Wells Avenue Bungalow District
It's one of Reno's best kept secrets, one of the best neighborhoods for first-time home buyers, it's historic, and it's my neighborhood. Can you guess what it is? It's Reno's historic Wells Avenue Bungalow district, of course!
It's an eclectic enclave of homes situated to the East, and mostly to the West, of Wells Avenue. Wells Avenue recently underwent a major renovation, which included narrowing the street to one lane each way, adding extensive landscaping and old-fashion lighting, adding medians with landscaping, and repaved all the sidewalks. You can find locally-owned businesses on Wells Ave, everything from a pet store to a radio-controlled-hobby store.
Anchoring this historic neighborhood to the West is Holcomb Avenue, a busy four-lane street with huge towering trees, and rows of historic bungalows built in the 1900-1930 range. Nearly all of the homes, with the exception of one apartment complex that takes up a block, is intact. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad used to travel down Holcomb Ave, back when the road was one lane each way. There is a lot of rich history in this neighborhood, and the Historic Society gives walking tours on a regular basis.
The best part of this neighborhood is the price range of the homes, which if you are diligent can find cute bungalows for under $300,000. And it's within walking distance of downtown! The percentage of owner-occupancy is increasing in this neighborhood.
The City of Reno also sees the potential of this neighborhood, and is in the process of working with residents and business owners to create the Wells Avenue Neighborhood Master Plan. This plan, once put into place by Summer 2007, will solidify the direction of the neighborhood as a whole, including any historic preservation or declarations, ideas on battling graffiti, what kind of zoning is allowed, and all sorts of things. I have been to all the meetings thus far, and although the residents' opinions may vary, we all want the same end result; to make sure this neighborhood has a future for a long time to come. Once master plans are put into place, they are very hard to amend. Click the link below to find out more.
http://www.cityofreno.com/res/comdev/wells/
UPDATE:
6/26/2008 - WELLS AVENUE BUNGALOW NEWS - Congratulations to all of us Wells Avenuvians! The overlay zoning and design standards portion of the Wells Avenue Plan passed city council with no opposition yesterday. Barrie Schuster, our fearless neighborhood leader as I like to refer to her (she's also on our NAB), was on-hand at the council meeting to endorse the proposal. She also, with the help of a slew of complaints from residents in this area, got a special meeting scheduled to discuss our not-so-red-hot sidewalks in what us Wells Avenue residents call 'the island', the group of old homes bordered by Holcomb, Wells, Vassar and Ryland.
Barry Schuster said "Our Vision for the future is of a Wells Avenue Neighborhood where pride in the neighborhood's history and character is clear-evidenced by the area's well maintained homes and yards and ongoing property owner investment in the restoration and adaptive re use of historic homes and structures. The diversity of the neighborhood is further enhanced through the integration of infill and redevelopment that is in keeping with the established character of the neighborhood." I second that motion!
The best part of the Overlay plan are the mass zoning changes it institutes. Some of the highlights include; re-zoning all of the properties on the east side of Holcomb to Mixed Use Residential, allowing adaptive re-use of the old homes along this street as small offices, something many people have been doing anyway, also rezoning the properties on Vassar between Wells and Holcomb as Mixed Use Residential as well. Some of the Action Plan highlights include enhancing Wells Avenue's treescape (something already in process with the Roots for Wells plan of 100 trees being planted along Wells Avenue this fall), historic bungalow district walking tours, getting 'historic bungalow district' signs for our neighborhood, promoting homeownership in the neighborhood to reduce absentee landlords and home turnover, architectural standards for new buildings, a facade improvement program for Wells Ave, a neighborhood watch program already in effect, and so much more! I can't emphasize this enough; I love this neighborhood, I have some amazing neighbors who were all as committed to developing this plan as I was, and of course Barrie, who has become an essential beacon of communication between us and city officials. Everyone, from our councilwoman Jessica Sferrazza to the Planning Commission to Jessica Jones, the main community development manager involved, was impressed with the continuous high level of resident participation in this process.
The next issue to tackle are the streets.
Following Other Cities' Successes
- Pasadena Bungalow Heaven Case Study
In 1985, in a quiet neighborhood in Pasadena, a developer bought up several lots with Craftsman homes built in the 1920s. To local residents' shock, they proceeded to demolish the homes and erect the most hideous apartment building one could imagine in those lots. This infuriated a few history-lovers in the area. They did NOT want this to happen again. They began circulating petitions around the neighborhood, and presented their city council with a strong case to 'downcode' the land-use codes so no more multi-family residences could be built in their neighborhood. The City Council agreed and passed a measure that downgraded the land use to single-family dwellings only. That ensured their neighborhood would not become a wall of apartments.
The residents of this quaint neighborhood, with their newfound feeling of power, decided to take it one step further. neighbors began to think about what else they needed to do to preserve their homes. They saw classic bungalows down the street being stuccoed, or fitted with new aluminum windows. They started to realize that some restrictions on this remodeling and "improvement" might be necessary. That meant becoming a historic district. Little ol' Bungalow Heaven a historic district? Objections were raised: these aren't mansions, famous people don't live here. Besides, "It's my house and I'll stucco if I wanna."
So a few of the neighbors decided to poll the neighborhood and find out what other neighbors thought about becoming a Landmark District. It was fairly awkward to knock on someone's door and ask them how they felt about more government regulations on their property.
After months of procrastination and half-effort, They realized that many people in their neighborhood really did think it was a good idea to become a Landmark District. They must have done a pretty good sell job, because at first, nobody even knew that the name "Bungalow Heaven" referred to their neighborhood.
