Roscoe Battles Lot Sizes

March 24th, 2008 at 02:58pm Phil R. Knight

You know, as I read the articles on rrstar.com as the village board debates and decides on lot sizes, one question keeps coming to my mind: What differentiates Roscoe from other communities in the northern part of the valley? Have they met the need to be competitive, yet still offer something different?

In my mind, Roscoe is a terrific bedroom community, one that I wouldn’t mind living in. Larger homes, larger lots, higher median incomes, higher median educational levels. What’s not to like about that picture? Debates over 75 vs 85 vs 100 vs 110 foot lot size. Is the need for Roscoe to be competitive among developers going to change perceptions? It does in my mind.

I’m thinking long term, so follow along with me here. Let’s hypothesize that Roscoe keeps its development lot sizes at 100 feet. In the short term, developers are going to select other communities with smaller lot sizes and start filling them up. As population goes up, so do issues such as roads, schools, etc. So other communities will have to deal with that. Then the other communities start complaining that they can’t handle the growth. Then the light bulb comes on … Roscoe’s got room … Surely there are buyers out there who don’t want to be cramped. The developers begin seeing the light … less homes, more room, higher prices. Suddenly, Roscoe comes to the rescue, and it gets to keep its differentiator … better demographics. Certainly one of the northern valley communities wants to attract a different resident than those who don’t mind being cramped…

In my mind, Board Trustee Sharon Atkins has it right, as quoted by rrstar.com: “I think we should be able to offer what other communities do not have.”

Let’s see what happens in the next few months as variances come into play.

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