Print ArticleNow that we've had a chance to take a close look at Bartram Park, Metro Jacksonville takes advantage of Google Earth Streetview to illustrate the impact of modifying land use and zoning policies to encourage human scale development patterns. Today, we take a look at the revitalization of Dallas' State Thomas neighborhood, an urban version of Bartram Park-style housing stock.
Bartram Park/State Thomas Visual Comparison
Site Layout
While the building styles are similar, zoning regulations between Bartram Park and State Thomas are significantly different. One (Bartram Park) forces all traffic from every little development onto one arterial street. The other (State Thomas) is infill within an existing multimodal friendly street grid.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Roadway Infrastructure
With Bartram Park Boulevard being the only roadway serving thousands of housing units, the number of roadway lanes becomes a more important issue than making sure shade trees are uniformly spaced along sidewalks for human scale comfort and protection. In Dallas, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District funds were used in the 1990s to improve the area infrastructure including water and sewer systems, burying utilities, and paving streets in State Thomas. Coupled with context sensitive street design and urban land use policies, the result is a different type of pedestrian scale environment.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Streetscape
The Bartram Park streetscape has little interaction between the sidewalks and adjacent gated properties. In State Thomas, all individual developments are required to interact with the surrounding street network. As a result, residential units and retail stores open onto the sidewalk.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Residential - Townhouse
Townhouses are dominant residential types in both Bartram Park and State Thomas. However, exposed off-street parking along the front setback is not allowed in State Thomas.
Bartram Park
State ThomasConcealment of off-street parking. All permanent parking structures must be either underground or concealed in a building with a facade that is similar in appearance to the facade of the main non-parking building for which the parking is accessory. The parking structure facade is not required to be built of the same material, however. At least 12 percent of the parking structure facade (including openings, if any) must be covered with the same material used predominately on the first 24 feet of height of the main non-parking building. Openings in the parking structure facade may not exceed 52 percent of the total facade area.
Source: http://dallascityattorney.com/51P/Articles Supp 5/ARTICLE 225.pdf
Rear of townhomes in Bartram Park
Rear of townhomes in State Thomas
8 Comments so far
Jump into the conversation