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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPCAgenda_96Feb26PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA February 26, 1996 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Tom Brace _ Wayne Groff _ Alex Hanschen _ Paul Kuettel Irene Struck _ Wendy Treadwell _ Betty Wilcox _ Sue Gehrz _ 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Janaury 22, 1996 3. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 24, 1996 4. A public hearing regarding various amendments to the zoning code (not to begin before 7:05 p.m.) 5. Review of the Planning Commission Standing Rules 6. Information on Traditional Neighborhood Planning 7. Adjourn MINUTES REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING January 22, 1996 PRESENT Tom Brace Paul Kuettel Irene Struck Wendy Treadwell ABSENT Betty Wilcox larrived later) Alex Hanschen Wayne Groff ALSO PRESENT Carla Asleson, Planner Susan Hoyt, Administrator Sue Gehrz, Council Liaison Meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. by Commissioner Paul Kuettel, the commission's longest serving member. Approval of December 1 1 1995 minutes Motion was made by Commissioner Brace to approve the December minutes. Motion passed unanimously. Welcome to new commissioner The commissioners welcomed and introduced themselves to new planning commissioner Irene Struck. Appointment of 1996 chair Motion was made by Commissioner Brace to appoint Paul Kuettel as Planning Commission chair for 1996. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting date chanae After discussion, the planning commission changed their monthly meeting date to the third Monday of each month. This change will be effective starting with the March meeting (since February 19 is a holiday, February's meeting will be held on February 26) Review of proposed zonina code chanaes and establishina public hearina Planner Asleson reviewed some minor proposed changes to the city zoning code. These had been previously discussed by the commission. By unanimous consent, the commission established a public hearing date of February 26, 1996 to take comment on the proposed changes. ~~~r • Consideration of Planning Commission Resolution 96-01, regarding an amendment to the citv's tax increment plan Administrator Hoyt explained that the city council is proposing to update the city's tax increment plan to plan for future public improvements that might be completed using tax increment revenue. These changes are administrative in nature and do not include any new tax increment districts, new development activities, or changes in land use. State statute requires that the planning commission review the proposed changes for conformance with the city's comprehensive plan. Motion was made by Commissioner Brace to approve Planning Commission Resolution 96-01. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Wilcox arrived at 7:30 p.m. Review of draft University of Minnesota Master Plan Administrator Hoyt described the University of Minnesota's Master Plan to the commission. Most of the "St. Paul Campus" (actually located in Falcon Heights) is proposed to be kept the same, including the preservation of the agricultural fields and development patterns within its current design. Hoyt also mentioned that she will be asking that a plan for notifying affected cities of proposed University land use plans be included within the final Master Plan. • Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:43 p.m. Carla Asleson, Planner/Recording Secretary CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 24, 1996 Mayor Gehrz convened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. PRESENT Gehrz, Hustad, and Jacobs. Also present were Hoyt and Asleson ABSENT Gibson Talbot. COMMUNITY FORUM There was no one wishing to take advantage of the community forum. MINUTES OF JANUARY 10, 1996 Minutes were approved by unanimous consent. PUBLIC HEARING A PUBLIC HEARING AND RESOLUTION ON AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY'S TAX INCREMENT FINANCING PLAN Jim Casserly of Casserly Molzahn and Associates gave an overview of the proposed amendments to the tax increment plan. The changes are being recommended in order to revise the budget to more accurately describe planned expenditures, to expand the project area to include more of the city and to increase the city's authorization for future bonded indebtedness. The changes do not commit the city to spend money, issue debt, or approve any particular project. Mayor Gehrz opened the public hearing at 7:05 p.m. There being no one wishing to be heard, the hearing was immediately closed. At this point, it was realized that the public hearing had actually been scheduled for. 7:30 rather than 7:00. The council decided to re-open the hearing at 7:30 to take further comment. CONSENT AGENDA APPROVED Motion was made by Councilmember Hustad to approve the consent agenda. Motion passed unanimously. 1. Disbursements 2. Licenses 3. Appointment of committee and commission liaisons 4. Request for authorization to purchase computer equipment 5. Request for approval for a contract with Synoptics for work with the fire department City Council Minutes January 24, 1996 Page 2 POLICY AGENDA DISCUSSION ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Administrator Hoyt reported that, per council direction, staff had been continuing to work on revising the administrative manual with respect to the Human Rights Commission. The council discussed the material within the current administrative manual and made suggestions on the statement of purpose and membership issues. Another draft will be brought back for discussion at the next meeting. UPDATE ON THE PROPOSED RECONSTRUCTION OF LARPENTEUR AVENUE AND STREETSCAPE PLAN Administrator Hoyt gave a brief update on the proposed Larpenteur Avenue project. Reconstruction is scheduled for 1997 for the area west of Cleveland and for 1998-99 for the area east of Cleveland. PUBLIC HEARING • PUBLIC HEARING AND RESOLUTION ON AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY'S TAX INCREMENT FINANCING PLAN Mayor Gehrz opened the public hearing at 7:30 p.m. She also asked that Jim Casserly give a brief review of the proposed tax increment amendments for the newly-arrived audience and for the cable television public. Mr. Casserly reviewed his comments from earlier in the evening. Dick Wenkel, 1825 Fairview Avenue, asked about the status of other TIF projects. Administrator Hoyt responded that the Good Value Homes, Stratford Office Park, and Hewlett-Packard TIF districts had all expired and are now on the regular property tax rolls. Mr. Wenkel then asked for some examples of basic improvements to be done with tax increment funds. Hoyt answered that Larpenteur Avenue public improvements are planned in the next several years. There being no one else present, the public hearing was closed at 7:39 p.m. Motion was made by Councilmember Jacobs to approve Resolution 96-03. Motion passed unanimously. POLICY AGENDA UPDATE FROM THE POLICE CHIEF • Chief Engstrom updated the council on 1995 police activity. Among the topics discussed with the council were the amount of time spent patrolling Larpenteur Avenue, the impact of State Fair events on policing, and 1995 crime statistics. City Council Minutes January 24, 1996 Page 3 Councilmember Hustad left at 8:17 p.m. REVIEW OF KEY ELEMENTS RELATED TO THE DRAFT UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MASTER PLAN Administrator Hoyt described the University of Minnesota's Master Plan to the council. Most of the "St. Paul Campus" (actually located in Falcon Heights) is proposed to be kept the within the same general configuration, including the preservation of the agricultural fields. Mayor Gehrz asked about the expansion of housing at Commonwealth Terrace and about the removal of the greenhouses next to the Coffman Condominiums. Hoyt said that there are no specifics on these plans. Hoyt also mentioned that, unless there are objections, she would be asking that the plan for notifying affected cities of proposed University land use plans be included within the final Master Plan. This plan should identify specifically when and how the city would be notified of University plans. The council directed Hoyt to request this from the University. