Living on a MUP?
04-09-19, 01:00 PM
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Living on a MUP?
Anyone here live on a MUP? How do you like the experience overall? We've been house shopping and stumbled on one that checked all of our boxes, with the addition of having a bike path run along the back of the property. At first I thought it would be an awesome bonus, but I'm curious if anyone experiences any drawbacks. The trail itself is separated by decent forest coverage for some privacy, but is there any concern about the public by your lands?
04-09-19, 01:21 PM
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I have 2 friends that live on MUPs. In both situations, its fantastic. This is due directly to the specific MUPs they live on.
One has a fenced back yard, then a seasonal runoff stream with bridge, then the MUP. So the MUP is set back about 40' from the edge of their back fence. Its an extremely popular trail(really more of a paved trail that MUP overall) in the region and them being in town makes it very heavily traveled. Never an issue yet in the maybe 12 years they have lived there.
The other couple has 3 kids and live on a true suburban MUP that connects to more MUPs that then eventually connect to paved trails. Its basically a glorified wide sidewalk and is again- fantastic. Its their house, 5' of grass, a 10' wide MUP(or 12?...not sure), and then a 4 lane main access road. That MUP makes for easy and safe access to neighborhood friends and weekend ice cream rides, etc. Having super wide sidewalks is awesome(except in winter, but pretty much nobody is walking or riding then anyways).
One has a fenced back yard, then a seasonal runoff stream with bridge, then the MUP. So the MUP is set back about 40' from the edge of their back fence. Its an extremely popular trail(really more of a paved trail that MUP overall) in the region and them being in town makes it very heavily traveled. Never an issue yet in the maybe 12 years they have lived there.
The other couple has 3 kids and live on a true suburban MUP that connects to more MUPs that then eventually connect to paved trails. Its basically a glorified wide sidewalk and is again- fantastic. Its their house, 5' of grass, a 10' wide MUP(or 12?...not sure), and then a 4 lane main access road. That MUP makes for easy and safe access to neighborhood friends and weekend ice cream rides, etc. Having super wide sidewalks is awesome(except in winter, but pretty much nobody is walking or riding then anyways).
04-09-19, 03:08 PM
#3
Banned
Some MUP in cities have become lined with homeless camps , because the houses
& condos, went to Air B&B and got unaffordable ..
Maybe Detroit is different,
I'm 1/2 block off a 4 lane highway & 1 more block from the River with its MUP,
shared with a Trolley that the tourists love .. tricky negotiating the tracks down the middle..
.
....
& condos, went to Air B&B and got unaffordable ..
Maybe Detroit is different,
I'm 1/2 block off a 4 lane highway & 1 more block from the River with its MUP,
shared with a Trolley that the tourists love .. tricky negotiating the tracks down the middle..
.
....
Last edited by fietsbob; 04-09-19 at 03:11 PM.
04-09-19, 03:20 PM
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I rather live a block away. Depending on how busy it gets, it can get annoying. I have a friend that loves his house backs a school. But he found out that every weekend there are team sports played there so between the noise and cars parked all over the place... he rather just have quiet neighbors.
04-09-19, 05:39 PM
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Eh, not in Detroit proper, out in basically outskirts farm land, unincorporated township area. It is an abandoned railroad grade. When the last couple links of this are finished over the next few years, it should have 50 or so miles on it that I could go to the east, and ten or so to the west, and it connects to a few other trails. Haven't ridden on this part specifically, but I have ridden other large chunks of the realized route regularly.
04-09-19, 05:48 PM
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Here in a town of 300,000 people its very desirable to be close to the MUP....I am 1/4 mile off and its awesome! I would love to have it in my backyard. the housing that is close to our MUP is higher end housing and quite beautiful. We have a homeless population that does live near the MUP but its in one section by a section of RR yard area but they usually don't wonder off that area.
04-09-19, 09:43 PM
#7
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My local MUP runs along the arroyo, I am a few blocks away and can take residential streets to get to it. However, I usually take 300ft of main road to connect to the other side which has newer pavement. The biggest problem I could foresee from commuting on it would be:
- Rodents due to it running along an arroyo
- Homeless tend to live on or near it.