The staff of the City's Historic Preservation department helped residents develop a " Conservation Plan " to specify what alterations to houses would be restricted. It seemed to take forever to agree on things. Some people wanted paint colors to be regulated, others wanted to regulate only big changes, like stuccoing. After a year and a half, residents reached a workable compromise.
Then the hard work began -- getting 51% of the property owners to sign a petition accepting these regulations. A lot of their neighbors, past and present, walked a lot of miles and knocked on the doors of the 962 lots in the proposed Bungalow Heaven Landmark District several times. This was the biggest sell job ever. It waxed and waned, leaders moved out of state, property records proved inaccurate and some signatures invalid; the process seemed endless!
In canvassing the neighborhood and talking about the need to preserve it by becoming a Landmark District, residents discovered that a host of other issues concerned their neighbors. Some were alarmed at rising crime. Others didn't like all the traffic. The park was a mess. Abandoned vehicles (and houses) were problems. To deal with these, they realized that we needed a strong neighborhood association. After so much discussion and organizing, forming the Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association was easy! Also, they had to establish a neighborhood association before the City would let us become a Landmark District.
In 1989, they finally got 55% of property owners to sign the petition for the Landmark District. They took the petition to the City Council, which included two members representing Bungalow Heaven, Rick Cole and Bill Paparian. The City Council agreed to waive the onerous filing fee, and in October 1989 granted residents Landmark District status. 'Bungalow Heaven ' was the first neighborhood in Pasadena to be granted this distinction.
How it Benefited the Neighborhood
Now. Bungalow Heaven in Pasadena receives over 60,000 visitors a year JUST to visit the district and pump retail dollars into that community. The particular area of Pasadena which comprises roughly 950 lots is in pristine condition; it's like stepping back in time to the era when all of those Craftsman bungalows were built. Because of property improvements, crime has been reduced to virtually nothing. The neighborhood is now sought out by history buffs who are more interested in purchasing historic homes to preserve them rather than demolish them.
Reno has this same opportunity in the cute neighborhood I live in. Right now, so many homes in this neighborhood have run down yards, abandoned cars and worse yet, graffiti is starting to make its way into this area.
This is why I would like to see this neighborhood saved, and preserved, and who knows, maybe I will be that one person who lived in Pasadena and started a movement in his neighborhood to make it a historic landmark.
City council people, are you listening?
Anybody out there who wants to help me in this endeavor, or has ideas on how to go about it, let me know by emailing me!
Comments:
Post your commentsPosted by: Ernesto - 3/8/2007 1:31:18 PM
A bungalow type district is a great idea for where the most residential houses are located but I think this can only be done if further building could be limited to no more than duplexs and promoting more live in homeownership since that way there will be more of a stake in upgrading the neighborhood.
Posted by: Mike Van H - 3/9/2007 11:21:53 AM
Greetings Ernesto! Actually funny you mention that because this neighborhodo is drawing up a plan to do just that, you can find the information here http://www.cityofreno.com/res/comdev/wells/ if you look under 'Third Meeting' you will find working drafts of the Master Plan, which includes incentives for owner-occupancy as well as design regulations for new construction
Posted by: Chris - 3/9/2007 8:16:28 PM
This neighborhood is cute. How much do houses go for in this area?
Posted by: Pamela Love - 3/30/2007 11:35:29 AM
Thank you for your continued efforts to gentrify the Bungalow District of Reno. I bought a 100 year old house on Roberts Street 8 years ago, and have almost completely restored it. It's the one with the mermaid weathervane on the roof. I love my house, and would never choose to live in a tract house again. I think the "apartment behind the house" practice is what ruined this neighborhood. Reno had crooked inspectors that allowed these dumps to be built sometimes without permits! The apartment next to me was built entirely without a permit! Because of the sub-standard quality of construction, it's difficult to get quailty renters. I personally am becoming more involved with the neighborhood and other people that are commmitted to improving the quality of the neighborhood. We just deal with one situation at a time, and hopefully one day things will be measurably better than they are now. Reno's policy is this: if you can build something without a permit and get away with it, then it is considered "grandfathered in." Reno needs to change this attitude and make the illegal building of structures a practice with serious consequenses. Also, there should be incentives for people to fix up their yards and houses. In some cities, people are told to clean up their yards, and if they don't comply - the city hires someone to do it and then they charge the homeowner. I would love to see that happen here!
Posted by: Kitty - 6/2/2007 7:42:46 AM
I was driving around the Wells Ave Bungalow area yesterday. There are some great houses and I sure hope that people keep buying and fixing them up. There is so little old in Reno. Although a more known and popular District is the Newlands area. There are still many great houses in this neighborhood that need someone to love them too. And there are still some good deals to be had. I have never lived in a neighborhood in Reno were people took so much pride in their homes. A great location for walking to Downtown. Tree lined streets, People out walking their dogs, riding their bikes and always willing to though you a complement when they see you have done a little more repair on your home. Thank you to all my neighbors for your support.
Posted by: Matthew A - 7/1/2007 2:18:56 PM
This area is really looking good now that so many of the streets have been redone. My wife and I took a drive down through here the other day and I was very impressed. It is funny how much difference a nice new street and some nice sidewalks can make. A lot of the houses are looking pretty good too. I think this area will make a slow and steady recovery to being one of the nicer old areas in town. I suggest taking a drive some weekend down there. You will see people taking walks and hanging out in their yards. The full grown trees make a huge difference as far as going out to just hang out in your yard. Just try that in some new double diamond development and you will be sunburn city. No offense, though. Those developments are nice in other ways.