RiverTown, Busting at the Seams

[cline]

The planning approach was a beautiful highly-prescribed tour d'force of New Urbanism - totally out of place with respect to the site's history, existing character, culture, context, and natural environment. And totally inflexible to adapt to potential changes to the economy or market.

When the economy collapsed in 2007, '08, '09, etc. the legacy of the project was hundreds of acres of magnificent natural environment that had been blitzed-and-cleared - and a development plan that seemed out of place and that was no longer relevant to the market.

I do agree with you Steve.  I guess that's my real issue with this sort of development that is becoming more prevalent throughout the state.  Developers are offering these developments that are billed as "work, live, play" and "respecting the natural environment" and all of those buzz words people like to hear.  The problem is that these developments are being built in the middle of nowhere and many of them are being built on some very sensitive environmental lands.  Now, there are many reasons for this (most of them lie at the feet of our elected officials).  We basically incentivize developers to do these things.  We make it cheaper for them to build on these lands than redevelopment within our City-which has areas that desperately need it.  The plans are basically rubber stamped by development review boards, SJRWMD et. al.  All in the name of jobs mind you.  We wouldn't dare stop anything that might hinder growth aka. jobs.  Of course, these jobs could also be created in other ways that have a less devastating effect on our environment and infrastructure.  As has been repeated ad nauseum on this website, all this new development requires roads and other infrastructure that were not needed before.  And while these developers may pick up some of the tab, you can bet it is not the true cost.  You and I and everyone else will pick up the rest.  Meanwhile, other areas of our city rot away and our schools become eroded.  The unfortunate thing is, I don't see any of this changing.  These developers and land owners have enough money and power to buy off and/or influence any decision maker they want.  The rest of us be damned.  Just look at the Outer Beltway and the alignment and look at the handful of landowners that own land where the alignment is.  They're set to make a killing and you can bet they had a hand in railroading this unneeded boondoggle through.  Of course, if you ask the Clay County Board of Commissioners they'll repeat the JOBS! mantra over and over but we all know the real reason.  $$

[peestandingup]

Of course. A lot of "new Florida's" economy pretty much depends on this type of expansion & they simply don't know anything else. Even though there's a mile long foreclosure glut that'll take a decade to get through, urban core areas need redeveloped, we need a transit system, & the economy is limping along, they'll "put people back to work" with this type of same old bullshit.

[Steve_Lovett]

The planning approach was a beautiful highly-prescribed tour d'force of New Urbanism - totally out of place with respect to the site's history, existing character, culture, context, and natural environment. And totally inflexible to adapt to potential changes to the economy or market.

When the economy collapsed in 2007, '08, '09, etc. the legacy of the project was hundreds of acres of magnificent natural environment that had been blitzed-and-cleared - and a development plan that seemed out of place and that was no longer relevant to the market.

I do agree with you Steve.  I guess that's my real issue with this sort of development that is becoming more prevalent throughout the state.  Developers are offering these developments that are billed as "work, live, play" and "respecting the natural environment" and all of those buzz words people like to hear.  The problem is that these developments are being built in the middle of nowhere and many of them are being built on some very sensitive environmental lands.  Now, there are many reasons for this (most of them lie at the feet of our elected officials).  We basically incentivize developers to do these things.  We make it cheaper for them to build on these lands than redevelopment within our City-which has areas that desperately need it.  The plans are basically rubber stamped by development review boards, SJRWMD et. al.  All in the name of jobs mind you.  We wouldn't dare stop anything that might hinder growth aka. jobs.  Of course, these jobs could also be created in other ways that have a less devastating effect on our environment and infrastructure.  As has been repeated ad nauseum on this website, all this new development requires roads and other infrastructure that were not needed before.  And while these developers may pick up some of the tab, you can bet it is not the true cost.  You and I and everyone else will pick up the rest.  Meanwhile, other areas of our city rot away and our schools become eroded.  The unfortunate thing is, I don't see any of this changing.  These developers and land owners have enough money and power to buy off and/or influence any decision maker they want.  The rest of us be damned.  Just look at the Outer Beltway and the alignment and look at the handful of landowners that own land where the alignment is.  They're set to make a killing and you can bet they had a hand in railroading this unneeded boondoggle through.  Of course, if you ask the Clay County Board of Commissioners they'll repeat the JOBS! mantra over and over but we all know the real reason.  $$

Of course. A lot of "new Florida's" economy pretty much depends on this type of expansion & they simply don't know anything else. Even though there's a mile long foreclosure glut that'll take a decade to get through, urban core areas need redeveloped, we need a transit system, & the economy is limping along, they'll "put people back to work" with this type of same old bullshit.