- Noise
- Less privacy, some homes only have a chain link fence and you can see their whole backyard.
- Rodents due to it running along an arroyo
- Homeless tend to live on or near it.
- Noise
- Less privacy, some homes only have a chain link fence and you can see their whole backyard.
04-10-19, 05:03 AM
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It really does depend on the area. The major trail that runs N/W from Philadelphia has spawned a couple of apartment complex developments that tout the backyard trail as an amenity. And the trail is well managed, patrolled and mostly passes through nicer areas, so you don't get many problems. In nicer areas, trails usually increase housing values. Many people objected to a new trail in the 'burbs, in part because they saw it as a way to give "thugs" access to the area. The trail was built anyway. It's now so popular with local residents, many of whom walk it with their dogs, that I won't go near the thing on a bike on nice weekends.
04-10-19, 06:38 AM
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It depends on what you mean by "living on". We have a city green space of about 1/4 mile wide that runs along the creek behind our house. This provides a nature buffer to other neighborhoods behind us so we can't even see them. Gives the illusion of living in a less populated area.
Also, the creek physically separates the MUP that runs through the green space from our property. So never could anyone cross, it's deep and wide and rocky.
It's also far enough back from the property it isn't really a distraction.
However, we have chickens. When the greenery is gone in winter people can see and will sometimes gawk. I'm nice, but sometimes if I'm busy doing lawn work I just gawk right back like they're a zoo animal on the MUP.
I'd also check out that access isn't right at your house. Access to this MUP is about 1/4 mile up the street from us, so no person would ever want to try to cut through our yard.
That's a good consideration.
Check out your local city maps for property lines and types and for "buffer" spaces and see how they fall so you don't miss something.
We enjoy it, but we chose wisely. I couldn't imagine being one of my neighbors up the street where the creek doesn't protect them and the trail runs right through the back of their lots. Those people have put up weird little "screens" strung up between the trees to keep bike lights from commuters from shining into their house at night.
Also, the creek physically separates the MUP that runs through the green space from our property. So never could anyone cross, it's deep and wide and rocky.
It's also far enough back from the property it isn't really a distraction.
However, we have chickens. When the greenery is gone in winter people can see and will sometimes gawk. I'm nice, but sometimes if I'm busy doing lawn work I just gawk right back like they're a zoo animal on the MUP.
I'd also check out that access isn't right at your house. Access to this MUP is about 1/4 mile up the street from us, so no person would ever want to try to cut through our yard.
That's a good consideration.
Check out your local city maps for property lines and types and for "buffer" spaces and see how they fall so you don't miss something.
We enjoy it, but we chose wisely. I couldn't imagine being one of my neighbors up the street where the creek doesn't protect them and the trail runs right through the back of their lots. Those people have put up weird little "screens" strung up between the trees to keep bike lights from commuters from shining into their house at night.
04-10-19, 08:11 AM
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Eh, not in Detroit proper, out in basically outskirts farm land, unincorporated township area. It is an abandoned railroad grade. When the last couple links of this are finished over the next few years, it should have 50 or so miles on it that I could go to the east, and ten or so to the west, and it connects to a few other trails. Haven't ridden on this part specifically, but I have ridden other large chunks of the realized route regularly.
04-10-19, 08:30 AM
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I have some friends who specifically bought their house a few houses away from one of the entrances to the River Mountain Trail in Henderson NV. They consider it a wise choice to be able to access the trail so easily.
04-10-19, 09:18 AM
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Sounds like more positives than negatives 
Trail is indeed secluded from the house, even this time of year when the foliage is minimal you can't see it from the back yard. It is an acre and a half narrow lot, all wooded in the back, so not really worried about privacy. Area is generally upper middle class type township housing, somewhere I can run air impact wrenches at 10PM and no one is going to complain, the nearby towns are small and somewhat decent incomewise. No real transient population in this area.
Its currently our 1B option, 1A only winning out because it is significantly cheaper and already refinished inside (albeit with far less land in a proper subdivision), but the bike path seems to be a huge selling point to us.