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Mayor Gehrz congratulated the recent DARE graduates at Falcon Heights Elementary. She also reminded the audience about the upcoming process to appoint a new Councilmember. Administrator Hoyt asked the public for patience with icy roads and sidewalks, as salt and sand are not helpful in such severe cold. She also reviewed the 1995 building permit activity with the council. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m. Susan L. Gehrz, Mayor Carla Asleson Recording Secretary • Planning Commission Meeting: 2/26/96 Item: 1 ITEM: Public hearing regarding various amendments to the zoning code SUBMITTED BY: Carla Asleson, Administrative Assistant/Planner EXPLANATION/DESCRIPTION: At the January planning commission meeting, the commission reviewed a number of proposed amendments to the zoning code. With one or two exceptions, these changes serve to either clarify language or eliminate conflicting language in the zoning code. ATTACHMENT: Summary of zoning code amendments • ACTION REQUESTED: 1. Staff report 2. Questions of the staff 3. Conduct public hearing 4. Discussion among commissioners 5. Motion to recommend approval of the amendments to the zoning code PROPOSED CHANGES TO CHAPTER 9 (ZONING CODE) Purpose: To guarantee that if a garage (usually attached) is converted to dwelling space that a new garage is part of the conversion plans. It also assures that any old driveway access will be replaced with landscaping if it no longer serves a garage. 9-2.04 Accessory Buildings and Structures Subdivision 1. General Purpose: n U Purpose: To eliminate a section of the code that wasn't enforceable and doesn't make sense in this day and age requiring that all be grated or pickets rather than side by side boards. 9-2.05 Reauired Yards and Open Spaces Subdivision 2. Permitted Encroachments on Reauired Yards: T h e following shall be permitted encroachments into setback and height requirements except as restricted by other sections of this code. b. Inside and rear yards, fencesai~i>~t'~~'>~i~~~~'~"`>>'"'';:.~.: ~~'~lx walls and hedges six (6) feet in height or less; bays not to exceed a depth of three (3) feet or containing an area of more than thirty (30) square feet, fire escapes not to exceed a width of three (3) feet. 1 To make sure that alley access is maintained as the primary accessway along alleys by eliminating any street access from properties that currently use alley access only. (If a unique situation arose for using street access, a variance might be in order.) Purpose: Clarifying when and where certain types of vehicles can be stored. Essentially boats and unoccupied trailers (not campers, rvs) can be stored in the rear yard 10 feet from a property line. Except for snow emergencies, no vehicles can be parked on grass or boulevards. 9-4.01 One Familv "R-1" Subdivision 5. Off-Street Parking and Loadin :`€€€~~~>'"~~~'~''~~`~'~~°~~~y:~`~<`"'~°"°` .~-'.,r,~F;F;414~~~i!~;:;j':';:;h~~~F:7~;k7~~Q:;:j~?f.~~:::}~~~::>:l::E~:S3.~7:i::::~~~Y:K: ~ ` ::~.#: ... ..... 1,1;1. .:.: (.; d. Parking shall be permitted on hard surfaced areas designed for that purpose and for providing access to garage, carport or open parking area and provided that no driveway or off-street open parking area shall be located closer than five (5) feet from the property line on that side. The five (5) feet of property known as the side yard shall be landscaped as shall the remainder of the front yard applying to the residential portion of the house and continuing to the far lot line removed from the access and/or parking driveway. Parking shall not be permitted in ~~~~* ~- ~'-~~ ~t'~~`; of landscaped yards, boulevards, grass portion of street ri~ ~ ht- f- o wa or other s uch ar 9 Y (~~e~t~ ~~...e~fowe~ ~t~r...hr~~~~ ..~~~. -..... And provided further that from November 16 to April 1, the unsurfaced portion of the front yard of any property in a residential district may be used for parking one passenger vehicle registered in the name of a resident, if there is a single driveway, and the vehicle is parked parallel • to the driveway and on one uniform side of the driveway, and the width of the parking area does not exceed eight feet. For purposes of this Code a "passenger vehicle" shall mean a two or four-door sedan or van used primarily for transporting passengers, and shall not include pickups, trucks, campers, recreational vehicles or buses. Purpose: Remove the generality regarding carport or garage conversion. Keep the number of off-street parking spaces as is -although circumstances vary a lot. e. Number of off-street parking spaces. At least two (2) and not more than four (4) parking spaces permitted for each dwelling unit. At least one of the parking spaces must be enclosed. Purpose: Clarifies where and what type of vehicles can be parked. f. Truck parking in residential areas. No motor vehicle over one (1) ton capacity bearing a commercial license and no commercially licensed trailer shall be parked or stored in a residential district except when • loading, unloading, or rendering service. No campers, boats, trailers, or ,...,. snowmo i es shall be parked or stored in any front ~r ~~t~ yard, b 2 Purpose: Clarifies that driveways must be paved. Eliminates conflicting areas of code. • 9-13.04 Off-street Parking and Loadinq ,~uefltfa;~t~tretta-~~t#e~rses ~~'inii`~€ ~:<;?;:>::,<:;:;;:<,;,>:::>::::>.»>::<:»:>.::»::>::: :.:.<_;::.;~±~dh,p~~~~~~~s shall utilize asphalt, concrete or a reasonable substitute surface as ~~approved by the city engineer and capable of carrying a wheel load of 4,000 pounds. All surfacing must be completed prior to occupancy unless other arrangements have been made with the Zoning Administrator. Subdivision 6. Design and Maintenance of Off-Street Parking Areas• d. Surfacingt. All driveways and off-street parking areas shall be permanently surfaced with either concrete or asphalt or impervious decorative pavement . such as brick between the street and garage. (This does not require the resurfacing of existing driveways with parallel tracks into one contiguous surface.) Purpose: Makes code conform better to Falcon Heights commercial areas and replicates what currently is done. (Lot frontage and business would be equal amount of signs.) 9-13.02 Permitted Signs in Each Zoning District. Subdivision 2. Business Districts ("B-2"1. c. Size. 1. Except as provided herein, the total square footage of permanent sign area for each ~"`':~~a;; shall not exceed one (I) square foot of sign area for each~~lirieal~ foot of I~k~i building .;:.;:.::..:.:.: <; :............. . frontage, except where a location is a corner lot, the amount may be increased by one half (1 /2) square foot of sign area per front foot of building. 3 r Subdivision 2. Surfacing and Drainage. ^~~ ~*-~~* ~~-~ci~g~e~a~;,e ++~p~e~~--e~rr~~e-~.**~d~rs#~~Qee-Strekr '~i~C~ areas shall be so graded and drained as to dispose of all surface water accumulation within the Subdivision 3. Business Districts 1"B-1 and B-3") c. Size. • 1. Except as provided herein, the total square foota a of 9 permanent sign area for each ~~~:~~~~:'~;~~~ shall not exceed two (2) square feet of sign area for each ~li~neal~~foot of ~ltt building frontage, except where a location is a corner lot, the amount may be increased by one (I) square foot of sign area per front foot of building along a side lot line. Purpose: The term "front" yard was left out when this was done in conjunction with the 1991 street project where driveway width was an issue. It essentially limits the driveway width and garage coverage based upon lot width at 32% of the lot width. 