I'm Not Feeling "Bicycle Friendly"

Up front, I want to say that I’m an avid supporter of all things cycling.  That said, I’m not sure we are a “Bicycle Friendly” city.  We have the signs, we have the designations, the complete streets policy as well as tons of road bikers.  What we don’t have are safe streets and comfortable rides that allow kids, novices and the elderly to easily ride around our city.  If you don’t own spandex, you probably don’t bike much in Roswell and if you don’t live on a cul-de-sac or in a gated subdivision, your kids probably aren’t riding their bikes unsupervised much unless you are driving them to one of our destination parks.

Around the holidays the city even has Safe Play areas for children who received outdoor toys for presents.  The city blocks off a few parking lots at three of the city parks for children to safely play with their new toys.  This isn’t inherently a bad thing but just the fact that it is even necessary raises the question of whether we are truly a bicycle friendly community.  There will always be children who live near busy roads or in areas that are just plain inhospitable to safe cycling but there should be plenty of places to go in our city aside from a park parking lot.  If we had properly designed our city with connected streets and separated bicycle and walking paths, we would be much better off.  

The Bicycle Friendly community designation is administered by the League of American Bicyclists as part of its Bicycle Friendly America campaign and Roswell was the first city in Georgia to achieve the designation way back in 2006.  The campaign is laudable and well intentioned.  It has done and will do many great things to advance cycling.  There are five areas of measurement, known as the 5 E’s; Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Evaluation (& Planning).  The 2014 application has 90 questions across these five categories and I’m sure Roswell meets the criteria for the Bronze level certification that we have.

We have a fantastic advocacy group in Bike Roswell and there are many great events like the Criterium & Cycling Festival and the Mayor’s Ride.  The Roswell Loop is a long-term project that, when finished, will significantly upgrade pedestrian and cycling infrastructure in the city.  We will likely host a Gran Fondo road race in October which will bring between one and two thousand riders.  We have weekly rides during the warmer months and all classes of riders are welcome.  We have excellent parks such as the network of parks along the river that provide a great casual riding environment and Big Creek Park has mountain biking trails and the greenway.  Future plans call for a pedestrian and bike bridge that will span the Chattahoochee and a mixed-use trail that will make its way from the river to the square.  These are all great but don’t do much to get the general public out on their bike for everyday activities.

If you take issue with what I’m saying, ask yourself: 

• How many plain clothed women have you seen cycling in Roswell?
• How many people do you personally know that commute by bike?
• How many of your regular destinations in Roswell have bicycle parking?
• Would you feel comfortable if you children rode their bike anywhere within a half mile radius of your home without your supervision?

Likely answers: None, One, No Idea, Heck NO!

What does that say about our bicycle friendliness?  It may be semantics but I believe we are a (mostly) Pro Bike community and have miles to go before we are truly Bicycle Friendly. We need more and better bike friendly infrastructure.  Sharrows and signs are for show.  Bike lanes are good when done right but we truly need bike and ped paths.  We need to connect this city through our subdivisions, gated communities, retail centers and office parks by building mixed-use paths that will form a web of connectivity safe for all types of riders.  The city can create simple incentives to accomplish this in both new and existing developments.

Building a more interconnected city through an extensive multi-use trail network will fuel the local economy.  Bicyclists tend to shop locally.  They also tend to spend more when they shop, potentially due to gas savings.  Property along trails often sells at a premium.  For an example of how an area can be transformed by a simple path, look no further than the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta.  The Beltline Eastside trail has been an amazing catalyst for change.  Businesses located along the trail are quickly opening up entrances that front the trail to capitalize on the foot and bike traffic and new residents are flocking to an area that even five years ago was a very rough part of town.

Bicycling is good for health, wealth, community and business.  The next time you hear about a development, ask yourself how that will impact the ability to bike in Roswell and keep pushing our leaders to become truly Bicycle Friendly.  Checklists and designations aren’t enough.  When women and children on bikes are as common as men in spandex, we will truly be Bicycle Friendly.  Until then, let’s continue to be Pro Bike.

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The Top 10 Developments to Watch in 2014

I’m a sucker for lists but I don’t normally make them myself.  However, there is so much going on around here that it’s hard to keep track.  So, I’m putting together a list of the top 10 projects to watch in 2014.  In the past year, the stage has been set to make this year one of most transformative years ever in North Fulton.  These projects will increase walkability and overall livability in North Fulton.

10. Gwinnett Tech Expansion - Construction of the new Alpharetta Gwinnett Tech campus will be in full swing in 2014, keeping them on track for a Jan 2016 opening.  The depressing thing about the campus is that it appears to be a very 90’s and early 00’s suburban office park site design which shows 3 story’ish buildings surrounded by a sea of parking.  

image: Gwinnett Business Journal

9. North Fulton CID Blueprint 2.0 - The North Fulton CID released its vision for the next 7-10 years in Dec. and there are some projects that may gather momentum in 2013.  They focus on reducing traffic congestion, adapting to changing marketplace trends, and eliminating bureaucratic hurdles.

image: North Fulton CID

8. Roswell Downtown Development Authority - The DDA was relatively quiet in 2013 but expect Roswell to make some waves in the next year with plans for large scale projects in the heart of Roswell.  They launched their website (www.roswelldda.com) in 2013 and have posted several theoretical master plan images.  Their plans for a park or green at City Hall would be a big win if executed properly.

image: Roswell DDA

7. MARTA Rail - In late 2013, MARTA officially announced that it is looking to extend from North Springs station further north to Windward Parkway.  This was received with mixed emotions but many people recognize that more lanes on 400 is going to be costly if not impossible.  The current preferred alternative is to extend heavy rail and add five stations (Northridge, Holcomb Bridge, North Point, Haynes Bridge and Windward). Expect more news on potential funding sources and routes in 2014.

image: MARTA

6. More Roundabouts - In the past two years at least four roundabouts have been opened in North Fulton.  Readers are familiar with my thoughs on roundabouts and there is empirical evidence that they improve traffic flow, reduce crashes and increase safety.  More of them are coming to intersections near you.