Trail is indeed secluded from the house, even this time of year when the foliage is minimal you can't see it from the back yard. It is an acre and a half narrow lot, all wooded in the back, so not really worried about privacy. Area is generally upper middle class type township housing, somewhere I can run air impact wrenches at 10PM and no one is going to complain, the nearby towns are small and somewhat decent incomewise. No real transient population in this area.
Its currently our 1B option, 1A only winning out because it is significantly cheaper and already refinished inside (albeit with far less land in a proper subdivision), but the bike path seems to be a huge selling point to us.
04-10-19, 09:27 AM
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I do ride that trail quite a bit, just not that particular section (as of now, it is a dead end spur the house is on, there is a pedestrian bridge in construction that will fix that over a major highway). I turn off a half mile or so short of that house and take another trail up to a nearby park. From that house right now, I could get to a state park and a city park, both with 10 or so miles of paved paths each plus MTB trails in the state park.
04-10-19, 09:51 AM
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04-10-19, 10:16 AM
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Where I live we measure lots in square feet.
First lived in a two family with the railroad literally in the backyard. (BTW, long ago the railway was a MUP.) The last train rolled through the day we moved in. (The whole house shook, if you remember the I Love Lucy Show, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But not much.) The abandoned tracks then went dormant, but people would walk the tracks. (Not huge numbers, but there were often people walking by.) Occasionally there were "shenanigans" which in the police logs were generally reported as "Youth were reported gathering at...."
Then we moved to a two family across the street from the railroad tracks, and eventually it became the Minuteman Bikeway. We were on the trail with our infant before the trail officially opened.
Then to a house across the street from the Minuteman Bikeway. (In each case sounds like the same distance you are contemplating from your bikeway.) Child carrier, trailer-bike, two bikes, now an adult who doesn’t remember it NOT being a bikeway.
Very good friends live adjacent to the bikeway, their backward chain link fence just twenty feet from the bikeway. They have small shrubs that give *some* privacy during the summer, but this time of year the shrubs are dormant. It's a VERY busy mup, and they LOVE it so close. They also USE the Minuteman all the time, on bike or on foot.
Another friend abuts the bikeway, with a far larger back yard, but has put a gate in their back fence, and technically did some landscaping on the "wrong" side of the chain link fence, even putting out a bench for people to sit on. They "just" walk on the bikeway.
Neither of them have ever been bothered by bike headlights. (Car headlights on the other hand....)
So, yeah, living very near a MUP, even if it's in your backyard, can be quite positive.
BTW, before the Minuteman opened there was much FUD about crime, privacy, trespassing, and property values. Very quickly it was clear those were all non-issues. That success led to many more communities to say yes to MIMBY. (MUP in My Back Yard.) Most recently in Lynnfield yesterday. (Though that was a very very close vote.)
Anyhow, ask some of your possible future neighbors about their experiences with the MUP.
-mr. bill
First lived in a two family with the railroad literally in the backyard. (BTW, long ago the railway was a MUP.) The last train rolled through the day we moved in. (The whole house shook, if you remember the I Love Lucy Show, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But not much.) The abandoned tracks then went dormant, but people would walk the tracks. (Not huge numbers, but there were often people walking by.) Occasionally there were "shenanigans" which in the police logs were generally reported as "Youth were reported gathering at...."
Then we moved to a two family across the street from the railroad tracks, and eventually it became the Minuteman Bikeway. We were on the trail with our infant before the trail officially opened.
Then to a house across the street from the Minuteman Bikeway. (In each case sounds like the same distance you are contemplating from your bikeway.) Child carrier, trailer-bike, two bikes, now an adult who doesn’t remember it NOT being a bikeway.
Very good friends live adjacent to the bikeway, their backward chain link fence just twenty feet from the bikeway. They have small shrubs that give *some* privacy during the summer, but this time of year the shrubs are dormant. It's a VERY busy mup, and they LOVE it so close. They also USE the Minuteman all the time, on bike or on foot.
Another friend abuts the bikeway, with a far larger back yard, but has put a gate in their back fence, and technically did some landscaping on the "wrong" side of the chain link fence, even putting out a bench for people to sit on. They "just" walk on the bikeway.
Neither of them have ever been bothered by bike headlights. (Car headlights on the other hand....)
So, yeah, living very near a MUP, even if it's in your backyard, can be quite positive.
