Cul-de-sac debate keeps going round and round

Darlene Prois of McClatchy Newspapers in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the controversy over cul-de-sacs in subdivisions.

On the one hand,

"We can plow one-and-one-half to two miles farther down the road in the same amount of time (it takes) to clean a cul-de-sac," Imholte [Joe Imholte, maintenance supervisor for the St. Cloud Public Works Department] said.

"Where do you push the snow? People complain because they have more snow than the neighbor. . . .

"We have gone so far as to pile it up in the middle. Very time-consuming," he said.

On the other hand,

Michael Noonan, vice president of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, ... points out that not only are buyers willing to pay more to live on a cul-de-sac, they also strongly prefer to.

There's research to back him up. A 2004 National Association of Realtors survey showed that one-quarter of buyers were willing to spend more for a home on a cul-de-sac.

Another poll, done by a California-based market research firm, showed buyers preferred them to regular, gridded streets by a ratio of almost 2-1.

The staff versus the people; quite the quandry.