Even in the densest American cities only a relatively small portion live in the urban core. For instance, Seattle has 3-million in its MSA, but has 80k residents downtown. The difference is that policy and investment in Florida hasn't supported infill redevelopment or investment in infrastructure (transit) to connect cities, urban neighborhoods, and suburbs. You're right about that. The outer beltway is an example of the continuation of a staggering misplaced investment in infrastructure that is unsustainable.

As to RiverTown - the prior plan left RiverTown with hundreds of acres of clearcut land - requiring a new plan and approach for the project. That was not an easy hand to be dealt, and unless you've have a sense of what was started with and have seen in person the commitment to open space, trails, quality design, landscape, and the preservation/celebration of the river and natural landscapes it's a bit unfair to call RiverTown the "same old b.s.". It's not.

[cline]

That was not an easy hand to be dealt, and unless you've have a sense of what was started with and have seen in person the commitment to open space, trails, quality design, landscape, and the preservation/celebration of the river and natural landscapes it's a bit unfair to call RiverTown the "same old b.s.". It's not.

In comparison to the other DRIs being build out in NW SJC (clear-cut tract housing), you're right, it is better than that.  But I'm not going to go as far as to shower it with compliments about how unique its design is.  It is still a greenfield development serving as another bedroom community to Jax.  Besides with the initial price point they were asking for, they can afford a little extra when it comes to "open space, trails...landscape" etc.  It is St. Joe after all.  They have money (well, they used to at least).

[stephendare]

That was not an easy hand to be dealt, and unless you've have a sense of what was started with and have seen in person the commitment to open space, trails, quality design, landscape, and the preservation/celebration of the river and natural landscapes it's a bit unfair to call RiverTown the "same old b.s.". It's not.

In comparison to the other DRIs being build out in NW SJC (clear-cut tract housing), you're right, it is better than that.  But I'm going to go as far as to shower it with compliments about how unique its design is.  It is still a greenfield development serving as another bedroom community to Jax.  Besides with the initial price point they were asking for, they can afford a little extra when it comes to "open space, trails...landscape" etc.  It is St. Joe after all.  They have money (well, they used to at least).

What is a DRI?

I assume NW SJC = North West St. Johns County?

[cline]

DRI=Developments of Regional Impact (Rivertown, Nocatee, Aberdeen, Durbin Crossing, Silverleaf are some of the DRIs in that area).  Most were approved back in the hey day of development.

Yes, NW SJC= Northwest St. Johns County

It's easy to get carried away with the acronyms sometimes.

[fieldafm]

That was not an easy hand to be dealt, and unless you've have a sense of what was started with and have seen in person the commitment to open space, trails, quality design, landscape, and the preservation/celebration of the river and natural landscapes it's a bit unfair to call RiverTown the "same old b.s.". It's not.

In comparison to the other DRIs being build out in NW SJC (clear-cut tract housing), you're right, it is better than that.  But I'm going to go as far as to shower it with compliments about how unique its design is.  It is still a greenfield development serving as another bedroom community to Jax.  Besides with the initial price point they were asking for, they can afford a little extra when it comes to "open space, trails...landscape" etc.  It is St. Joe after all.  They have money (well, they used to at least).

What is a DRI?

I assume NW SJC = North West St. Johns County?

DRI= Developments of Regional Impact

Basically large master planned mixed use communities (like Nocatee, Rivertown, etc), airports, large industrial projects, etc that have a large impact on the local jurisdiction beyond just what goes on within the development's defined borders. 

[JFman00]

http://rivertownflorida.com/HOA.asp

Neighborhood Conveniences

The Northeast Florida Regional Airport is only 15 miles from RiverTown. The Jacksonville International Airport is located about 32 miles from the community.

RiverTown offers convenient access to three of the area's most reputable medical facilities. The community is located about 17 miles from the Baptist Medical Center and roughly 25 miles from St. Lukes Hospital. The highly-reputable Mayo Clinic is approximately 31 miles away.