BTW, before the Minuteman opened there was much FUD about crime, privacy, trespassing, and property values. Very quickly it was clear those were all non-issues. That success led to many more communities to say yes to MIMBY. (MUP in My Back Yard.) Most recently in Lynnfield yesterday. (Though that was a very very close vote.)
Anyhow, ask some of your possible future neighbors about their experiences with the MUP.
-mr. bill
Last edited by mr_bill; 04-10-19 at 03:43 PM.
04-10-19, 10:20 AM
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My last house was across the street and about a block from a trailhead. To me, that was better than being on it. The houses on the greenbelt cost more, but they have a parade of people looking into the backyard and either the walkers' dogs are barking at the house or the owners' dogs are barking at the walkers.
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04-10-19, 10:43 AM
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Living on a MUP (potentially with the homeless), must still be somewhat safer than living on a golf course. I currently live 180-200 yards down the 1st hole fairway, with my back patio being right in the typical "slice zone". No near-misses, yet.... The silver lining is an ever replenishing supply of brand new balls (since it's the first hole, most of these lost balls have only been hit once!)
04-10-19, 10:50 AM
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And maybe you should think about opening a barely used golf ball store.
04-10-19, 10:50 AM
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When we were looking for a house, we found one that was in dilapidated shape with a miserable floor plan. It was on our short list only because it was right on the MUP. We eventually bought in another neighborhood, a block and a half from the MUP.
My town had a published ~30y.o. MUP plan, funded in stages. Time came for more construction. One of the unbuilt sections ran between a city golf course and a neighborhood of nice 'on the golf course' homes. Those homeowners descended en mass on the city council, begging them to not build this easy path for 'those kinds of people' to access their neighborhood. They spun wild tales of bicycle-borne violent home invasions, rapes and murders.
Facepalm. This is in the 'burbs, in a town with 35+ miles of existing MUP and not a single instance in history of the horrors they were describing, no gang activity and lacking even a solitary encamped homeless person. But since nobody thought this section of path was controversial in the least, nobody had shown up to speak specifically for it.
Ten years later, that little unbuilt gap remains in the town's MUP map.
Facepalm. This is in the 'burbs, in a town with 35+ miles of existing MUP and not a single instance in history of the horrors they were describing, no gang activity and lacking even a solitary encamped homeless person. But since nobody thought this section of path was controversial in the least, nobody had shown up to speak specifically for it.
Ten years later, that little unbuilt gap remains in the town's MUP map.
04-10-19, 10:52 AM
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police logs should be a public record & there should be some way to investigate if there are any past incidents. maybe in the local papers. do you have a "wickedlocal" publication or website that covers the neighborhood? you can also knock on some doors & ask your potential new neighbors what they think. I know some parts of this country you can't knock on a door without getting shot, but hopefully this house isn't in that kind of area. it's funny, we do so much research about a prospective home but don't meet our neighbors until we move in. too bad there isn't an easy & friendly way to meet potential new neighbors w/o seeming to "stalk" the neighborhood
04-10-19, 11:09 AM
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One of the unbuilt sections ran between a city golf course and a neighborhood of nice 'on the golf course' homes. Those homeowners descended en mass on the city council, begging them to not build this easy path for 'those kinds of people' to access their neighborhood. They spun wild tales of bicycle-borne violent home invasions, rapes and murders.
The same sort of fear is often the true motivation (although not always voiced) behind opposition to mass transit proposals. There is a light rail line in Southern New Jersey that runs between Trenton and Camden. The original plan called for it running a good ways south of Camden, but several communities feared "those kind of people," so that portion was never built. From the start, ridership on the portion that was built greatly exceeded estimates. Moreover, it has made some of the dying towns along the route more attractive to potential residents. It has also spawned new small businesses. The southern communities who opposed the extension are now basically in favor of it.
04-10-19, 11:25 AM
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No way! Now that my "ball expenses" have dropped to zero, I can afford to play more often, those things are like $2-4 a piece, and I seem to lose them faster than I find them. Now if I could only find a good supply of lost tubes.
04-10-19, 11:47 AM
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I didn't realize you played yourself. And you could go tubeless.