9-13.04 Off-street Parking and Loading Subdivision 5. General Provisions h. Lot Coverage. In residential districts, no more than thirty two percent (32%) of the required r yard area • shall be surfaced or utilized for driveway or vefi~'icle storage space, but in no case shall a driveway in a required front yard exceed 24 feet in width as measured at the property line. DRIVEWAY WIDTHS Lot Driveway 32% Standard Width Width (Examples with 30' length) 50' 16' 60' 19' 64' 20.2' 70' 22.4' 80' Maximum 24' 100' Maximum 24' 9-14.01 Design and Performance Standards (No changes proposed -for reference only) • Subdivision 3. Exterior Storage 5. Boats and unoccupied trailers, less than twenty-five 1251 feet in length, are permissible if stored in the rear yard more than ten (10) feet from any property line. 4 Planning Commission Meeting: 2/26/96 Item: 2 ITEM: Review of Planning Commission Standing Rules SUBMITTED BY: Carla Asleson, Administrative Assistant/Planner EXPLANATION/DESCRIPTION: Each February, the planning commission does a review of its standing rules. These are the procedural rules that govern the transactions of planning commission meetings. The annual review allows the planning commission to examine the standing rules and make changes where necessary. ATTACHMENT: Planning Commission Standing Rules • Action Requested: Review standing rules and make changes, if any, by motion. • FALCON HEIGHTS PLANNING COMMISSION PLANNING COMMISSION STANDING RULES March 26, 1990 INTRODUCTION In the belief that the best decisions are made by the best informed decisionmakers and that the public decision process is best served when the public has every opportunity to present views, the following rules are established to govern regular and special commission meetings as well as formal public hearings. There are several goals behind these rules. 1. In general, free and open discussion by all interested parties should be an essential part of the decision making process. 2. The commission process should have as little procedural overhead as possible. • 3. Time is better spent on substantial matters rather than proforma matters. MEMBERSHIP The formal commission membership consists of seven to nine appointed commissioners. All seven to nine have one vote each and all can introduce motions. For purposes of leading the meeting, the chair, or in the absence of the chair, the vice- chair will be considered the chairperson. RULES Agenda 1. To be considered, an item must be on the agenda and the agenda must be distributed to all the commission members and any other persons having responsibility for an item at least three working days prior to the meeting. An agenda can be modified with addenda by a majority vote but this should be used only for minor items or items with extreme time constraints. 2. An item can be moved from the consent agenda to the action agenda at the request of any commissioner. • 3. Since there will be audierice and possibly cable TV viewers not familiar with each item, the chair will give a brief explanation of each item as it is addressed. Page 2 • Planning Commission Standing Rules 4. The order of items on the agenda need not be followed absolutely. The chair may adjust the order in the interest of: a. Filling in time before a scheduled item, i.e., a public hearing. b. Grouping several items to best make use of consultant time. c. Accommodating individuals who have attended the meeting specifically to provide input on an item. Process - ReQUlar and Special Planning Commission Meetings 1. For these proceedings the commission will use the 'open discussion' procedure. That is, discussion is open to any member before or after a motion is made. This privilege is also extended to the city planner and any of the consultants who may have an interest in or can contribute to the item at hand. 2. At the discretion of the chair, this privilege is also extended to those members of the audience who wish to provide input. The chair may also rule out of order any input felt to be redundant, superfluous or irrelevant. 3. The chair can make liberal use of the "unanimous consent" procedure. That is, items that in the judgment of the chair are likely to be unanimously approved, can be introduced for approval with the statement "If there are no objections, ... stands approved (or denied)." If any commissioner has an objection, then the item reverts to the standard motion procedure. This "unanimous consent" procedure cannot be used for items requiring formal votes, i.e. resolutions. 4. The standard motion procedure is changed to not require a second. A motion need only be made to be considered. This also applies to amendments. 5. To eliminate confusion, only one amendment will be considered at a time and that amendment must be germane to the motion. An amendment cannot itself be amended. If a change to an amendment is deemed appropriate, the amendment should be withdrawn and reintroduced accordingly. 6. The general mode of voting will be by acclamation but with enough clarity that the individual votes can be recorded in the minutes. If in doubt, the secretary can request a clarification. Page 3 Planning Commission Standing Rules 7. The meeting will be audio taped and the tape will be retained for 6 months following approval of the minutes for that meeting. The standard retention can be extended if in the judgment of the city planner such action is warranted. 8. If the commission action is the result of a resident request and that request is denied in whole or in part, reasons of fact supporting the denial will be made part of the public record. 9. No commission meeting will extend beyond 10:00 P.M. except by unanimous vote. This rule is not subject to the modification or suspension provisions of the Standing Rules. Process -Public Hearings Since a public hearing is a more formal procedure and often requires certain procedures and actions to be legal, the meeting rules are changed accordingly. • 1. The primary aim of a public hearing is to take input from the public. To accomplish this in the most effective manner the chair will introduce the hearing with an explanation of the issues. This explanation will be given by the chair or a person designated by the chair. The use of explanatory visual aids is encouraged. 2. Following the explanation, input from the public will be taken. Prior to accepting input, though, the chair will state the areas where input will be appropriate, the maximum time to be allotted to any individual presenter and any other procedural rules deemed appropriate to guarantee that all concerned parties have a fair and adequate opportunity to be heard. 3. All individuals wishing to speak must fill out and submit an identification form and speak into a recording microphone. Individuals not wishing to speak in public may provide a written statement. The commission may take up to 15 minutes to review written statements presented at the meeting. If the commission decides to not act on the issue at the public hearing meeting, it may by majority vote extend the time where written input will be taken to a day no later than 1 week before the next meeting where a deciding vote is planned. 4. All speakers are expected to be business-like, to-the-point and courteous. Anyone not abiding by these rules will be considered out-of-order. 5. The commission will refrain from initiating a discussion during the public input phase of the hearing except to clarify points brought up. These 'point of information' requests should be held to a minimum. • Page 4 Planning Commission Standing. Rules 6. Once the public testimony phase is complete the chair will announce the public hearing to be closed and the commission will revert back to its open discussion mode of operation. From this point on, public input will only be appropriate when solicited by the commission. 7. Voting on .any motion that results from a public hearing may be by roll call if requested by a commissioner. 8. It shall be the intent of the commission to vote on the issue at the same meeting as the public hearing and as close in time to the public hearing as possible. Should it be necessary to defer voting until a later date, that procedure will be clearly explained to the audience. 9. No public hearing will extend beyond 9:30 p.m. • 10. If the motion contains conditions, as may occur in conditional use or variance requests, those conditions will be conveyed in writing to the requestor. 