Where Are All Our Front Yard Businesses?

Sullivan Israel, one of our Local Conversations leaders, shared this photo of one of his favorite front yard businesses. From Sullivan: "When I took these pictures yesterday, the owner (who is also the main barber) told me he found the plans to add the shop; they're from 1947. He said the approved plan was just one page: a sketch of the front lawn with the shop on the corner, and one signature from a city official. He then commented, 'Could you imagine trying to get this approved today?'"

My neighbors and I often talk about our hopes and dreams for our neighborhood. We talk about how cars and trucks are still taking this one turn way too fast. We talk about how we wish we had more sidewalks, and about how we wish more people were using the sidewalks we do have. 

My dream, though, is for a little neighborhood coffee shop. No new construction necessary; I know just the house. It’s on a street where our neighborhood meets the next one. Someone could convert the whole house into a coffee shop, or they could convert the garage, or they could put something in the front yard. It would be a financial boon to the city, provide income for the business owner and their employees, and bring strangers and friends together. (It would also give people a reason to use those sidewalks. The biggest problem with walkability in our neighborhood isn’t the lack of sidewalks, it’s the lack of places worth walking to.)

The thing is, this kind of arrangement is effectively illegal in my town, as it is in many towns and cities across North America. As Uytae Lee describes in his excellent 2021 video (part of the ”About Here” series), front yard businesses were once a natural stage in the evolution of a community. “As more and more people moved into an area, homeowners set up businesses inside or right in front of their houses.” Lee says some of these old commercial spaces continue to thrive in Vancouver, British Columbia, where they are cherished neighborhood institutions. But they would be impossible to create today…if you want to follow the rules. Zoning regulations that separate commercial and residential uses, dictate setbacks and height requirements, and require off-street parking are just a few of the hurdles would-be entrepreneurs face.

In a follow-up video earlier this summer, Lee highlighted some of the submissions to The Mixing Middle Competition. Building on the lessons of the pandemic, The Mixing Middle Competition asked entrants to come up with fresh ways to add mixed-use spaces to single-family neighborhoods. Ideas ranged from adding on to existing properties—for example, the Simple Small Things First project—to scraping the property and starting from a blank slate, as with the Co-living Quadplex. Lee reiterates that all of these submissions, no matter how simple, practical, or brilliant, are illegal today in Vancouver. But Lee also offers some good suggestions for how to make them work: start with the corners, expand on what’s already happening, and more.

Front yard businesses are a common-sense response to the opportunities and challenges facing our communities. I started this short article talking about the front yard business I’d most like to see in my neighborhood. What about you? Let us know in the comments below. And follow the “About Here” series on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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