Happier Trails...

We all love walking paths and trails that twist and turn with our neighborhood.  We ask for them, we will even move to certain communities to find them.  A walking path is meant to connect communities and residents in a safe environment, but what happens when that path doesn’t appear to be a safe place to go?  Have you ever thought about where that path is placed?  Is it next to a home, is it in front or back?  Hidden under a large canopy of trees or behind a tall fence, like the picture above? 

If the walking path is placed in any of these areas: hidden under trees, behind fences and homes, does it encourage the safety that we are all hoping for?  How safe would you feel, to be isolated, walking along a dark path, behind large fences and homes?  Instead, most of us would choose to walk along the sidewalk, which is next to the street, but visible from the front of our neighbors’ homes to feel safe and secure.

Wouldn’t you prefer to walk from neighborhood to neighborhood using a path that is out in the open, visible, and safe?  A trail that is not next to the street with vehicles passing by?  Or walk along a path that loops around creating miles of walking trails?  A path where you can stroll outside with your family, friends, and pets, ride your bike and met your neighbors along the way?  Rather than creating a system of paths and trails as an afterthought, these walk ways will add to the connectivity, safety and overall community feel of our new Master Planned Community “Hill Farms”, which will be making its debut this Fall 2013.

Where the Sidewalk Ends...

It’s that time of year; the sun has made a debut, grass has peeked out through the melted snow and we have shed our heavy winter coats for a jacket or sweater.  Yes, spring has finally arrived bringing with it signs of life, pulling us outside to climb on our bikes, run, play tag, and take long walks with friends and loved ones.  Whether our journey outside begins on a path made of gravel, cement, dirt or a yellow brick road, a sidewalk has been created to take you places, from point A to point B.  It is made to ensure you arrive safely and promptly, without disruption from any on-coming vehicles. 

However, how many times have you embarked on a path, only to discover that it abruptly ends?  No explanation or direction is communicated to as to which way would offer another safe route.  It simply ends, just like the picture above.  Forcing you to walk out into the street, making it essential to compete for space with any oncoming vehicles.  This does not provide a safe route for your children to ride their bikes, scooters, and walk to a neighbor’s house.  An unfinished sidewalk puts your children at risk to be harmed by speeding commuters.

A sidewalk that loops and connects through the community is the ideal way to get around safely.  Would you be more comfortable sending your children to a friend’s house, if there was a sidewalk to take them from your door to their friend’s door, away from oncoming traffic?  Imagine a community with a path that connects everyone, would you feel safer out on a walk?  Would you be more inclined to venture outside and enjoy the sunshine?  We are working to build this level of safety in our Master Planned Community “Hill Farms” (coming this fall) by creating paths and sidewalks that unite the neighborhoods, rather than divides.     

    

Barriers...

A community is defined by a group of people that are living together in a particular place or area. Utah has a rich history of strong communities. Somehow we’ve accomplished this in spite of how our communities are designed. Take the ‘Fail’ example pictured above; we have some nice green space surrounded by a 6’ privacy fence. Visually, the set up here indicates that each resident isn’t interested in getting to the green space easily, and they certainly don’t want anyone from the green space getting close to them.  Homes are positioned facing away from this park area making it easy to ignore.  Homes face wide streets with quick moving cars, and have unused front lawns with a broad driveway to accommodate vehicles.  Everything is clearly stating “this is mine and that is yours” in these neighborhoods.   

These unintentional barriers: a 6’ foot fences, wide streets, empty front lawns and oversized driveways are just a few reasons that allow people to come and go without ever having to take a step outside their front door.  This minimizes drastically the relationships that can be developed with others within the neighborhood, leaving everyone feeling rather isolated. 

Image the community result if the barriers described here were removed. Could we enjoy the green space more? Would we enjoy our neighbors more? Would it feel safer to have our children playing in wide-open green space easily viewable to yourself and all neighbors as opposed to playing in that same space behind a privacy fence?  Would you feel more connected to the person next door to you?  As we work towards our fall 2013 Grand Opening of our Master-planned community “Hill Farms”, our intention is to break down these barriers that keep us from enjoying what we value most in life.    

DESTINATION: Make Over

Destination Homes has been in the make-up chair; redesigning our brand and refining our voice. Our company rebrand reflects our optimism about building homes and about the future. We've learned a lot about building homes over the past decade and continually strive to put that learning to use. We want to bring our service closer to home and touch on old thoughts of summer days, flying kites, Christmas lights, hot cocoa, and snow angels.  To us, it's always been about about family, communities, accomplishments and dreams. We don't provide rocking chairs and sunsets, but we can provide an excellent setting for yours.

As a step in that direction, we're beginning a new blog approach that connects us more to what we all really value. We work on building homes all day, but here we'll talk more about what we all do in those homes that makes them special. On top of getting to know our company and communities, expect new topics of conversation from DIY projects, to entertaining during the holidays. Here is your invite to pick up your computer, laptop, i-pad, i-phone, smart phone, droid, or any other kind of widget or wadget, gadget or gidget you have and stay connected. Let's get together under the cozy canopy of technology and chat. We welcome your comments.