1 1. If the public hearing is the result of a resident request and that request is denied in whole or in part, reasons of fact supporting the denial will be made part of the public record. ADOPTION/MODIFICATION/SUSPENSION These rules with the exception of the mandatory 10:00 P.M, adjournment, can be adopted, modified or suspended in whole or in part by a 3/4 vote of the commission. If suspended, they are automatically reinstated at the next meeting. Should they be suspended or a situation occurs that is not covered by the standing rules, Sikkink's Seven Motion System (attached) will apply. ANNUAL REVIEW These rules will be reviewed annually at the first meeting in February. INTERPRETATION The chair will interpret the rules. However, the chair's interpretation can be appealed by any commission member and can be overruled by a majority vote. Planning Commission Meeting: 2/26/98 Item: 3 ITEM: Information on Traditional Neighborhood Planning SUBMITTED BY: Susan Hoyt, City Administrator EXPLANATION/DESCRIPTION: The concept of traditional neighborhood planning is becoming increasingly popular in planning and development circles. Originally used in Seaside, Florida, an affluent resort community, it is now being tried on a larger scale in more varied settings. The most recently notable example is the City of Celebration developed by Disney. The attached articles outline the concepts, which include small lots, front porches, garages in the rear of lots or often off of alleys, boulevards, identifiable public spaces and a "community feel". These neighborhoods appeal to people looking for a sense of belonging to a neighborhood rather than looking for the amenities of larger lots and outbuildings. The information was collected at a seminar sponsored by Metro Council and the Sensible Land Use Coalition. It was pleasant attending a seminar on this topic and finding that the land use characteristics that you review and discuss on the planning commission are not only recognized as intrinsically valuable in existing neighborhoods, but desirable for future developments. The Ahwahnee Principles • 2/Z /5 ~ - ~c a(.(v1~c. ~f ~ Existing patterns of urban and suburban development seriously impair our quality of life. The symptoms are: more congestion and air pollution resulting from our increased dependence on automobiles, the loss of precious open space, the need for costly improvements to roads and public services, the inequitable distribution of economic resources and the loss of a sense of community. By drawing upon the best from the past and the present, we can, first, infill existing communities and, second, plan new communities that will more successfully serve the needs of those who live and work within them. Such planning should adhere to these fundamental principles: Community Principles I. All planning should be in the form of complete and integrated communities containing housing, shops, work places, schook, parks and civic facilities essential to the daily life of the residents. z. Community size should be designed so that housing, jobs, daily needs and other activities are within easy walking distance of each other. 3. As many activities as possible should be located within easy walking distance of transit stops. 4. A community should contain a diversity of housing types to enable citizens from • a wide range of economic levek and age groups to live within its boundaries. S. Businesses within the community should provide a range of job types for the community's residents. 6. The location and character of the community should be consistent with a larger transit network. ~. The community should have a center focus that combines commercial, civic, cultural and recreational uses. 8. The community should contain an ample supply of specialized open space in the form of squares, greens and parks whose frequent use is encouraged through placement and design. g. Public spaces should be designed to encourage the. attention and presence of people at all hours of the day and night. Io. Each community or cluster of communities should have a well defined edge, such as agricultural greenbelts or wildlife corridors, permanently protected from development. I I. Streets, pedestrian paths and bike paths should contribute to a system of fully- . connected and interesting routes to all destinations. Their design should encourage pedestrian and bicycle use by being small and spatially defined by buildings, trees and lighting; and by discouraging high speed traffic. iz. Wherever possible, the natural terrain, drainage, and vegetation of the community should be preserved with superior examples contained within parks or greenbelts. r 3. The community design should help conserve resources and minimize waste. r4. Communities should provide for the efficient use of water through the use of natural drainage, drought tolerant landscaping and recycling. r S. The street orientation, the placement of buildings and the use of shading should contribute to the energy efficiency of the community. Regional Principles z. The regional land-use planning structure should be integrated within a larger transportation network built around transit rather than freeways. 2. Regions should be bounded by and provide a continuous system of greenbelt/ wildlife corridors to be determined by natural conditions. 3. Regional institutions and services (government, stadiums, museums, etc.) should be located in the urban core. 4. Materials and methods of construction should be specific to the region, exhibiting continuity of history and culture and compatibility with the climate to encourage the development of local character and community identity. Implementation Strategy z. The general phn should be updated to incorporate the above principles. i. Rather than allowing developer-initiated, piecemeal development, local govern- ments should take charge of the planning process. General plans should designate where new growth, infill or redevelopment will be allowed to occur. 3. Prior to any development, a specific plan should be prepared based on the plan- ning principles. With the adoption of specific plans, complying projects could proceed with minimal delay. 4. Phns should be developed through an open process and participants in the process should be provided visual models of all planning proposak. Authors: Editors: Peter Calthorpe Judy Corbett Michael Corbett Peter Katz Andes Duany Steve Weissman Elizabeth Moule Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk Stefanos Polyzoides • - ~~ IS iSSs 15 Ways to F~ the Suburbs Most of us actually know what we want in a neighborhood-we just don't know how to get it, because developers have been building the wrong thing for 50 years. Here's how to get our communities back on track. ~ ~ `~ ~ i ~~i-~i~i i-~ .., - ~,~ '~. ' 'i . t' V ---- f , ti~ -~-,.~- JOHN HUMtlLE Moving day-at Kentlands, the neotraditional suburb in Maryland where houses are close to the street and to each other OR DECADES, ANTON NELESSON OF RUTGERS University has been using the tools of science to pursue that most elusive and subjective quality, happiness. When a developer comes into a community, humbly seeking permission to re-create ancient Pompeii on the site of an old Go Kart track, the town's planners com- mission Nelesson to survey the populace and determine if that's what they'd actually like there. Using photographs, models and questionnaires, Nelesson has surveyed people all over the country, and these are some of the things he's found: • "Everybody will call for a green open space in the middle- that's automatic. They will put the major community buildings around the plaza, then group the houses on relatively narrow streets. Ninety-nine percent dori t want streets that are more than two lanes wide. At the edges of the village they leave open space." ^ "With two working spouses, [smaller lots] make a lot more sense. You don't want to mow that big lawn." ^ "People have a fundamental, psychological, spiritual response to nature. If you show them recently built multi- family housing or office parks, they go negative. A small, tra- ditional neighborhood is what people want. They don't know how to get it." Well, of course they don t: most of them haven't even seen a "small, traditional neighborhood" in years, if ever. But they in- stinctively choose it anyway. The premise of the new urbanism is that people can have the kinds of neighborhoods they say they like. Architects know how to design them, developers can build them, banks can make money on them. All it takes is a measure of political will to overcome the inertia of 50 years of doing things the wrong way ...and the application of a few simple rules. ^ NEWSWEEK MAx !5+ J995 a, GIVE UP 4BIG LAWNS ONE USEFUL WAY TO DEFINE A SUBURB Is "a place that grows lawns." The great postwar disillusionment began for many Americans when they left the city in search of a simpler life and discovered that watering, fertilizing, weeding and mowing the measliest yard takes more time over a year than the average New Yorker spends looking for parking. And the expanses o£ front lawn themselves serve no purpose but their owners' vanity-except that most sub- urban communities require them, on the theory that large setbacks help preserve the bucolic character of a community. 