5. Roswell Unified Development Code - Roswell has been opening its doors to business over the past 18 months.  There have been several high priority corporate announcements in that timeframe.  That said, the zoning codes are confusing web of red tape and must be changed.  In 2014, expect passage of the new UDC and the accompanying Design Guidelines.  This will send a message to developers that Roswell is serious about redevelopment.  It will also enable a number of projects to finally take a step toward reality.  There are several notable projects that are simply waiting for UDC adoption before going to the city to begin the process.  

4. Canton Street & Downtown Alpharetta Infill - No fewer than five projects around Historic Roswell have been brought before the city in the last several months to add townhomes and residences around the Historic Roswell area.  There are 80+ total units proposed and a number of them are likely to be finished this year.  Add this to the 320 new apartments and the Historic Roswell area could be netting 500+ new residents in the next 12-18 months.  Alpharetta’s downtown is experiencing a similar trend albeit with more multi-acre lots available for development due to large site foreclosures following the real estate crash.  These developments will help drive local businesses in the downtown areas that thrive on pedestrian traffic.

3. Roswell City Walk Apartments - Or should I say, Down Goes Frazier!  The horribly designed 1960’s era Frazier Street Apartments were demolished in December making way for Lennar Miltifamily’s 320 unit luxury apartment complex in the heart of Roswell.  The construction will take much of the year but the first tenants are expect in late 2014.  When complete, this development will be a game changer and will serve as a catalyst for future projects. Grocery store anyone??

image: Lennar Multifamily

2. Alpharetta City Center - It would be hard to top this project given its hefty price tag ($31 million), laudable site plan and ambitious construction schedule.  In the next 12 mos, you will see the heart of the new Alpharetta change dramatically.  Already, there are some new streets in place, with a roundabout, and the new City Hall building is beginning to take shape.  The parking deck and library will follow not too far behind and the addition of park space and a pedestrian orientation will be impressive.  This, as previously mentioned, is helping spur adjacent development.

image: Urban Collage

1. Avalon - This project dwarfs all the others on this list.  It’s hard to downplay the significance of this behemoth.  Total economic impact could be over $1 billion when all is said and done.  The construction at the site over the past 2 months has been frenetic and leaves little doubt that North American Properties will hit their Q4’14 target for opening phase I.  This project is regionally significant and is being watched by the commercial real estate industry nationally.  The combination of live, work and play gives Avalon major mixed-use cred and makes it unlike almost any other development in the region.  The tenant list is impressive with top-notch national and local restaurants and retailers.  When Avalon opens its streets in late 2014, it will serve as a showcase for walkability and urbanism in a suburban environment.  It will be interesting to see how it impacts other popular destinations such as North Point Mall and Canton St.

image: North American Properties

That’s a lot to chew on and undoubtedly, something else will creep up in 2014.  There are even some regionally significant projects that you will want to keep an eye on; the Stadiums (Braves & Falcons), Atlanta Street Car, College Football Hall of Fame, National Center for Human Rights, and Buckhead Atlanta just to name a few.

Happy New Year and have a great 2014!

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Drive Me Out to the Ballgame

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you are aware that the Atlanta Braves have reached an agreement with Cobb County to move the team to a site just outside the perimeter at the 75/285 junction.  This was quite a shock to the region and it has huge implications.  

There are a number of reasons behind the move that have been analyzed ad nauseum in the local and national media.  The details are too meaty to dive into however there are some promising aspects and some very depressing aspects of this deal.  Ultimately, the Braves wanted either a new stadium or a renovated Turner Field and required a lot in return.  The City of Atlanta couldn’t (or wouldn’t depending on whom you ask) compete with Cobb at the moment. The Braves want to get closer to their fan base which is understandable and Cobb is attractive.

Renderings of the proposed stadium show a conceptual mixed use development to the west of the stadium that could work to engage the area and bring a walkable urban environment into the Cumberland area.

The biggest and most laudable piece of this entire deal is the Braves’ commitment to creating a mixed-use destination that can function 365 days a year rather than a single use stadium that operates 81 to 90 days a year.  They envision this being the anchor development for a ‘walkable’ destination.  I’m not sure they will ever achieve true walkability in that area as there are just far too many wide roads and long distances between destinations.  That said, I truly wish them success.  The more walkability in the burbs, the better our region will be.  Unfortunately, my prediction is that it ends up being an over-priced, half-baked “mixed-use” destination full of national brand retailers and chain restaurants.  

The real concern, however, are the traffic implications of this move.  Roswell & East Cobb, in just three short years, Santa Claus, in the form of Cobb County Commissioner Tim Lee (the man behind the curtains on this deal), will be dropping a HUGE lump of coal in your stocking.  You can look forward to 81 traffic inducing home games, 50+ of which are on weekdays, most of which are at 7pm, putting more cars on your already clogged highways and arterials.  Will it be traffic Armageddon?  No, because we already have that at the 75/285 and 400/285 interchanges.  Traffic on Braves game nights will be straight from the bowels of hell.

