Time To Pivot: Sharing Our New Vision
With the recent news about the fire suppression system and the cost associated, Jase and I decided it was time to change course. We knew when we bought the land and settled on renovating the existing building we could run into issues. With any renovation comes risk. We have renovated enough houses over the years to know that challenges, additional costs and hidden issues are always a possibility. With that in mind, we always had a Plan B. Which, in our case, was always our Phase 2: New Construction (check out some of the designs below!).
Once we made the decision to pivot, we started dreaming up what these cottages might look like. We explored a number of options like tiny homes, larger cabins and 1-3 bedroom cottages. The sky was the limit, at this point. At the end of the day, we decided to focus on something we were passionate about in our own relationship and that’s carving out time to get away…just the two of us. We wanted to create spaces for guests that will forever be a part of their story…and their relationship. As we thought back over some of our favorite getaways, we started drawing inspiration from those places. And with that, it was decided, small cottages packed with luxury finishes and upscale amenities.
With our new vision in mind, we reached out to the Sevier County Planning & Zoning Department. I made friends with James there and he was an incredible resource and provided me with all the information I needed to start the planning process. He took the time to explain that what we were trying to accomplish is called a PUD (Planned Urban Development) and that there are a specific set of codes and requirements for this type of construction. He directed me to the PUD Handbook and I read every page (I didn’t just scan it this time!) and referenced it often as we were dreaming up our plans. It guided us on topics like parking, building spacing, road requirements, etc. and was a wealth of information.
The first step in the process was to request formal approval from the county for our plans. They meet once a month and you have to be on their schedule in advance…2 weeks, I think. But before we went to the county planning & zoning board, we needed a certified architectural “site map”. This is an arial view of the development including the building layout, roads and parking will be located on the land. Our contractor directed us to a local architectural firm, The Benefield Richters Company. So we immediately reached out to start talking through our vision. We started this process in April 2021 and six weeks later we had our first concept maps to review. They provided 3 layout options for us to consider…
Option 1: Community Style with walking pathways between the cottages.
We were intrigued by this option. It’s symmetrical and simple, it was a great use of the land we were willing to allocate to these cottages too. I could see beautiful pathways between each cottages with colorful landscaping lining the path. But we weren’t sold on the lack of privacy. The back patios would be bumped up against another patio and it just didn’t feel cozy, secluded or private enough. We also struggled with the parking being centralized and depending on what cottage you stayed in, you might have to haul your luggage a long way. And what if it’s raining when you checked in or out? That sounded miserable to me, so we passed on this option.
Option 2: A loop road concept with four clusters of three cottages with centralized parking
Nope. I didn’t like this one at all. Mainly because the parking was so far away from the cottages. Our goal is for our guests to relax on vacation and I didn’t feel like hauling luggage back and forth was aligned with that goal. Jase and I agreed this one was a no go.
Option 3: An irregular loop road with parking clustered every few cottages
This one felt like we were starting to get closer to our vision. I struggled with the parking on all of them. It felt so parking heavy to me, but Sevier County requires two parking spots per cottage on the property. I’m not really sure why that is considering they are 1 bedroom units, but nonetheless, we had to meet that requirement. We reached out to Sevier County to confirm that having 1 space at the cottages and the rest centralized in one location was acceptable and they said yes!
With that, we took option 3 and began tweaking it to make sure we were achieving all our goals and ensure each cottage was private but also came with convenience. Stay tuned for a peek at our final plans!