't'hat may have been true in the 192Us, when suburbs were being settled ;3U houses at a time. But when highways opened up huge areas of countryside after the waz, large-lot zoning had the opposite effect: by spreading population over a larger azea, it accelerated sprawl. Ifzoningboards weren't so fearful of "density," they could require developers to cluster houses and set aside land nearby for open space and recreation. This is also a more efficient way to build a community. Houses that are 100 feet apart, obviously, have 100 feet of unused road and utility lines between them. School buses have that much farther to travel. I And the goal of making a walkable com- munity is defeated when houses are spread out on huge lots. Even the depth of the front yard turns out to make a crucial psychologi- cal difference. When houses aze set back behind 30 feet of lawn, the streetscape be- comes oppressively desolate; your perspec- tive changes so slowly you don't feel you're reaching a destination. Probably no single change would improve the quality of subur- ban life as much as shrinking the size of lots-and it would actually make houses cheaper. BRING BACK THE CORNER STORE 11 ;~ c ~~~ _ _ fr-"~- ~- ~~~ _ _~ -a- ;.~~' louh nun~x~e This wide street in Temecula, Calif., is flne for cars but not for kids and other pedestrians MAKE THE STREETS SKINNY Modern subdivisions are designed to be driven, not walked. Even little-used streets are 36 feet or 40 feet wide, with big sweeping curves at the corners. It's great for cars: traffic barely needs to slow down. But for those on foot, the distance is daunting. Narrow streets - as tittle as 26 feet wide - and tight, right-angled corners are a lot easier for walkers, and probably safer as well, THE SUBURBAN CONDITION, SAYS because they force drivers to slow down. One objection: architect Peter Calthorpe, "is a land- fire departments worry about getting trucks through. scape of absolute segregation ... not ., just in terms of income, age or ethnicity, but But that hasn't been a big problem in old nabes in eitie s simple fUrlctional uses." This is so obvious like New York and Boston. that most people no longer see the absurdi- ty of making a five-mile round trip for a loaf of bread. That is, as long as they have a car; for anyone not so blessed-children, the elderly or handicapped, people who cant afford a car for every member of the family-it's nuts: Again, this is a function of good intentions undone by the explo- sion of suburbia. What worked in a compact neighborhood in a city=a dry cleaner, a drugstore, a corner grocery-became gro- tesque when blown up a hundredfold and applied to whole coun- ties. Shopping strips stretched for dozens of miles along the highways, while the curving streets of suburbia wormed their way ever deeper into the countryside. Obviously, malls and supermarkets, with their vast selections and economies of scale, will never be supplanted by neighborhood shopping streets and corner groceries. But it still should be possible to provide some of the necessities of life within walking distance of many people. Then you could send your kid out for that bread-and a newspaper while he's at it. MAY ]5, tggg NEWSWEEK 47 ~~$COllraged: Winding streets and cul-de-sacs exacerbate traffic. • • ~~ k , GonutMKCiai • !-a ~ :. ry cNlter ~ ' ' ~ ~~' ~ ^ e e N~~. ~ a e. I ~-+ ta.u: •, ^ . _~ ^ ^ ~ ^ ~ ~~.IL1l:l.~.J~~ ^ ^ ~ a ^ '~ • ~ ~ • a^t, ^^ ~• Main artery • -. ' ^ ~.. ~__~ _ . ^~~~ r ~~. 'LI ^a a ~ ~ '~H ~i . " a . ~:j-ri.i.w~ ,lit. eat:.t ~3...^~! ~ ~ ~,~~ ! ~ • ~ a .. `~ Q~_v!~~! _.._~uc: ~P~=!!j _c_01_Y_IeCter_ [' A f~e .erred: sa~ets eree,oa tra>asit and commeraal ten e - ~ - •- ~/_.-.. Main artery k, . ~ .. ~ t. '' r. Commert~al center ~ i! ~ ~:.B9siget!~ cal!Ie~W' :...~~- n.. -.::- - ew.Y~.:...-.,.~ F.. ~^ s ^ ^. at^ ^tt. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ••~lr • -``~ .. ~ .!,_~ ~"- ''Park.. J ~pusce'nu ~ncr nr rrraoroi.fs,' sr rsrEa r.~tzaoar$ DROP THE CUL-DE-SAC ter., s :r The cul-de-sac, a fancy term for "dead fiend," has emerged as the street plan of choice for modern suburbs. Its great ad- vantage -the elimination of through traf- fic-is also its weakness, because it com- pels everyone in a given subdivision to use the same few roads, often at the same times. Anyone attempting to travel on foot or by bicycle will eventually wind up on the shoulder of a busy highway -and probably give up. But streets don't have to be like that: they can follow predictable routes and interconnect. This gives mo- torists achoice of routes, so they don't all pile up' every morning waiting to make a left turn at the same intersection. DRAW BOUNDARIES IN AN ABSOLUTE SENSE, THERE IS NO REAL SHORTAGE OF 51and in the United States; if the entire population lived on an acre of land per household, it would occupy less than 5 percent of the contiguous 48 states (plus all of Canada and Mexico for parking). But in the regions where Americans actually want to live, they are swarming into the countryside, covering whole counties with "edge cities' flung outward from the beltways as if by centrifu- gal force. New York City's suburbs reach across the whole state of New Jersey into eastern Pennsylvania, neazly 100 miles from Times Squaze. To new-urbanist theoreticians, this is the disastrous result of shortsighted government policies, such as the bias in the federal mortgage-guarantee program toward detached houses on large plots of land. To f=ee-market economists, it represents the sum of millions of choices by informed individuals who have decided that, on balance, getting up before dawn in Bucks County beats a full night's sleep in Brooklyn. But sprawl is not a necessary component of aBluence. In Europe and Japan, governments have proclaimed "urban-growth bound- aries,"beyond which development is more or less prohibited. Even in a democratic country such as Hol- land, abusinessman seeking to live on a ~ ,;"~~ , -~ fazm and drive into the city to work ~- would have to request permission from '' the government-and he might not get it. Try telling that to Lee Iacocca. Con- trary to populaz American political the- ory, these regulations haven't notice- ably affected the prosperity of Western `"` Europe-nor of the one major Ameri- can city that has instituted its own ur- ban-growth boundary: Portland, Ore. ir_ In Oregon, naturally, no one would . ~ " , prevent the hypothetical businessman re~+ts n. w~LSON-Nrwsw from living on a farm; he just couldn't ': Leading new urban sell it off for a subdivision when he re- tired to Palm Springs. More than 20 Nothing Irks Peter years ago, planners for the Portland Calthorpe more than haetropolitan azea drew a line around "tutysayers who say 326 square miles-covering 24 munici- .Americans don't wan palities and parts of three counties- (fire in high-density and designated it to receive virtually all .cities-they want population growth. Along the way they suburbs, as though have reduced the average lot size for there were only two detached houses from 13,000 square ~d~~„ According feet to an average of 8,500 square feet- roughly the difi'erence between putting ~ San Francisco three and five units on an acre. The architect, "The a proposed future goal is an even mingier it to understand the 6,600 squaze feet. Between now and the are a huge number o year 2040, Portland's planners expect people With different the population to grow some 7 i per- UfeStyleS. There are cent, but they are committed to an in- different densities in crease of residential land use of only 6 new urbanism, some percent. Instead of planting more "edge ~~ some high. tides" at the azbitrary points where Neighborhoods that freeways intersect, Portland has con- centrated job gro~tiKh in its downtown. have dhrersity-Caf' The urban-gro~~~th boundary has been recreation, casual su succcsslill that even a conservative social encounters- property-rights group, Oregonians in will be increasingly Action, endorses the concept (although Important. Suburbs it azgues with some details). Imagine :aren't just about how' Los Angeles would look today if it .bedrooms anymore. had done this 20 yeazs ago. ._ .. __.. . F.lK isr that t to to newer re f es, ,. MAY 15, 1995 NEWSWEEK 49 :: - s HIDE THE GARAGE Most suburban houses give the ap- 6pearancethat they are first of all places to park, turning to the world the blank and desolate face of a garage door. Neigh- borhoods look more pleasant when ga- rages are put behind the houses, accessi- ble by side yards or by alleys. • .