The map of 2013 Braves ticket sales provides clarity into why the move north makes sense. This will notably change traffic patterns.

Say you’re heading from North Fulton, South Forsyth or even parts of Gwinnett and you want to take in a night game at the new Cobb stadium.  How are you going to get there?  Today, the current debacle that is 400 south to 285 east will take you at least 45 minutes.  That’s before adding a few thousand more vehicles trying to make that trip.  You can probably bank on 75 minutes plus from Alpharetta to the new stadium.  As an alternative, you might try your luck heading through Roswell and East Cobb by taking surface streets over to Marietta.  Adding another 1,000 or so trips through some of the North Fulton and East Cobb intersections will do wonders for the collective psyche of drivers who live around those areas (that’s us). 

To their credit, the Braves and Cobb County (and I’m sure GDOT now that they’ve been informed of the move) will get to work on solutions to get Braves fans to the new stadium.  They’ve talked about a tram or streetcar from the Cumberland area to the game as well as new ramps from the interstates into the parking area for the stadium.  That will be accommodative and will mitigate some of the problems but it’s a drop in the bucket.  The one thing that is missing is real transit access.  Your only option will be to drive and that’s something that Cobb GOB chariman Joe Dendy is determined to maintain.  After the announcement he was quoted as saying; “It’s absolutely necessary the solution is all about moving cars in and around Cobb and surrounding areas from our north and east where most Braves fans travel from, and not moving people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta.”

There you have it.  The solutions proposed will look at adding more capacity to already choking highways.  If we haven’t learned by now that more lanes induce more driving and solutions solely focused on cars have yet to rid us of congestion, then I’m not sure we will.  But, I never expected Cobb to understand this.  Maybe once the nightmare begins, we will finally wake up to our 1 mode solutions and start making better transportation decisions.  But for now, the baseball mantra in Atlanta is.. 

“Build it and they will (only) come (by car).”

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"Poster Child of Sprawl” to “Champion of Walkability”?

I’ve been excitedly awaiting the WalkUP Wake-Up Call: Atlanta report that was released last month.  The report, authored by Christopher Leinberger and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington School of Business, takes a look at the Atlanta region’s pattern of development over the past 20 years and makes a compelling case that the era of sprawl may be over.  Mr. Leinberger is a well known land-use strategist who is famous for labeling Atlanta of the 90’s as the ‘fastest growing human settlement in the history of the world’ in terms of acres consumed per capita.  

Although, an impressive claim, we all can agree that the outcome wasn’t all great.  Sure, there are a good percentage of Atlanta area residents who have nice yards, lots of square feet and ample big boxes to shop from.  Conversely, most of us have to drive to virtually everything in sometimes excruciating congestion, relegating the young, elderly, poor and disabled to a subservient existence waiting on buses with 30 to 60 minute headways.  Additionally, the environmental impacts of our carelessly planned sprawl have wreaked havoc on both our air, via tailpipe emissions, and water quality, via runoff.

The report did not disappoint in its findings.  It chronicled development across the Atlanta region and looked at the two primary market supported forms of development, drivable suburban and walkable urban.  Drivable suburban is characterized by separated uses and automobile dependance.  Walkable urban is characterized by mixed-uses, multiple viable transportation options and a high degree of walkability.  Atlanta has been characterized as the ‘Sprawl Capital of U.S.’ and videos have chronicled “Sprawlanta” in a negative light.  When I moved here in 1999, being able to walk was the last thing on my mind.  However, today’s college graduates and corporate re-lo’s are a different animal.  They want walkable places with a mix of uses and those preferences aren’t expected to shift anytime soon.  The good thing is that Atlanta is apparently working to answer the demand.

The report found that there are 27 Established Walkable Urban Places (WalkUPs) in the region.  Oversimplifying for this column, the Established WalkUPs were identified as places having Walkscores greater than 70.5.  There were nine locations with Walkscores between 57 and 70.5 and those were labeled Emerging WalkUPs.  There were also ten potential WalkUPs identified through other methodology.  The report also ranked the WalkUPs on two factors, Economic Performance and Social Equity.  It gets into further detail by classifying the WalkUPs into seven types, Downtown, Downtown Adjacent, Urban Commercial, Urban University, Suburban Town Center, Drivable Suburban Commercial Redevelopment and Greenfield/Brownfield.  

Matrix of land use options in metro-ATL. Source: WalkUP Wake Up Call

In a speaking engagement surrounding the release of the report, Mr. Leinberger stated;

We have seen the end of sprawl in Atlanta. The suburbs are not dead.  This is the urbanization of the suburbs. 

So, how did the northern burbs fare?  Just okay.  North of the river, there are only two established WalkUPs, Downtown Roswell and Downtown Marietta.  No surprises there.  There were two emerging WalkUPs, North Point and Town Center (Kennesaw) along with three potential WalkUPs, East & West Windward and Encore Park.  There were a bunch of established and potential clustered in the Perimeter area and the majority of the others were in Buckhead and Atlanta around MARTA lines.  One glaringly absent area... HBR & 400.  This absence is not the fault of the authors.  It is the lack of creativity from Roswell and due to the outcry from a small minority (see last month’s column) it looks like the UDC will remove any changes to current zoning from that area.  

