| An Argument for Maximum Setbacks |
|
|
| Friday, 05 September 2008 | |
|
Should we change our setback laws to encourage the long term development of a walkable community? What We've Grown Accustomed To
It does not have to be this way. The following images show examples of chains associated with sprawl type developments in Jacksonville. However, in other locations these same chains are be laid out in a manner that can contribute to a walkable community.
McDonalds - 1245 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY
This typical McDonald's box is located close enough to the street that the front becomes outdoor seating along the sidewalk. The parking is located on the side and rear of building.
The parking lot for this Lowes is located in the middle of the development site. The side of the store containing the garden center is designed to allow pedestrian access from South Boulevard.
The development features a Publix and Staples as the commercial anchors. However, their main entrances face the large parking lot located in the rear of the site. The development's front facade features a mix of retail and office use.
This typical big box River City Marketplace style center is a Transit Oriented Development, centered around rail. The surface parking is still there but its shielded from the street edge with outparcels that line the sidewalk. Despite being in suburbia and maintaining a low development density level, the layout is still walkable and mass transit friendly.
Downown Residence Inn by Marriott - Chattanooga, TN
The hotel design places the building between the street, sidewalk and the surface parking lot. The hotel's lobby is accessed from the sidewalk, while the restaurant features outdoor dining space along the front.
Rite Aid Pharmacy - 520 West Broad Street - Richmond, VA
This pharmacy sits at a major intersection a few miles outside of Downtown Richmond. However, the building is on the corner instead of the parking lot. The parking lot is located on the side of the building.
Chili's Bar & Grill - 408 Market Street - Chattanooga, TN
The surface parking lot for this single story Chili's restaurant sits behind the building. The restaurant's outdoor patio also is adjacent to the sidewalk. Imagine the feel of a street like Blanding, Southside or Baymeadows if the same buildings located on them today were adjacent to the street/sidewalk instead of their parking lots. It would be a completely different scene. A scene that is mass transit friendly and walkable.
The number one benefit of having maximum setbacks: A maximum building setback requirement eliminates the possibility of asphalt parking between the building and the street. Over time, new construction and urban infill projects combine to create, or bring back to life, pedestrian friendly corridors throughout the community. In our struggles to create a community where mass transit and walkability are viable mobility options, finding a way to get projects to accommodate the pedestrian is a must. We can become walkable. We can do better, but we first have to demand it. |
September 5, 2008, 8:07 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
Walkability means not crossing several acres of barren asphalt to get to the store. Our parking codes need revision too.
September 5, 2008, 9:30 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
You didn't have to go far for new development utilizing maximum setbacks. Orlando is actually becomming very walkable and more pedestrian oriented with each new development that addresses the person versus the car.
September 5, 2008, 10:28 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
September 5, 2008, 10:31 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
I think they are letting some projects by downtown be more friendly. The new Regions bank in San Marco is a good example of what we need more of in the area.
September 5, 2008, 11:42 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
You are correct lindab...
and that is why I have been so down on RCMP. Its impossible to walk around in.
YOU MUST USE A CAR FOR YOUR SAFETY.
And of all crazy places, there is a little strip center on New Berlin and Yellow Bluff Rd that is built with all the parking in the rear. It looks great, but I swear people have said they don't know how to get into the shops. They all have sidewalk entrances and of course the main access is from parking lot in the rear.
The people of Jax are so accustomed to strip centers with massive parking lots in the front that any other layout is like putting rats in a maze....
It's kinda sad...
For many walkability and pleasing design is secondary or not important at all.
September 5, 2008, 12:03 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
Since we live in Riverside we have become daily visitors to the shops, mail center and grocery store in Five Points. All front on the sidewalks with limited parking behind and a few slots in front. Some people come by car and walk into the stores via a back door. Most come from the front sidewalk and walk in the front door. But, you know our sidewalks connect to something - they go out into the residential community, they pass the churches and the schools and the stores. Maybe that is the problem with a stand-alone strip center - no connection to the neighborhood.
September 5, 2008, 1:53 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
@lindab
You have hit the nail in the head. It is incomplete to build a store with sidewalk access and parking in the rear if all the people are going to drive to it. They wont drive not because they want to but because they have to. Nothing around is walkable. These structures can not stand alone.
This topic is similar to the discussion about Atlantic Crossing. The concept is great but useless because there isin't anywhere else to go. You could walk to Tinseltown and the Town Center Mall but you have to jump across parking lots to get to the store.
Minimizing the setbacks are definitely the right answer (aesthetic and walkability reasons) but they need to be clubbed with increasing the density of the neighborhood. It will be an oxymoron to let strip malls sprawl up and minimize their set backs. For example, the Camille's 'Sidewalk' cafe on Touchton and Southside is barely a sidewalk cafe. If anything, it is a strip-mall cafe! There are no sidewalks to walk up to it on either Touchton or Southside. The only people who can walk to it are the ones living in Montreux and are connected to the parking lot. Anything in that strip mall could not survive with a minimum set back because there are few who will walk up to it even with the new construction on Gate Parkway between Southside and Belfort.
September 5, 2008, 3:01 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
You have hit the nail in the head. It is incomplete to build a store with sidewalk access and parking in the rear if all the people are going to drive to it. They wont drive not because they want to but because they have to. Nothing around is walkable. These structures can not stand alone.
Yes, its a nice try, but incomplete on a larger scale if its not mandatory. But its not imcomplete if the code makes everyone do it.
We have to start somewhere. So the question then becomes how do we get to a point where we stop allowing developments that force pedestrians to jump across parking lots?
