Quote:
Originally Posted by Acres per Second
1) Both Alton houses in the photograph are beyond the reach of DES and are probably "perfectly legal": The trend is troubling, however, as both structures bring the problems of "Suburban Sprawl" to our area. (With added leachates, traffic snarls, water quality crashes and where Pigeons replace songbirds). 
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The houses might be out of the reach of the 250' buffer, but the landscaping is definately not.
That landscaping is done. I do not see a single tree planted in any of those beds. Lots of ground cover with no height changes throughout the scape.
LP is correct that landscape budgets are typically the first thing cut from a budget when the budget is to big to begin with. The reason for that is almost every homeowner thinks that they can landscape (same goes for painting). Nothing ruins a beautiful project faster than a poor job of landscaping or painting. It is the first thing people see and they can never move past it.
Argies Wife, the comment about the front of the house (meaning roadside) possibly being better needs to be corrected. The first thing that you are taught when starting a degree in design or architecture is that the front of the house is what ever side you want it to be and there can and should be more than one. That is the theory of architecture, to maximize the use of the structure while drawing occupants to the right places without making those spots stand out like a sore thumb.
The thought that someone would make the roadside of the house beautiful and leave the lake side looking less than appealing is poor planning on the part of the architect and likely owners that did not know enough or could not visualize from a planset. Some clients really have no idea what they are getting until they can see it in completion. No matter if the drawings are a 3D rendering, they still can't see it. I am talking in a general scope and not about the posted house and I am not saying owners are at fault for not being able to visualize the final product, but someone that gets entrusted with making their dreams come true failed at taking care of their client.
In a properly planned project schedule, landscaping is not last. The finish carpenters do not lay stone and the landscapers do not paint. Both the completion of the interior and exterior should progress at the same rate to allow for a final CoO inspection and the builder starts the clock on the warranty for everything at the same time. Otherwise, things get messy and put off for too long.