Notice there is a little activity in North Fulton. source: WalkUP Wake Up Call

Notice, there aren't many established WalkUPs in the northern burbs. source: WalkUP Wake Up Call

All of that is interesting but what does it all mean?  Some of the key findings: 

• Established WalkUPs account for .55% of the region’s land area and Emerging WalkUPs take up another .33% for a total of .88%.
• From 1992 to 2000, the share of income producing property development (office, retail, apartment, hotel) in Emerging or Established WalkUPs was 14%.
• From 2001 to 2009, that share increased to 26%.
• From 2009 to present, the share was a whopping 60%.
• That means that since 2009 60% of the region’s development has been concentrated on .88% of the land.
• Since 2009, 73% of development in Established WalkUPs went around MARTA rail stations.
• Almost 19% of the regions jobs are located in the 27 Established WalkUPs.
• Using Washington DC as the de facto model of WalkUP development, the Atlanta region could support another 8 WalkUPs.  
• On a price/sq.ft. basis, the 27 WalkUPs saw a 112% rent premium over the rest of the metro area (30% for office, 147% for retail, 12% for rental residential, 161% for for-sale residential)

That last point bears repeating.  For-sale residential in the 27 Established WalkUPs saw a 161% price premium compared to the rest of the region.  It’s safe to say that the market is SCREAMING for Walkable Urban development.  It is not only desirable, but highly profitable.  So, if you don’t want your city to fall by the wayside, you might want to support walkable development.  

Attn. Roswell... HINT... HBR/400 MUST BE Zoned Mixed Use in the UDC.

Attn. Sandy Springs... Great work on your city center plans.

Attn. Johns Creek... Mayday.. Mayday.. Mayday..

Attn. Milton... Horses need walkability too.

Attn. Alpharetta... Walkability is coming whether you like it or not.

For the full report click here.

Be Afraid.. Be Very Afraid

The witching month is upon us and some local ghouls, pundits and politicians would have you believe that one of the most terrifying moments in Roswell’s history is looming.  They will have you believe the Unified Development Code (UDC) will cast a shadow of doom over our great city that will be wrought by our current crooked city council and their greedy developer cronies.  These oracles will try to convince you, the naive and credulous, that this new code will usher in smothering density, rampant apartments, skyrocketing crime, soaring infrastructure costs, high-rise buildings, dysfunctional schools, choking traffic and the most ghastly of all...  URBANISM!!!

The UDC does allow for increased density and apartments in certain areas.  Will it be smothering? Is Vickery Village in Cumming a smothering Place?  Are the Providence Townhomes on Canton St smothering?  How about the Bricks and Founders Mill?  What about Liberty Lofts?  I guess they’re right.  Density is unbearable.

Some local examples of Unbearable Density. Clockwise from top left; The Bricks, Founders Mill, Vickery Village, Providence

What about the apartments?  Our current apartment complexes are unmitigated disasters.   Most were not well designed, poorly maintained and thoughtlessly located.  They segregated residents by class and effectively created billboards of indigence.  Lessons have been learned, just take a look at the Canton City Walk plans.  We need new, well-designed apartments like these.

The latest renderings of Canton City Walk illustrate the power of a quality architectural scheme coupled with walkability.

Will we see skyrocketing crime? I have faith in the men and women in law enforcement here in Roswell and the laws we have in place to prevent criminal activity.  It’s just not going to happen.

Infrastructure Costs will soar. Hmm.. Developers pay a lot of infrastructure costs up front and a tighter development pattern reduces infrastructure maintenance costs.  The alternative is to continue a sprawl pattern of development which has proven to cost more to maintain in the long run.  

Evaluation of Urban Residential vs Suburban Residential development in Sarasota, FL. image: Urban3

They’re bringing high-rises.  It’s the ghost of Charlie Brown.  Seriously folks, we have to move on.  The parcel of land at 400 and Holcomb Bridge is too valuable not to redevelop.  The UDC will permit buildings up to 8 stories in that area.  Additionally, it will likely be a future MARTA station.  It’s coming.  Get over it.  It’s only 8 stories.  The next most towering height permitted is 6 stories at Hwy 140 & 9.  There are 6 story buildings all over North Fulton.  Several other areas permit a lofty 4 stories and the rest of the map allows up to 3 stories.  (Correction: 6 stories are permitted in most of the industrial areas North of Mansell along the hwy 9 corridor and east into the industrial areas.  I did not clarify that in the published column.)

Roswell East (aka Charlie Brown) is a little too intense for Roswell. The UDC isn't dictating that this type of development be built anywhere.

Density will destroy our schools.  Huh?  Transiency, poverty and social disorder kill schools not people.  If we build a place where responsible people want to live, regardless of whether they are renters or owners, we won’t have a school problem.  

We will Choke on Traffic.  Our Transportation Master Plan that was approved in September helps address these issues but I challenge anyone out there to name any thriving city that does not have traffic?  Cities and towns without traffic problems are dying cities and towns.  Detroit’s done a fantastic job solving its traffic problem.  

They’re mandating URBANISM!!! - Let’s set this straight.  Urbanism is a design philosophy covering the spectrum from low density to very high density.  Urbanism does not mandate Manhattan but it allows it, just as it allows single family residential. Urbanism promotes connectivity, proximity, mixed-use, walkability, bikeability, incremental change and value creation through effective and thoughtful land use.  