Good point. But is it a lost cause just because the area has become strip mall central? Or can we edit the codes to make sure future development is constructed in a better manner? On the other hand, the urban core's (the preconsolidated city) development patterns are completely different. Older buildings line the street and sidewalks, but new developments place parking lots between them and the street destroying the urban pattern already in place. In this case, a maximum setback restriction eliminates this option and all new development in these areas become pedestrian friendly infill development.
September 5, 2008, 3:51 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
I have seen designs done for remodeling strip centers. In the first step the oldest store is demolished and rebuilt forward near the secondary road. Sidewalks added that extend to the neighborhood behind so that people could walk up to the stores.
Most parking removed in the very front and landscape up to the store. Create a sense of territory for the store. Landscape the boundary of the parking area along the access road. Put in lighting. Add cycle racks out front. I take no credit for these ideas - all from my guru Dan Burden, http://www.walkable.org/
Sometimes a smart developer can make a start in order to appeal to a new breed of customers and store owners, some of whom are pretty savvy about this stuff. City codes could make it more of a reality and encourage developers to get creative.
September 5, 2008, 11:35 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
I find most commercial areas fairly comparable to other cities for walking. What I was shocked about when I moved to Jax is the lack of curb and gutter and side walks in many many residential areas. In my neighborhood, it is very dangerous to walk as there are no sidewalks, the streets are narrow and there is fairly heavy traffic. In addition, with the absence of curb and gutter, the sides of the road are usually muddy or have standing water so you essentially have to walk in the middle the road. I even find that many of the newer developments have the same problem. Sidewalks should be mandatory in future developments if they are not already.
September 5, 2008, 11:36 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
What area of town are you located in?
September 6, 2008, 8:38 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
@thelakelander
Yes, we should redo the codes to make future developments better in terms of walkability. But something needs to be done to the strip malls as well. Preferably, I would like to see a residential/office building on top of them so they dont stand alone in an inefficient manner. The true transformation will dictate us to change codes for the future by not encouraging sprawl and find a way to rectify the past. It is important to be able to rectify the past.
Montreux and the Publix shopping
stripmall beside it could have been built together making Camille's a true sidewalk cafe and I would no longer laugh at the folly when I read it's name.I am of the opinion that it comparatively is easier to think about changing future construction codes but harder to think about rectifying the strip malls and making them more efficient and walkable.
September 6, 2008, 8:58 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
It is easier to change future land use and zoning codes and its something that should be done as a part of a much larger plan. I also don't think its difficult to rectify strip malls, but it will take just as much time rectifying on a large scale, as it did to create the sprawling mess we have today.
As strip malls decay (and they will decay, we have a ton of blighted ones now), they become prime redevelopment sites. This offers us the opportunity to make sure the redevelopment/revitalization projects on these sites are more efficient and walkable. Of course, this would have more impact in older sections of town first, given that we have many new privately owned strip malls that will be around for while.
As for Southside Blvd., with that wide right-of-way, it would not hurt to install a wide cycling/jogging path along it. There are huge sections of that street that still lack sidewalks. That's crazy.
September 6, 2008, 9:19 am
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
GatorDone, I couldn't agree more. The first subdivision I lived in had sparse sidewalks. It was hard to walk or run because all of a sudden you were put out on a busy street without sidewalks so I was forced to run on the edge of the road. I'd have people yell and honk at me as they flew by going 10-15 over the speed limit. It sucked! There are many neighborhood schools where parents have to drive their kids a half mile to school because there are no sidewalks and it is unsafe to walk. How sad is that! This city is probably the most car dependent city I've ever been to. And all because of poor planning and low standards. Developers should not be allowed to build without having sidewalks on both sides of the street.
As far as setback laws; when I think about more development around future rail stations, we certainly want these areas to become as friendly to pedestrians as possible. Good point about the dilapidated strip malls that will need to be redeveloped in the near future. Any more development in downtown and lavilla should also be pedestrian oriented. I'm so sick of surface lots. Lets require underground parking or buildings like BofA and the Peninsula with their built in lots. The new Riverplace parking garage with retail is also a good example.
Maybe this city needs some big box laws as well. Check out Monona, Wisconsin. Their laws are very strict regarding big box developments and surface parking. Wal Mart wanted to develop there in the worst way, hence one of the nations first 2 story green Wal Marts. You would never know the building was a Wal mart, by just driving by. It's time Jacksonville grew some balls and set some standards!!!
Check out this editorial from the midwest http://www.midwestadvocates.org/media/releases/2-2-07%20Bringing%20Wal-Mart%20to%20a%20New%20Level.pdf
September 14, 2008, 10:36 pm
Re: An Argument for Maximum Setbacks
Just try walking your kid to school to see if walkability is real or not in Riverside. I walk my daughter to West Riverside Elementary, which was originally designed as a pedestrian access school in 1911. Klutho added his touch in the 1920s, and since then the school has received all sorts of recognition for great design. However, the simple routes to school by Park Street, James Street or Cherry Street that have school zones are dangerous for walkers on disconnected or obstructed sidewalks. WRES ripped out its bike rack,that had a capacity for up to 15 bikes, in exchange for one parking place. There are no crossing guards at Cherry Street and Hershel St. where the crosswalks are blocked by cars parked by residents in the rentals and the school zones are not observed for speeding. I will never allow my child to ever walk alone or take a bike to school without me watching. She'll age out of WRES before she can ride in this community alone.
What are the benefits of having a MetroJacksonville.com account?
- Share your opinion by posting comments on stories that interest you.
- Stay up to date on all of the latest issues affecting your neighborhood.
- Create a network of friends working towards a better Jacksonville.
>> Register now <<