~ MIX HOUSING TYPES OF ALL THE WAYS TO IMPROVE THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL organization of the suburbs, none would be as subversive as breaking the monopoly of single-family detached homes: that endless alternation of "Crestwoods" and °Auroras" intended to foster the illusion of preference in buyers' choosing between four bedrooms and three bedrooms plus a den. Homogeneity is the very essence of the suburbs. Attached houses, rental units, shops or businesses-anything that might attract traffic and its attendant evil, a decline in property values-are banned. This is a fairly new phenomenon in human history. For most of the last 9,000 years, most people inhabited villages, where by definition nothing was very far from anything'else. As late as the 1940s, for that matter, Memphis, Tenn., developer Henry Turley grew up in the kind of haphazard city neighborhood that is the despair of sensible planners: a jumble of stores, shacks, flats, walk- ups and decaying mansions, all suffused with the vivid street life neighbors made for themselves in the era before air conditioning lured them indoors. It is, of course, beyond the power of zoning to bring back those days, even if we wanted them back, but it may be possible to recapture some of the energy and spirit that character- ized American civic life before television clamped its monopoly on public discourse and entertainment. So in 1987, when Turley bought a 135-acre vacant plot on an island in the Mississippi five minutes from downtown Memphis, he embarked on a radically different kind of development, which began not by asking "What vill the county let me build?" or "What will the banks finance?" but 'What kind of place do people want to live in?" The result was Harbor Town, intended to be "a slice of the avorld-the more complete and varied the better." There are louses ranging in price from Sll4,000 to 5425,000, which contrasts with a typical subdivision in Phoenix, Ariz., for example, where the seven basic models run the gamut from 5271,990 to 5316,990. There are town houses and apartments, and shops being planned. Devel- apershad tried mixing housing types in the "planned communities" of the 1970s, but in those each use was isolated in its ownthousand- acre quadrant; in Harbor Town they are all within a few blocks of each other. Turley seems to have decreed that instead of golf, the leading recreational activity would be chatting with neighbors while watching the sun set over the river, so he set the houses close together and built cozy village squares. The houses themselves are an eye-popping collection of styles, including Charlestown provin- cial, Cape Cod and Bauhaus modern, but they have an underlying unity based on materials (mostly clapboard or wood siding) and the ubiquitous new-urbanist amenity, porches. Turley expects to make money on the project, when it's completed in 1997, but he also has a higher aim. "Democracy assumes-demands-that we know, un- derstand and respect our fellow citizens," he says. "How can we appreciate them if we never see them?" PLANT TREES CURBSIDE Nothing humanizes a street more than 8a row of trees shading the sidewalk. But they must be broad-leafed shade trees such as sycamores or chestnuts, not the dinky globular things like flowering pears that developers favor in parking lots. And they should be planted out at the curbline, where they will grow out to form a canopy over the roadway. Why don't more places have such an obvious amenity already? Because traffic engineers worry that people might drive into them. Strolling under a canopy of spring blossoms 50 NEWSWF.EK MAY I I ,, 5• 995 IOHN HUMBLE Multicar garages turn an unwelcoming face to the street I11ANF: (:1 K)K~I.1•:N II•:~~IIF: ,NEW LIFE 'O LD A ._ ;Y'VE GOT FOUNTAINS, HANGING ~ ~ 11, (~ zs and ice rinks, and if you stay in •~! ., • 4 long enough you may eventually ~chita Lineman' res noareld woe le 0 but most shopping ~ ~•, just vast sheds that consumers through until, with nothing left to r. .`_J they are spit out into th ekato desert '° ~_ ~ __ ~~ nder people are so 9u down the - hen abigger one opens up :host malls are no longer a rare sight ,rice, phoenix has at least two, in- one right across the street from 1 of its largest office buildings. But ~d they occupy can. with some inge- nd alot of money, become the nude- . real neighborhood, an architectural Went rather than a hulking blight. process is happening first with strip ing centers, which are usually older nclosed malls and less complex azchi- ~ ': ally. The first step is to transcend the of a "shopping center" as a group- ~elated stores m the middle of a '~'°''~ ig Iot. That pretty much described the ""~ Seabury Shopping Center, a dreary era strip mall on a busy highway in In Portland, Ore., these commuters are choosing to ride the rails Cod, Mass., about 70 miles from Bos- ~ decade ago, the ° ~erent schemte, ~elop it on a radically pled on a New England town. New is were laid out in what had been the Ong lot; new shops were built in the acted area behind the existing ones. A ~az development plan was drawn up, ;inning a substantial community; of- alibrary, achurch and a seluor-citi- ' home have already been built. Irking was redistributed along the •s of the new internal streets. This es for some congestion and inefficien- rut lessens the frustration of trudging v long aisles of parked cars toward a ant mall entrance. Developer Douglas Ts says that shoppers find the strength vallc as much as half a mile down the ~wallcs of what is now called Mashpee nalons, passing shop windows, benches l planters. The same people reach the :shold of exasperation when they have nark more than 400 feet from the door to ordinary mall. les, including there are other examp r pazk, ~ Boca Raton, Fla., where a shopping center was replaced with a acre mixed-use development organized Lund a new public park. To be sure, not developers will be this ambitious witl :ir properties. But as a first step, hidinf ugly collection of Dumpsters and load docks on the backsides of strip mall: uld eliminate a lot of suburban blight. PLAN FOR MASS TRANSIT Is there any way to get Americans out of their 10 cars and into buses and trains? In Los Angeles, not even an earthquake sufficed; many S b der t eir cent of drivers switched toem~assand most of them freeways fell down la as soon as the roads were went right back to driving patched up. The problem is that transit seems to need a cri~ti' ce mass to work, and many metropolitan areas (Los g les among them) are just too spreads utd.~Manyo ~~~n ers seem to think that >_f you have , p oui to station anyway, you might as well 'ust kee g ' g the ofFice.Caltho ~ e's idea for the "pedestrian pocket": a Hence ~ carter-mile walk relatively dense settleom land Ot re , ~ey're building the of a transit stop. In P , transit line first-putting stops literally in the oddment empty fields - in the expectation that the develop ' will follow C MAY 15, 1995 NEWSWF.F.X 51 I .7 LINK WORK TO HOME SUBURBS ARE NO LONGER JUST BEDROOM communities; the dispersal of employ- 1 ment out of the central cities has been going on for a generation. (As the writer William H. Whyte demonstrated two decades ago, big corporations leaving the city tend to relocate with- in afew miles of the chief executive's house.) But the result-the oxymoronic "office pazks" consist- ing of indistinguishable glass cubes amid a token fuu of grass and a giant pazking lot-is just a higher class of sprawl than the gas stations and fried-chicken places that would have been built there instead. If companies don't want to be downtown, they should at least attempt to integrate their of- tices-or factories, for that matter-into commu- nities. Nobody wants to live next to a steel mill, naturally. But in Laguna West, outside Sacramen- to, people aze happy to live within aquarter-mile of an Apple Computer plant, which provides 1,200 white-collar and assembly-line jobs. Apple agreed to locate there after the community was already planned; developer Phil Angelides says the com- pany liked the idea that executives and workers could afford to live in the same community. Playa Pinta, anew-urbanist community being planned for Los Angeles, has been mentioned as a possible home for the DreamWorks SKG multimedia com- pany. It could be an updated-and very upscale- version of the company town, which in this case will comprise 13,000 houses and apartments, shops, a park, promenades and jogging trails along the last tidal marsh in the city. Calthorpe believes that more businesses will move to new- urbanist projects as they grow disillusioned with the traffic and isolation of their office parks. "The idea is not necessarily to live in MAKE A TOWN CENTER Every town needs a center: a plaza, 1 ~ s uare or green that is a geographi- q cal reference point and a focus of civfe life -even if that just means a place to push a stroller or throw a Frisbee. Shop- ping malls are a poor substitute; the area they serve is too diffuse, and in any case their civic function is incidental to their real purpose-making money. Develop- ers often provide some parkland in their subdivisions, but it's usually on leftover parcels that wouldn't be built on anyway, by the edge of the highway or adjoining another subdivision. 