The transect outlines development patterns from Rural to Urban. New Urbanism does not mandate high density.

Canton Street, the Mill Village, Milton Crabapple, Historic Norcross and Marietta Square are all examples of good URBANISM.  So is Seaside which is the only place I can think of that consistently and genuinely has the idyllic “white picket fence” that seems to define the “small-town feel.”  So, how is it that the world’s preeminent model of ‘urbanism’ provides exactly the idyllic, small-town feel that these public agitators preach will be destroyed by said ‘urbanism’? Go sell your Revelations somewhere else preacher men because I’m not buying it.  (30-A stickers anyone?)

The process has been rushed!  I disagree.  Our 2030 Comp Plan was adopted in Oct. 2011.  Amongst other things, it aims to revitalize declining areas, add additional housing options and update existing codes to attract high-quality projects.  Our current codes could not easily accomplish this task and in May 2012 the city brought in Code Studio to assist with the mammoth effort of updating and simplifying them.  A stakeholder committee was formed and has worked diligently over the past 16 months to get to this point. There have been over 40 meetings since the process began and all of them have been open to the public. The process has been well documented and open to the public.

All legislation should have a clear purpose.  The purpose of the UDC is to aid the city in implementing the 2030 Comp Plan and its Strategic Economic Development Plan.  Those that proselytize against the UDC have no plan, they just don’t like this one.  Some of their concerns have some merit but to spout off every worst case scenario to sack legislation is immature and disingenuous.  The bottom line is that Roswell has a plan that was created through a very open process with SIGNIFICANT and UNPRECEDENTED community input and the UDC helps implement that plan.

The kicker is that almost everything the UDC allows could be done today but it would take a lot more effort between the city and developers, builders & property owners thereby wasting taxpayer money and sending a discouraging signal to anyone wanting to do business in Roswell.  The UDC will help Roswell execute on its vision by reducing red tape, clarifying the vision and enabling the private sector to more efficiently and effectively put capital to work.

The Devil’s Advocate likes to say the Devil is in the Details.. I say the Devil is in Delay... NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO AGREE WITH EVERYTHING IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Let your mayor and council know that you support the UDC by sending them an email at  RoswellMayorandCouncil@roswellgov.com

Will the Unified Development Code Divide Us?

You may have recently received a mailing from the city of Roswell regarding the “Initiation of Proposed Map Amendments.”  Essentially this letter was sent to inform some residents, roughly 13,000 of them, that their property may be rezoned as part of the Unified Development Code, an effort to update the city’s antiquated zoning ordinances.  The letter I received was careful to point out that “all of the existing rights allowed on the property will remain,” and that if I am “satisfied with the suggested conversion of my property category, I do not need to do anything.” In case you are wondering, I am satisfied and I’m not doing anything and according to Brad Townsend, planning and zoning director, only about 20 people have voiced their concerns.  I am excited to be moving from “C-3 Highway Commercial” to “DX Downtown Mixed Use!”  The overwhelming majority of residents will see no change in the way their property is intended to be used.

To be blunt, I’m skeptical of zoning.  I think it’s mostly unnecessary.  Most of the best places in our country and the world were built before the advent of zoning.  Many of the great places in Roswell were built without zoning.  Prior to zoning, people generally knew what made sense to build in a certain spot.  Granted, industry encroached on residential areas in inappropriate ways as the industrial revolution picked up steam, especially in large cities.  The natural response was to create regulations that separated incompatible land uses.  Our obsession with single use zoning began in the 20’s & 30’s and by the time the 50’s rolled around, post-war construction was booming and we had relegated virtually every land use to a specific place on a map whether it made sense or not.  Now, virtually every city in the country has a similar zoning code and those codes for the most part mandate a suburban development pattern.  Question to ponder... is suburbia a product of the free market or government regulation?

That said, the unintended consequences of 40+ years of post World War II zoning and suburban development started to become noticeable in the 1990’s as some people began to see sprawl as a problem.  More and more data started to point to our highly zoned and segregated development pattern as a contributor to many issues such as the obesity epidemic, global warming, environmental degradation, declining social capital and placelessness.

We built a country so uniform that it is now difficult to tell whether you are in Florida or Kansas except that one state has small rotating storms and the other has big rotating ones. A rough estimate is that 30 million buildings have been constructed in the past 50 years.  Out of those, 99+% are wholly unremarkable from an architectural standpoint.  Try to think of one place that was built in the past 50 years that is incredible that did not require some sort of variance to get built.  What I’m saying is that our modern zoning creates mundane places that are in no way memorable.  

Now, I’m a realist and understand that no American municipality would dare try to completely repeal it’s zoning codes.  But they can change them. The famed architect and planner Andres Duany is fond of saying “no one has ever dismantled a bureaucracy, not Napoleon, not Hitler. You can, however, change what they administer.”  Ideally, we want to create more Canton Street and Sloan Street and less Alpharetta Highway and Holcomb Bridge.  Our current codes can easily permit an auto oriented strip mall in most sections of the city but it’s much more difficult (impossible) to replicate the section of Canton Street from Norcross to Magnolia which is arguably the most successful 300 feet of retail and residential OTP.  Why would a zoning code make it illegal to replicate that?  Is it unsafe? Is it unsightly?

