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Originally Posted by MonctonRad
Perhaps, yes. 
Yes, it is indeed outside city limits, but is so close to city limits that the driveway into the development is within city limits.
This is actually one of my pet peeves about the Rural Estates subdivision in northwest Moncton. It is cheek by jowl next to higher density suburban development just on the other side of Ryan Street. In fact, Rural Estates does serve as a bit of an impediment to westward growth of the city. Eventually, at some distant point in the future, higher density development might have to leapfrog over Rural Estates if westward growth continues. |
The same is true in a couple places in Fredericton, but in both cities there is still room for decades worth of development within the city limits.
Even if eventually these neighborhoods need to be leapfrogged, that would mean city services could be extended and lots could begin to be subdivided.
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I admit that I am speaking with a bit of a forked tongue on this issue, since I have a double lot on a cul-de-sac with a nice little forest in my backyard, but I am surrounded by houses on standard lots and our streets are curbed, the lots are manicured and all civic services are provided. My house is a five minute walk from a K-8 school, and only a 15 minute walk to numerous amenities on Mountain Road. Rural Estates on the other hand is not handy to anything and car culture reigns supreme. The streets are not curbed and instead of having storm sewers, the streets are lined by ditches instead (which tend to fill with debris). As is typical for uncurbed streets, the asphalt along the edges of the roadway will invariably begin to fragment and disintegrate. The lots are very large, but instead of being mostly manicured, are mostly wooded and populated with scrubby trees. The woodland surrounding the houses is therefore generally pretty unkempt. It is not a visually pleasing development, and this is despite the size and quality of the houses in the development. We can do better, especially immediately adjacent to our city limits.
I do agree that large rural building lots can be quite nice, and in certain locations may be the preferable option, especially if you have a property with a view. The subdivisions at the top of Lutes Mountain here in Moncton comes to mind. This however does not describe Rural Estates, and I don't think Baron Heights fits the bill either.
Again, we can do much better....... 
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Having a large lot in the city is the best of both worlds but as you know it's very cost prohibitive for the vast majority of the population. A double lot in a nice neighborhood can easily exceed $200k.
How would you propose having large lot neighborhoods that are walkable? It's pretty near impossible. Again – the people that buy in these neighborhoods are aware that they can't just walk to the corner store or school. That's a compromise that they make.
As for your argument that these neighborhoods are not "visually pleasing", that is subjective and hardly relevant. There are plenty of very dense neighborhoods that I find completely ugly. The street on which I live is older and most of the lots range from 2 - 4 acres in size. Some, like mine, are heavily wooded and the house can barely be seen from the road. Others have large manicured lawns, gardens, and water features. Some people have stables. I think it's great that people can own a house on a nice chunk of land that isn't too far out of the city and can do with it what they please.
I'm all for encouraging smart urban planning, increasing density, and creating walkable neighborhoods. But at the same time, these values should not be forced onto people. The great thing is that a lot of people in NB's cities have an abundance of choice over what kind of housing they can live in. In many cities, these choices are limited (for the vast majority of people) by finances and/or where they work.
By the way, I find any discussions about sprawl in NB to be rather amusing. You don't have to travel far to find far worse examples of sprawl - just look at southern Maine. The sprawl is practically endless there.
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probably due to the fact that I have purple blood running through me!
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