulls singing their melodious "caaws". The Strand is quaint and historical and kind of nice and the older architecture of the city is beautiful.

I am sure that the infrastructure will grow dramatically to accommodate the influx of money to the island. Just an FYI... this place (back before the "Big Storm" that killed what is estimated to be over 8,000 folks) was the second most monied area (calculated in per capita income) in the nation. It came in second behind Newport, RI. It competed with Houston as the major port city of the south and was supposed to be a beautiful, amazing place, truly. I know these developers will probably make $$$ but I cannot for the life of me see why they would even consider building next to, rather than behind the Seawall. I mean it is ugly, but it is already there, so why not take advantage of the protection it offers? At least Evia did that correctly. I appreciate the creative thought that went into trying to duplicate something as beautiful as Seaside, etc. but it will not compare because the environment is not the same. There you have it...one small opinion is a sea of thought!:blush:
 
nmosley said:
I know these developers will probably make $$$ but I cannot for the life of me see why they would even consider building next to, rather than behind the Seawall. I mean it is ugly, but it is already there, so why not take advantage of the protection it offers? At least Evia did that correctly. I appreciate the creative thought that went into trying to duplicate something as beautiful as Seaside, etc. but it will not compare because the environment is not the same. There you have it...one small opinion is a sea of thought!:blush:
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The article stated that they were building on land BELOW the seawall. I guess they don't know about Mother Nature. Can someone tell them to look at New Orleans?
 
nmosley said:
We live in Houston and had seriously looked at these "quaint towns". Believe me when I share with you that they are NOTHING like what you have in Seaside or elsewhere in SoWal. There is NO WAY I would buy one of these playhouses even though (due to our location) I could use it every weekend.

Galveston Beach is not somewhere I even let the kids swim, though occasionally, they are allowed to walk along the water's edge with their water shoes on. I like going there to hear the sound of the surf crashing and the seagulls singing their melodious "caaws". The Strand is quaint and historical and kind of nice and the older architecture of the city is beautiful.

I am sure that the infrastructure will grow dramatically to accommodate the influx of money to the island. Just an FYI... this place (back before the "Big Storm" that killed what is estimated to be over 8,000 folks) was the second most monied area (calculated in per capita income) in the nation. It came in second behind Newport, RI. It competed with Houston as the major port city of the south and was supposed to be a beautiful, amazing place, truly. I know these developers will probably make $$$ but I cannot for the life of me see why they would even consider building next to, rather than behind the Seawall. I mean it is ugly, but it is already there, so why not take advantage of the protection it offers? At least Evia did that correctly. I appreciate the creative thought that went into trying to duplicate something as beautiful as Seaside, etc. but it will not compare because the environment is not the same. There you have it...one small opinion is a sea of thought!:blush:
Click to expand...

Yeah, water this color is somehow just not the same...:eek:

Smiling JOe said:
The article stated that they were building on land BELOW the seawall. I guess they don't know about Mother Nature. Can someone tell them to look at New Orleans?
Click to expand...

No lie!!
 
Smiling Joe,
The seawall goes on along the island and provides protection for most of the old city, but not for the entire length. It was quite an architectural feat when they first constructed the seawall. They raised the entire island by pumping in 4 feet of sand in and raised every surviving home following the disasterous storm. They they constructed this huge, imposing wall and added "breakers" which extended far out into the surf to break-up the wave action. The areas of most recent development on the island do not take place behind any of this protection.

Many, many homes and this development have built on the land that extends out on either side of the seawall. These homes buildings are actually to the sides of, and in many cases, in front of (or below, since the seawall is built 20feet higher than the land) the actual structure. There are Millions of dollars worth of homes in this situation. It is truly a disaster waiting to happen as the dunes in front of these structures are not nearly as high nor as dense as those in Sowal. I am not sure, but hey look to be maybe 5-10 feet at best in most spots and very narrow. Just wanted to clarify so you can picture it better!
 
Beach Runner said:
You mean like the old Seaside or the new Seaside? The architecture at Central Square used to relate to the surrounding residential architecture. Now that is slowly being replaced by a Euro-contemporary style that totally doesn't relate to the old Seaside as was memorialized in "The Truman Show."
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I mean the old Seaside. Really, I mean the spirit of Seaside. You can find that spirit in other little neighborhoods on 30-A, without HOA dues. :)

Can't you all remember when you first discovered 30-A? To me, it seemed like a dream.
 
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