The UDC begins to help alleviate this problem.  It’s not radical but it is a change.  It even has pictures to illustrate design requirements.  It works to bring the 2030 Comprehensive Plan to life by coding for what we want to see rather than coding for what we don’t want to see.  The new code is intended to help everyone, from layperson to developer, understand what development on a certain property or roadway should look like.  Code Studio, the firm that was selected to write the UDC, is top notch.  They have worked with a committee of stakeholders from our city to draft a document that will help the city achieve the goals set forth in the 2030 comprehensive plan.  They have written similar codes for Raleigh, Denver and Memphis which tells me that they know what they are doing.  

At this point, most of the work is done but there is still time to opine.  There will be public comment meetings held August 19-21 around town.  Times and locations can be found on the city website.

More Roundabouts Please!!

This is a cross-post from my monthly column, Community Design Matters, in The Current.

If you have driven around North Fulton lately, you may have come across a roundabout in your travels.  Until recently, roundabouts were mostly a foreign phenomena.  Roswell got the dizzying party going just over two years ago with the first roundabout in North Fulton at the Grimes Bridge and Norcross St intersection.  At this point, the roundabouts of North Fulton are few in number but their impact cannot be larger and as you will see, we should build more.. a lot more. 

Did you know that over 7,000 people are killed and nearly 1 million are injured annually in the US in intersection related crashes?  A high percentage of these are right angle collisions that occur at signalized or signed intersections.  Roundabouts significantly reduce crashes especially severe ones.  Statistics from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety show that roundabouts reduce crashes by about 35%.  This is done in part by fully eliminating left turns across opposing traffic, which just happens to be the most dangerous maneuver a driver can make.  They virtually eliminate high speed and right angle crashes as well.  By doing this, they reduce injuries by 76% and fatalities by 90%.

Roundabouts are also safer for pedestrians as they reduce speeds, make drivers more cautious , prevent drivers from making left turns and allow a pedestrian to cross traffic that is moving in only one direction.  

For a driver just trying to get around, there is less stop and go which saves time and money.  Most impressively, a roundabout can handle between 4 and 5 times the amount of traffic in a given time period when compared to a standard signalized intersection.

For cities, they lower operational and maintenance costs and in most cases building one is comparable in price to building a standard intersection.  However, retrofitting a standard intersection as roundabout can be more expensive.

Currently, there are three operational roundabouts in North Fulton and at least five more are planned.  This is great but how do we compare to Carmel, Indiana the most roundabout crazed city in the US?  Carmel is an Indianapolis suburb of 79,000 people and it has at least 80 roundabouts.  They have done away with 78 traffic signals (over 80% of their intersections).  That’s amazing!

All of these benefits are fantastic and straight forward.  However, whenever a new roundabout is proposed, there are always going to be nervous or skeptical people.  Overcoming those fears and objections is fairly easy and North Fulton cities have done remarkably well in this area.  Cities should install their first roundabouts in non-critical locations which will help the fearful and skeptical overcome their fears and objections over time.  Having followed the Roswell roundabout for two years, this pattern is evident.  Online comments on news articles moved from concerned to positive quickly and anecdotal conversations follow the same trend.

So, with all of these benefits? Why aren’t we jumping on every opportunity to build a roundabout?

If you're interested in learning more, check out this video from the Federal Highway Administration:

Stacked Flats Coming to Roswell

This is a cross-post from my monthly column, Community Design Matters, in The Current.

You can call the project whatever you want; apartments, stacked flats, too dense, gentrification, revitalization, progress, catalytic.  But, no matter where you stand, it increasingly looks like we will soon see the first major redevelopment in Roswell’s historic district under the new Groveway code.  Lennar Multifamily is planning on dropping $43 million+ into the parcel of land where the Frazier Street Apartments currently sit and the Roswell City Council allowed Lennar to take a major step forward last month when it approved the site plan by a 5-1 vote.  It should come as no surprise to readers that I am a proponent of this project.  I actually purchased a home in April that quite literally backs up to this project, not in small part due to my strong convictions about the project’s value to the surrounding community.

That said, there have been no shortage of arguments made as to why this is a bad idea.  These tend to center around six main themes; Density, Mix of Uses, Cars, Schools and Displacement.  If you were able to attend the May 13th City Council meeting you would have seen Chris Cassidy, Regional VP, Lennar Multifamily, address these concerns with the council and audience.  Here’s a recap with color. As far as density is concerned, this project will be 32 units per acre (320 units on 10 acres) which is an increase from the roughly 16 units per acre currently.  Given the cost of the property and need for profitability, this is the optimum amount that Lennar believes is suitable.  Additionally, people living in close proximity to amenities is what creates truly walkable places.  

Another big concern was that it did not adhere to the Groveway code because it was not mixed-use.  First, there are many varieties of mixed-use from vertical to horizontal.  Second, not every building or parcel in our historic district needs to be mixed use and the code does not require that.  All mixed-use all the time is a nice vision but realistically, it doesn’t always work.  Putting space for retail on the ground floor doesn’t magically bring a business to fill it. Ideally, these apartments will provide patrons for what should eventually be a vertical mixed use parcel right next-door where the Value Village and Southern Skillet strip mall currently sits.  These apartments will be the spark needed to finally get that parcel redeveloped.  

Probably the single biggest concern centered around the car.  Yes Roswell, we are preoccupied with our cars, but not just our own cars.  We are preoccupied with everyone else’s cars and what they do with them.

