Tonight we obtained Planning Commission approval for the Midori project I have been working on for awhile. The next step is County Commissioners. This project still continues to generate solid interest in the lots and homes, and stands a good chance of being sold out by ground breaking! Here is the current site plan. For more information on this sustainable project, visit www.midoriliving.com
Recently, there was an article in the New York Times about a suburb in Vauban, Germany where cars are basically outlawed. Street parking, driveways, and home garages are forbidden within the community. If you do have a car, you have the option of purchasing a garage space on the outskirts of the community to park it in…at a mighty premium. From what I gather, this community is wildly popular among the eco-friendly and executives alike. This community works where it is, because it happens to be located along a tram line with a direct link to downtown Frieberg, and connections to the commuter rail. Compared to the United States, it is widely known that Germany and the rest of Europe have a very comprehensive and successful public transportation system, that makes living car free for entire communities possible.
Can it work here? In my opinion, it can in limited locations across the country. Indeed, you can find people almost anywhere that don’t have cars, either because they can’t afford one, or choose not to have one, and they get along fairly well. But for an entire community? I say, this won’t happen on a large scale in this country until we start thinking about the common good, with a look at the long term, and start putting some real emphasis on creating a viable public transportation system, that actually goes somewhere. I am not talking about just Fort Collins, but the country as a whole. People have to be mobile, and to go without cars, there needs to be a way to get from point A to point B in a relatively short period of time. We are starting to see signs of life on this front, but we have a long way to go. Of course, this will also require more compact development patterns. Indeed, in Vauban, single family homes are not generally permitted. Basically the community is a TOD project, but taken one step further.
To further this goal and concept, I think we also need to get away from the idea that homes must face paved public streets. Why does a street have to have 30-50 feet of asphalt to function as a public street? Why can’t homes face “green streets”? Instead of asphalt, why not landscaped courtyards? This would also serve as a place to play for kids that is close to home…and allow for smaller lots and denser developments. I have been pushing this concept for years with some success. A current project that I am working on is attempting to do this. I have blogged about Midori before, with more coming soon. The battles I face in trying to do “green streets” is how do we address the homes without a paved street, how to get utilities to them without a front door, and the real issue of fire access. Of course, people also have to get away from the idea that they have to have a garage attached to the home. There are some communities that have been successful at this, including co-housing communities, and many of the communities built by The Cottage Company Interestingly though, many other builders who try to build off the concept of The Cottage Company include attached garages now.
I would love to find an infill piece of ground to create a car free community in Fort Collins. Anybody want to join me on this?
Okay, I will admit, this is not fugly, just plain dumb. It also isn’t often I give a fugly award to a project that I just gave high accolades too (see previous post). But as part of the Seventh Street reconstruction project, the planners decided to add diaganol parking, that you have to BACK INTO! I can only imagine the fender benders that are going to occur with someone stopping in traffic, starting to back up into the parking spot, only to have the person behind them not notice and running into them. This parking situation has had such an outcry against it, that the planners have decided to never do it again. Don’t get me wrong, I think diagonal parking is a great idea, and should be encouraged on more streets, but done the traditional way with pulling in forwards, and then backing out. A lot less dangerous in my opinion.
Recently, Grand Junction, Colorado has been spending a lot of time and money rebuilding its external downtown streets, and generally doing an excellent job. Basically, they are continuing the successful reworking of Main Street that was completed in the early 1960’s and was nationally acclaimed. This is also one of the first downtown streetscapes that I have seen that constructed a round-a-bout in an existing downtown intersection, and done very successfully.
Also included with this reconstruction was a lot of attention paid to the pedestrian environment. Sidewalks were widened, outdoor dining areas created, pedestrian scale lighting, and enhanced crosswalks. Low brick walls have also been incorporated to provide additional seating, and to separate pedestrians from street traffic.
The particular project these photos are from is 7th Street. This involved a reconstruction of approximately six blocks of a four lane street. Since then, they have also reconstructed five blocks of Colorado Avenue in a similar fashion.
On both of these, the City of Grand Junction has done a fabulous job, and this will serve as a model for other cities to look to as they rebuild their downtown streets. Downtown Grand Junction also has a lot of land that is begging to be redeveloped. If you know of anyone who would be interested in a long term investment, let me know!
I have done some research into the redevelopment efforts of Detroit. There is a lot going on in the works to redevelop downtown, which is starting to filter into outlying neighborhoods. There have been millions of dollars spent over the last decade redeveloping downtown, and the riverfront district. This includes new corporate headquarters for Quicken Loans, loft projects, and new retail and businesses. This has begun to spill over into other adjacent neighborhoods. Midtown in particular is seeing a renessaince with several new single family and townhome communities being built. What is more, most of it is being done using the existing infrastructure and street networks, which is important. The new buildings and neighborhoods are being incorporated into the existing neighborhoods. ModelD has a wealth of information on what is going on in Detroit. There are also organizations that are working with residents to create urban gardens, becoming somewhat sustainable.
Of course, a lot of this was going on prior to the economic collapse of late 2008, and in particular the auto industry which Detroit is heavily reliant on. And all is not rosy either. There are debates going on about whether abandoned buildings should be razed as noted in the article, Cleaning Detroit up, don’t demolish its gems. There are also claims of corruption within city politics, and a government culture of getting in the way and heavy bureaucracy, and the high crime rate.
This is encouraging for Detroit, but the downsizing of the automobile companies is sure to have a profound impact on Detroit, and will likely derail any initiative to redevelop that was going on, particularly with the collapse of real estate prices. On the other hand, cheap real estate might encourage people to move to Detroit. These are people who arn’t reliant on a local company for employment. Of course, the same can be said for many communities.
While I haven’t had an interest in visiting Detroit in the past, I do now, to satisfy my own curiosity.
