The City of
Cottage Grove is divided
into zoning districts to protect public health,
safety and welfare, and to provide for orderly planned
use of land. Zoning districts identify such constraints
as allowed uses, minimum lot sizes, minimum setbacks
and other siting requirements, fence standards,
and sign allowances. Each of Cottage Grove's zoning
districts allow for a variety of uses. Some uses
require land use permit approval. For example, some
uses may be allowed only with a conditional use
permit, a home occupation permit, or a mixed-use
master plan.
Creole
Cottage
The Creole Cottage
is a one and one-half story house with a gabled
roof,
the ridge of which is parallel to the street. The
house is raised from 18 to 30 inches above a ventilated
crawl space and is built up to the front property
line. There are four squarish rooms with no hallways.
Most Creole Cottages include various additional
rooms behind the main four rooms. The earlier cottages
include a gallery and two small service spaces known
as cabinets
A dependency (small separate building) at the rear
of the lot probably supported this plan. Later cottages
include one or more rooms constructed at the rear
with a ridgeline at right angles to the main part
of the house. This plan effectively moves the dependency
from the rear of the lot and attaches it to the
four main rooms.
The front of the cottage
usually has four shuttered openings, of which two
are doors
and two are
windows. Above the front wall is an overhang
called an abat-vent. Much like balconies, abat-vents
provide protection to the front wall, doors, and
windows, from the sun and rain.
The Creole Cottage,
which is mostly found in the South, originated in
New Orleans in the 1700s. The homes are distinguished
by a front wall that recedes to form a first-story
porch and second-story balcony that stretch across
the entire front of the structure. Full-length windows
open into the balconies, and lacy ironwork characteristically
runs across the second-story level. These two- and
three-story homes are symmetrical in design with
front entrances placed at the center.