The evil twins of Traffic and Parking came up numerous times and were addressed well by Mr. Cassidy.  On parking, Lennar feels that the number of spaces they are requesting (a variance, as they are requesting fewer spaces than our minimum parking reqs. require) is appropriate given the usage in other similar properties.  They have found that they require approximately .9 spaces per room in similar projects.  This means that the 420-445 that they are considering would be appropriate and they will tweak the # of spaces to meet the number they feel is appropriate.  Big concerns were raised by councilman Igleheart as well as others in the audience that this would not be enough and the “what if’s” were flying.  But, you must remember that apartments are rarely 100% leased, people vacation, take business trips, work at different times and some don’t even have cars (some).  The point is that you don’t build the church for Easter Sunday and we shouldn’t build our parking lots with excess capacity.  It’s a waste of space and money.

It’s as simple as this.  Lennar and Mr. Cassidy understand apartment parking needs far more than an ordinary citizen going off their gut feelings.  If Lennar isn’t interested in doing more projects in Roswell, it would be shocking considering they are putting such a sizable investment into the heart of our city.  Gambling on parking requirements and upsetting the city seems like a losing deal for them.  Additionally, we want walkability in this area.  NOTHING kills walkability more than the blank expanses of surface parking lots.  Mr. Cassidy referred several times in his presentation to the Highlands of West Village project in Smyrna as being a good comparison for what they are looking to construct here.  The parking allotment there is roughly the same as what they are looking to do here without any significant issues.
The car dominated another discussion which was about what cars do when they aren’t parked.  Arguments were raised that the traffic counts would be unbearable and that we would grind to a halt in that part of town.  The city’s traffic studies suggest otherwise (these are the same people that were crazy enough to suggest that the round-a-bout would not be a total disaster).  Lennar had the most conservative analysis possible done.  They did not remove the Frazier St Apartments traffic from the count and added the estimated traffic from their project on top of that.  The models showed increased traffic but not significant enough congestion to warrant concern from DOT. 

The concerns raised about the impact to schools would normally apply.  The only problem is that the demographic that Lennar is targeting generally won’t have kids or won’t have them living with them.  Thus, Fulton county’s estimates of 168 to 265 students borders on absurdity.  The true number will be much lower than that and comparable properties say that the number may even be in the single digits but it is more likely between 10 and 20.  That does not account for the displacement of the school age kids that are currently living there which could end up with an overall reduction to Roswell North, Crabapple Middle and Roswell High.

Another concern raised, which I agree with, is that the current conceptual name is not appropriate.  Canton City Walk tries to play on the success of Canton Street and the fact that the target demographic will desire walkability.  However, it just doesn’t sit well with most people who hear it.  That said, the name is conceptual and will be reviewed by Lennar.  I have even heard that they may be open to suggestions.

Finally, there were some folks in the audience who were appropriately concerned with the designs.  The initial concept was exactly that, a concept.  Lennar has worked extensively with our city staff and their team of architects and advisors to put together a project with a design that will reflect some of the history and vernacular of Historic Roswell while also incorporating a new feel.  Mr. Cassidy stated that the designs had “significantly changed” since they were initially released.  Having seen them, I can agree.  The new designs should go before the Historic Preservation Commission for final approval on July 17. 

It is exciting to see a project that increases walkability, brings unique residences and cleans up the heart of our city coming to us in the near future.  if all goes well, we could see construction begin toward the end of this year and we might have some new neighbors sometime next year.  Once that happens, the true power of proximity and walkability will start to be realized in our historic district.

Learning From Sloan Street Park

This is a cross-post from my monthly column, Community Design Matters, in The Current.

Sloan Street Park: Roswell’s only neighborhood park is surrounded by homes and townhomes, has a playground, a gathering space, a monument and even has a doggie poo station. image: Bing Maps

When was the last time you visited a park?  Here in Roswell and North Fulton, we are blessed with great parks .  In fact, the Roswell Parks & Rec department has been named Agency of the Year by the Georgia Recreation & Park Association a record eight times, last receiving the award in 2011.  Alpharetta also won the award in 2011 for the mid-size city category.  Some of the great parks in our area include Riverside, Roswell Area, Wills, Overlook, the Big Creek Greenway and the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.

What do these all have in common?  They are destination parks. Most visitors drive to them. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with destination parks but when you lack the other types of parks, your city can certainly become boring not to mention difficult to navigate for some folks.  Think about this, can you walk to a public park in ten minutes or less?  If you are in the historic district, that answer is probably yes.  I’m fortunate to be able to walk to five and if you count the grounds at Barrington and Bulloch, seven.  Unfortunately, most of us don’t have that type of park proximity.

How can our cities increase park access for all?  Well, what most of the cities of North Fulton are lacking is easy access to small neighborhood parks sometimes called pocket parks.  These are the types of parks where neighbors bump into each other while on a stroll.  The kind where kids can actually go without a parental escort, maybe gaining some confidence and independence in the process.  The kind that have buildings lining the edges defining the space and creating a sense of place.  Unfortunately, we’ve largely forgotten about public neighborhood parks out here in the burbs.  We forgot about them in favor of big yards and lawnmowers. We traded traditional neighborhoods with walkable parks for our easy, no hassle, happy-motoring access to all the happiness that stuff in strip malls provides us.  

Roswell is a great case study, we have no fewer than 22 parks in the city.  Of those there are 11 linear parks, 5 district parks, 1 national recreation area and six “small urban parks” as the city refers to them.  You might be surprised by their names; City Hall, Heart of Roswell, Sloan Street, Terramont, Town Square & Triangle Parks.  These are just our public parks.  The list does not include private parks such as those in Martin's Landing and other subdivisions.