52 :~~~NSW);Eli nl.ar 15- 1995 Mbdng Income levels in a neighborhood is a new- urbanist credo, and nobody does that better than Planner Oscar Newman.~lis scattered- site low-income housing for Yonkers, N.Y., is a model of its kind. But Newman Is no fan of the new urbanists. "Instead of saying, `This is what's wrong [with suburbs]; they should ask, `Why de people feel ft's worth ft to live there?, " the same development you work in," he says; "there are a lot of criteria for where you choose your house. But if people can walk to a park, to midday shopping, restaurants and day care, it's better for the people working there." SHRINK PARKING LOTS PARKING IS ONE OF SUBURBIA'S HIGHEST 1 ~ achievements. Only in the United States does the humblest copy-shop or pizzeria boast as much space for cars as the average city hall. But it is also a curse; the vast acreage given over to asphalt is useless for any other purpose, and goes unused more than half the time anyway. Most plan- ners regard parking as a prerequisite for economic growth, like water. But downtown Portland, Ore., which strictly regulates pazking, has been thriving with essentially the same space for cars as it had 20 years ago. Developers often build more pazking than they actually need; ahalf--empty lot is presumed to reassure prospective tenants that they'll never run out of space for their cars. Yet a bank, a movie theater and a church are all full at different times. One simple improvement towns can make is to look for ways to shaze and pool parking space among different users. The ideal-although expensive-solution to the pazking problem is for cars to vanish underground when they get where they're going. A shopping center surrounded by acres of striped asphalt, whether it's empty or full, might as well put up a moat against pedestrians.. Large parking lots should be situated behind buildings whenever possible-something most suburban zoning codes don't currently allow-and divided by streets, sidewalks or structures into smaller segments of around three acres or less. On-street parking in residential neighborhoods is con- troversial. Some planners favor it, because it creates a "buffer" between pedestrians and traffic, but others consider it a danger to children running out between the cars. FREDERICK CIfARI.I:S A di}~erent approach TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS . It is .probably true that illuminating a subjurban 14 street to the level of the infield at Comiske~- Park reduces accidents, especially for people who leave their regular glasses at home and have to drive in sunglasses. For everyone else, though, towering, garish.sodiumtvapor street lamps intrude on the peacefulness of the night with the insistence of a stuck horn. Where safety is nod a big issue, why not use several smaller lamps that 'cast a gentler glow and let you see the stars? OUT BEYOND THE BELTWAY, where the roads are narrow 1 and blacktop, past the point at which the dwindling traffic is too sparse to warrant plucking by even the mingi- est motor court, there's a beautiful land. There are pale green corn plants poking through the brown soil, lakes glimpsed through trees, cholla cactus among the tumbled red rocks. It's not wilderness, but countryside, the unfinished canvas of America. It tells us where we aze-in Illinois, Maine or Texas-and it locates us in time: summer, fall, winter, spring. There's nothing to buy there, nowhere to park; it dcesn t lure us with golden azches or free coffee mugs with afill-up. It's just there. And by the same token, it isn't making anyone rich, yet. There is a gradient of value that runs from the city to the country, and it keeps moving out- ward; pick any spot and it's just a matter of time before it makes the magical tran- sition from "countryside" to "real estate." The process seems inevitable, but it isn't, really. It's the product of concrete decisions made in an age when roads were still viewed as the harbingers of civilization rather than discount muffler outlets. And as surely as our society made those decisions, it can change them, before lawn meets lawn and asphalt meets asphalt, cover- ing the land in a seamless carpet of sprawl. SANDY F'EI ~F:K'I'1 LU. Developer Turley on the village green in Harbor Town :.. 1 ~'"~ ~~ , I~ -~:, `~ .. _ ~ .. • A garish street lamp in Maryvale, a neighborhood in Phoenix I u ., The New Urbanism's Call to Arms From October 8 through 11 in Alexandria, Vuginia, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) held the first of four conferences planned through 1994. The 200 participants included architects, planners, and academics from the United States and Canada, as well as real estate developers, lenders, civil engi- neer, and public officials, including Milwau- kee Mayor John Norquist. In day-long sessions running from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., the Congress set forth an ambitious national agenda: a sweeping reformation in the development of Ameri- can cities to change American urban and suburban life for the better. Joel Schwam, an architect, builder, and • real estate developer in New Jersey, believes r~ Lace parking lots occupy- ing astrategic position in the city's it>riverg down- town. Last November, that "typical suburban land planning and de- velopment don't work any more and need to be fixed." He recalls, "When I was making a speech recently, I asked the audience to name a New Jersey community built in the past 50 years that is a really good place. You know what? Nobody could name a single location. "But development patterns aren't going to change for the better just because people want more aesthetic, more satisfying communiries. Americans are profoundly conservative about choosing a place to live, and they base many of their decisions on economics. As more people realize that the rnst of rnnstrucdng and main- tainingtypical suburbia has gotten out of hand, they are starting to thinl.• about innova- tive ways to plan and build new communiries and retrofit existing ones.° The Congress for the New Urbanism is a response to the failures of America's built environment. "The movement to reform American ur- banism is prevailing," claim the CNU's six coordinators-Peter Calthorpe, Andres Duany, Elizabeth Moule, Elizabeth Plater- Zyberk, Stefanos Polyzoides, and Daniel Solomon. "The evidence is everywhere. At least 100,000 acres have been designed ac- cording to new principles by several speaal- ized firms. Even the established planning firms most responsible for suburban sprawl now offer this type of urbanism as an option.° According to its rnordinators, the CNU is not just another visionary think tank. Plater-Zyberk describes the organization as "a multidisciplinary way to address the future of our sties, proactively rather than reactively, with a prescription for change rather than a mere reflection of existing disorder.° The New Urbanism's planning and development principles are quite straight- forward: The built environment must be the city council approved unanimousy a plan by ROMA Design Group to redevelop the site in accordance with marry principles of the New Urbanism. Incorporating an expansion by RAND, 350 residential units, new catboat facilities, parking sbuchrres, and open space, the new civic carder Hell repair this hole in Santa Motrica's urban fabric, encourage walking and bicycling in the down- town,and open access to ocean beaches. Traffic calming elemertts like wide sidewalks, roundabouts, a town square that, among other functions, witl serve as an interchange poird for cdy buses and local shuttle services, and a new east vest sfreetlpromenade are a major focus of the plan. • • ronsa ,n..mnn ~ - - ~ ~~ ~~, - _ ~ ~ // i ^.