I’ve long been enchanted with this tiny piece of property. I suspect it got truncated by the construction of the Max Yellow line. It’s been a variety of things since I moved to the neighborhood in 2007. Mostly kind of junky things, like storage space for a failed food cart. I’ve just looked it up on my favorite Portland Maps website and learned that the lot was bought in 1993 for $33,000 and is owned by the guy who owns the house across the street. I also just noticed in the permits/cases section that just yesterday–yesterday being 11/6 as I write this from the future–someone filed three complaints for “people living in shed” and “ongoing garage sales.” I’ve observed that both of these things are true.
Anyway, let’s get to my fantasy. The property is triangular shaped, .09 acre (4,038 sq feet) and right on the Max line. It is not a piece of property for those who like solitude or a ton of space. Although now that I write that, I bet a developer could put at least two residences into this space.
But we are talking about my ideas.
I would build a small footprinted house on this space that would take up about half of the triangle in the narrow part. It would be a well-planned two stories. Then, on the wider part of the triangle I would landscape a fun garden, so that people walking to the Max could see things grow. There might be levels of garden. That chain link fence would not be there. Also, there would be parking in my little triangle. No on-street parking for me.
I can just see it!
Would you put up any fence? if so, what kind? Also, I’m wondering how big your perfect house would be? I like the idea of on-property parking and a tiered garden.
I would have some sort of fence, maybe the kind I’ve been seeing where they have waist-high posts and then the fence part is more square wire grid with openings of about 8″ by 8″. There would need to be a line of demarcation, but it would also have to be pretty open to extend the space.
My house would have the footprint of those 800 square feet one story box houses that are everywhere in Portland. But it would probably have basement storage of some kind and two stories.