DESIGN-BASED REGULATIONS FOR MANUFACTURED URBAN INFILL HOUSING by CHARLES BRENT RUNYON (Under the Direction of Pratt Cassity) ABSTRACT Maintaining a “sense of place” involves preserving the cultural, historical, and visual relationships of an area. Gentrification occurs because existing residents cannot find affordable housing. Manufactured houses are the best housing value, but they are excluded from residential neighborhoods due, in part, to their appearance. Zoning which discriminates against this housing type is particularly harmful to and promotes gentrification in lower income neighborhoods. This thesis attempts to prove that inclusionary regulations could be used to ensure compatibly-designed manufactured housing. This thesis considers the factors that contribute to compatibility and uses historic resource surveys of a predominantly African-American, working- class neighborhood to identify characteristic attributes of its historic houses. The attributes are then examined to determine whether a standard manufactured house could be modified to create a compatible design. INDEX WORDS: Affordable housing, Compatible infill, Design guidelines, East Athens, Exclusionary zoning, Gentrification, Historic preservation, Land-use regulations, Manufactured housing DESIGN-BASED REGULATIONS FOR MANUFACTURED URBAN INFILL HOUSING by CHARLES BRENT RUNYON A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION ATHENS, GEORGIA 2005 © 2005 CHARLES BRENT RUNYON All Rights Reserved DESIGN-BASED REGULATIONS FOR MANUFACTURED URBAN INFILL HOUSING by CHARLES BRENT RUNYON Major Professor: Pratt Cassity Committee: John C. Waters Jorge Horacio Atiles Chrissy Marlowe Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2005 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my friend Scott Johnson whose time in Beaufort, SC, is the reason I discovered historic preservation. He has been my morning coffee every day for two years. Thank you for listening and paying attention, especially when it was “all about me,” which it almost always was. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Overwhelming thanks go to my advisor, Pratt Cassity, for helping me define my topic, guiding my research and never letting me doubt myself too much. Dr. Jorge Atiles and Anne Sweaney at UGA, and Chrissy Marlowe at DCA helped focus my research by prompting me to find answers to questions I hadn’t even though to ask. Kay Stanton at the ACHF and Jerry Haynes at Cavalier Home Builders provided assistance at just the right time. I also want to thank my mother and sister for their support throughout this second round of school. And special thanks goes to my grandmother, Mary Runyon, my best friend whom I lost halfway through. Thank you for your unwavering support of me. I will always love and miss my Number One Grandma. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Purpose of the Study..................................................................................................1 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................3 Terminology ..............................................................................................................3 2 LAND-USE REGULATIONS AND THE COMMUNITY CHARACTER.................5 Conventional Zoning and Design..............................................................................5 Designing the Regulations.........................................................................................7 Other Land-use Regulatory Tools .............................................................................9 Form-based Codes...................................................................................................10 Design Guidelines ...................................................................................................12 Development Briefs.................................................................................................14 Zoning and Gentrification .......................................................................................15 3 AFFORDABLE HOUSING........................................................................................19 The Need for Affordable Housing...........................................................................20 Affordable Housing Options ...................................................................................21 vi 4 MANUFACTURED HOUSING.................................................................................24 Definition.................................................................................................................24 Post-War Evolution .................................................................................................25 Current Trends.........................................................................................................26 Facts and Myths.......................................................................................................27 Georgia Statutes ......................................................................................................32 Design History.........................................................................................................39 5 ELEMENTS OF DESIGN...........................................................................................41 The Importance of Architectural Harmony .............................................................41 Defining Compatibility............................................................................................43 The Common House................................................................................................49 Characteristics of the Bungalow..............................................................................52 Characteristics of Manufactured Housing...............................................................53 Creating Compatibility............................................................................................59 Gray Areas...............................................................................................................63 6 CASE STUDY: EAST ATHENS ................................................................................65 Historical Development...........................................................................................65 Data Review ............................................................................................................67 Neighborhood Character .........................................................................................70 Demographic Information .......................................................................................74 Compatible Infill Housing Design ..........................................................................75 Application of Design Attributes ............................................................................81 Meeting the Challenge.............................................................................................85 vii 7 HISTORIC PRESERVATION ISSUES......................................................................90 Preserving a Sense of Place.....................................................................................90 8 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................94 Conclusion...............................................................................................................94 Recommendations for Athens-Clarke County and Other Local Governments.......95 Recommendations for Historic Preservation and Advocacy Professionals ............96 Recommendations for Manufacturers .....................................................................97 Recommendations for Future Study........................................................................97 SOURCES CONSULTED.............................................................................................................99 APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................108 LETTER TO CAVALIER HOME BUILDERS........................................................108 viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 4.1: Median home value by county......................................................................................30 Table 6.1: Construction date ranges...............................................................................................72 Table 6.2: Design compatibility characteristics.............................................................................79 Table 6.3: An evaluation of two housing types in East Athens.....................................................80 ix LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 4.1: Model Code Graphic 1 ................................................................................................37 Figure