~ ~t '~ I ~ ~ ~. r----T. ~~ •~~I l .f ~, ,;:• Zoning for a new master ~' ~ j~7 LJ ~J~ _ : ~ - ~ ''~'•` _ plan for doNmtown South - ... Miami, Florida, called the ~~ Q • - .... ..~ I Hometown Plan, was ~ .at ,,',;•,~ _- adopted in October. AI- ~ O: - ~ - _ ~" ::" " "'' ~- though the structure of the ' ~ ~' , . existing doNmtown-a ~ '. ~" ` main street at the center ,: `` , , _ .f;-„ of small blocks-is tradi- ~ .• banal, the random place- ~ ~ :~ ~ _ _ a met of newer buildings, ~ ~'~ ~ •~~ ~ ~ ~~` :." .... wide roads and narrow ~ ~ G•c.~ sidewalks, and a prepon- ; r "'". Y '~ , ~. .~~'° ;' -tee' _ • derance of commercial :: • ~ `~Cf • • " and parking uses have dis- % __ ~ ~ ~° couraged pedestrian use. - . _` 3~~. f (~~~ The Hometown Plan ap- plies the principles of the New Urbanism to create more activity. Buildings are placed to form street spaces into public "rooms." Mbced uses, including apartmerds and ot6ces above shops, are encouraged through incentives. Sidewalks along the main street are widened and a tree canopy is restored. Parking lots are placed mid-block, and on-street parking is irt- aeased.The (failed) shopping mall fat the upper right of the inset map) is redeveloped with small blocks, a variety of builrring scales, and a town green. Impfeme~ation of the Home- town Plan is expected to occur through small development projects following a precise design code and various incentives, instead of through land use cordrols. diverse in use and population, scaled for the pedestrian, and capable of accommodating the automobile and mass transit. It must have swell-defined public realm supported by an architecture reflecting the ecology and culture of the region. Working from a fundamental belief that the act of building can make the world a bet- ter place, the participants want their plan- ning principles to influence not only single- family residential development at the fringes of metropolitan areas but also higher-density and mixed-use projects in central cities and existing suburbs. Public officials and real estate develop- ers who attended the conference in Alex- andria believe that the American public increasingly supports the New Urbanism's principles. "In many parts of the country, a funda- mental revolution is occurring in the devel- • opment indusa~y, a shift in paradigm, a shift in values toward many of these principles," said Dan Cary, executive director of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, which represents ~ 3 local governments in Florida's Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties. "I give many lec- tures to citizens groups. When I talk about the form and structure of traditional towns, I walk them through a perfect town model built in 1900 that still functions well in terms of everyday life and personal relationships. "These groups invariably get excited to the point of anger," he continued, "and de- mand to know why we have developed what we did in recent years. People have broken down in tears. They realize that what we have done in South Florida and Los Ange- les, to name two locations, is inhumane and financiaDy insupportable. And they want al- ternatives." Despite emerging public support for the New Urbanism, two growing threats could limit its long-term impact on metro- politan development. In recent years, many participants pointed out, some of the New Urbanism's planning principles have been mislabeled as "neotra- ditionalism" which has a suburban conno- tation. Thus, when discussing these new approaches to development, the press has usually focused on the secluded resort town of Seaside, Florida, and neglected dozens of 11 innovative projects in central cities and sub- urbs alike, creating a mistaken image in the public's mind that the new urbanism is elit- ist The term "new urbanism" is meant to re- place "neotraditionalism" and broaden the public discussion of the CNU's principles from merely single-family suburban neigh- borhoods to all development in the nation's metropolitan areas. Of equal concern to the conference's par- ticipants, some developers and architects have grafted a few of neotraditionalism's most obvious features-a front porch here, a picket fence there-onto typical suburban subdivisions and then labeled these projects "neotradirional developments." "These developers have latched onto the New Urbanism's growing success to sell sub- divisions that have no connection with these principles and do little or nothing to satisfy public demand for this more sensitive form of development," said architect Calthorpe. "As a result, the public can now buy houses in conventional suburbs styled as villages and neighborhoods, which the press pro- claims are representative of the new move- ment. This inability to discriminate between February 1994 Urban Land the New Urbanism and its hollow imita- tions will, over time, result in the conclu- sion that its promises of social, economic, and environmental benefits have been false. • The movement may then be seen as just another fad." In her introductory remarks at the con- ference, Plater-Zyberk threw down the gauntlet: "We must move from the mar- gins,. as objects of media curiosity, to a more central role in reforming urban life. This ambition must be played out on three: battlefields." The New Urbanism already has em- barked on. the first two battles-to do with academia and practice. The third struggle, which concerns polity and has just begun, will determine the ultimate success or fail- ure of the movement How will the Congress for the New Ur- banism fight these battles to reform the de- velopment of America's cities and suburbs in its vision? Through organization, unity, and hard work, say its organizers. "You have been in- vitedhere not so much to learn but because you have something to teach," Duany told the CNU audience. In the morning sessions, participanu attended lectures covering the history of suburban development, identified many of today's important development issues, discussed the need for a common termi- nology, and sought to establish standards for the New Urbanism's planning and development. ]n the afternoons, architects and plan- ners presented their current work so that participants could both critique and learn from such diverse urban projects as the Santa Monica Civic Center and South Miami's downtown redevelopment plan. (See illustrations on preceding pages.) Future conferences, commented archi- teaBoris Dramov of ROMA Design Group in San Francisco, should explore how the New Urbanism's principles can retrofit exist- ing city and suburban communities, particu- larly on infill sites like former industrial ar- eas, railyards, and military bases. Indeed, many conference speaker, in- cluding Duany, stressed the importance of developing the CNU's implementation strategies-for example, rewriting the codes that affect all development and area prereq- uisite for the success of the CNU's agenda, or working with lenders who say go or po- go to proposed projects. The next three conferences will give par- ticipants the opportunity to discuss ideas and projects in greater detail and forge these implementation strategies. "The future conferences also will try to create alliances to advance our cause," says Calthorpe. "Think of what we can accom- plish if we work together with environmen- talists, historic preservationists, residents of center cities, even residents of older suburbs that are experiencing the same decline that center cities did a generation ago. With such abroad-based alliance, the CNU can really make profound changes for the better in America's metropolitan development" Note: The Congress for the New Urbaairnr will bold its second meeting May 20-23 in Los Angeles: The CNUll it titled "T'be Building; the Blocly acrd the Street, "and n will focztt primarily on center city pla~trring artd development iuues. At present, membasbip is the Congress for the New Urbanism and attendance at its conferences are by imtitation only. -Charles Lockwood Charles Lockwood is the author of seven books about American architecture and cities. 12 Urban Land • Febtztary 1994