Nothing says pedestrian-friendly, walkable neighborhood like advertising conveniences 15-32 miles away. Nearest grocery 8 or 12 miles away. I can... acknowledge.... the design decision to build "modern" versions of Avondale/Riverside houses (Craftsman, but with garages!), but I struggle to see the difference between this and say... JCP. No mixed-use, no schools or workplaces nearby.

The *right* way to do greenfield development: http://www.daybreakutah.com/ , http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/10/24/how-salt-lake-city-became-a-leader-in-transit-oriented-development/

Kudos to whoever posted this in the transit thread. The most stunning statistic to me is that 88% of children walk or bike to school.  Considering that in 2009 only 31% of K-8 children lived within a mile of school and of those only 35% walked or bike there, this community is doing something right.

[stephendare]

That was not an easy hand to be dealt, and unless you've have a sense of what was started with and have seen in person the commitment to open space, trails, quality design, landscape, and the preservation/celebration of the river and natural landscapes it's a bit unfair to call RiverTown the "same old b.s.". It's not.

In comparison to the other DRIs being build out in NW SJC (clear-cut tract housing), you're right, it is better than that.  But I'm going to go as far as to shower it with compliments about how unique its design is.  It is still a greenfield development serving as another bedroom community to Jax.  Besides with the initial price point they were asking for, they can afford a little extra when it comes to "open space, trails...landscape" etc.  It is St. Joe after all.  They have money (well, they used to at least).

What is a DRI?

I assume NW SJC = North West St. Johns County?

DRI= Developments of Regional Impact

Basically large master planned mixed use communities (like Nocatee, Rivertown, etc), airports, large industrial projects, etc that have a large impact on the local jurisdiction beyond just what goes on within the development's defined borders. 

Thanks Field.

Its very easy to forget that not everyone speaks acronym.!

[fieldafm]

Nothing says pedestrian-friendly, walkable neighborhood like advertising conveniences 15-32 miles away. Nearest grocery 8 or 12 miles away. I can... acknowledge.... the design decision to build "modern" versions of Avondale/Riverside houses (Craftsman, but with garages!), but I struggle to see the difference between this and say... JCP. No mixed-use, no schools or workplaces nearby.

Bartram Trail High School is located basically within Rivertown and the master plan for the community does call for a mixed use commercial component.  Virtually all of Joe's master communities have a town center-type commercial component.  The difference b/w this and Nocatee is that Nocatee guaranteed Regency certain financial considerations which is why the Publix got built a few years ago.  That and Nocatee had a different (read speedier) model at the time they broke ground. 

I'll have to dig through my hard drive and find some pictures of Watercolor (which is real nice) and Southwood and maybe post a pictorial.

[JFman00]

Is the masterplan available publicly? I wasn't seeing it on the website.

http://www.tunspan.com/cutsheets/urban_design_town_planning/RiverTown.pdf Looks just like every other cookie cutter masterplan community out there.

[fsquid]

WAtercolor near Seaside?

[fieldafm]

I'd have to do some digging to find it, everything I'm typing is just going off memory as I'm at my home office today.

I think the DRI itself is alloted space for the buildout of I believe 5 schools at capacity.

Lovett probably has all the jpgs at his fingertips.

WAtercolor near Seaside?

Yes. 

 

[CityLife]

I'm skimming over a feasibility study that has some interesting data related to the discussion. SJC had 613 new home closing from January 2012-June 2012 which is up 43% over the same period in 2011. Clay was up 20% over that period, Duval down 14% and Nassau down 9%. Nocatee had 354 home closings between June 2011-June 2012. Durbin had 180 closings in the last 12 months of the study (not sure what dates) and Aberdeen had 75. No mention of RiverTown though.

Would be interested to see what the final numbers are for the calender year of 2012 in the metro area and in some of the developments discussed in the thread.

[Steve_Lovett]

Is the masterplan available publicly? I wasn't seeing it on the website.

http://www.tunspan.com/cutsheets/urban_design_town_planning/RiverTown.pdf Looks just like every other cookie cutter masterplan community out there.

This is the old faux-historic new-urban plan. It couldn't have been more out of context and resulted in massively insensitive clearing of natural vegetation during the early infrastructure development phases. I would think the initial phases of the new plan is available on RiverTown's website, but I'm not sure about that.