Now, 22 is a respectable number of parks with a diverse range of types totaling over 900 acres.  Add to that Roswell’s commitment to preserve over 5,000 acres of greenspace (including but not limited to parks) and you have a city that is serous about parks.  Well, serious about destination parks.  We have the "small urban parks" but even those six can be a challenge to walk to which limits their utility.

Three of the six are adjacent to Hwy 9 and another is adjacent to Holcomb Bridge Rd.  For the most part, they don't serve a neighborhood and are actually smaller destination spaces.  Actually, only one of our public parks, Sloan Street Park, could really be considered a neighborhood ‘pocket park’ and not surprisingly, it’s the only one with a playground.

What makes it unique is that it is focused on the people that live and work around it while also being useful to all ages.  It should serve as inspiration for the next generation of parks in Roswell.  We can start focusing on building true neighborhoods with cozy walkable parks where neighbors can gather and kids can play with friends without calling it a ‘play date.’ 

Now, neighborhood parks sound warm and fuzzy but public money spent on parks would be better utilized by the private sector, right?  Wrong.  A well maintained network of public parks supports property values, boosts the local economy, increases social capital, improves public health and helps preserve the environment.  One of the best examples of a park creating value is our nation’s most famous park, Central Park.  Frederick Law Olmstead (also designed Piedmont Park) tracked the values of property adjacent to the park from 1856 to 1873 to justify the $13 million investment.  He found that values increased by an impressive $209 million in those 17 years.  

Beyond the economic case, the quality of life benefits are huge.  Simply being able to walk out the front door and stroll to your park is a luxury that is largely lost these days.  We’ve chosen to build our parks in places where it’s tough to walk.  Most of our parks have few homes fronting them.  Many of them are separated from residential areas by busy street on at least one side.  Neighborhood parks have homes and businesses that front the park.  People can walk right out into their park.  They meet their neighbors there and the best thing is that they can walk right back home when it’s time.  Sloan Street Park is just that kind of park.

We need more parks like Sloan Street Park to start completing our neighborhoods.  You should check it out.  It might not be special to you but then again, it’s probably not your neighborhood park.  Where can we build the next one?

The STROADs of North Fulton

This is a cross-post from my monthly column, Community Design Matters, with The Current.

Roads are inherently meant to connect places.  Ideally, they are higher speed with very few intersections, entrances and distractions.  They have wider lanes and more forgiving curves to provide added safety.  They differ significantly from streets which are meant to create places and capture and build upon the value in those places.  Well designed streets are typically straight and have many intersections.  They have narrower lanes and have sidewalks and sometimes bike lanes.  Turn lanes and acceleration lanes shouldn’t be present.  Traffic on properly designed streets is slower and it mixes with other modes such as pedestrians, bicyclists and pubic transportation.

Examples of properly functioning streets and roads in North Fulton are few and far between.  One street that comes to mind is Canton Street between Magnolia St and Woodstock Rd.  It functions very well as a street by taking multiple modes safely through an environment that defines a place. It is a destination point which is usually where streets are present.  A well functioning road (although not named a road) is actually Marietta Hwy from Roswell to East Cobb.  This road provides a high speed and efficient route from one destination to another with minimal interruptions from intersections, incoming/exiting traffic and shopping centers.  You can safely drive 50+ mph until you near the Avenue East Cobb or the Historic Square.  There are others that function well but most of our streets and roads are actually a dangerous and economically handicapped combination of the two.  

Chuck Marohn of StrongTowns.org has coined the term STROAD to describe a “street-road hybrid” which performs poorly at both functions.  Chuck calls a STROAD “the futon of transportation alternatives. Where a futon is an uncomfortable couch that also serves as an uncomfortable bed, a STROAD is an auto corridor that does not move cars efficiently while simultaneously providing little in the way of value capture.”  You can find STROADs all over North Fulton.  Any time you are driving between 30 and 50 mph, you are likely on a STROAD.  

Some of the more prominent STROADs here in N Fulton are Old Milton Parkway, Mansell Rd, Alpharetta Hwy (especially between Historic Roswell and Hembree Rd) and the grand daddy of all N Fulton STROADs, Holcomb Bridge Rd.  The constant barrage of shopping plazas, gas stations, subdivisions and intersections along roads that are supposed to move people from point A to point B eliminates much of the fast, efficient movement that roads should provide.  Couple the transportation issues with the fact that what we find along our STROADs should actually be concentrated along properly designed streets and you have a recipe for complete and utter inefficiency with a side of unnecessary danger.  

We deck our STROADs out with all the infrastructure necessary for a highly productive street but the revenue generated from the uses lining the STROAD in many cases does not support the maintenance of the infrastructure past one life cycle.  The combination of highway road geometries like wide lanes, turning lanes, merging and deceleration lanes and frequent traffic signals creates an environment ripe for crashes.  Any traffic engineer will tell you that one of the biggest culprits for collisions is speed differential.  When cars are traveling in the same space at differing speeds, you get crashes.  The STROAD is the Mecca for these types of scenarios.  All traffic is forced onto the STROAD from our subdivisions and shopping centers.  All traffic must leave the STROAD to get to it’s destination.  There is no common departure and arrival.  Everyone has a different departure and arrival point along the way.   

Mix a STROAD and pedestrians together and look out.  One of the most infamous stretches of STROAD in the nation is Buford Hwy south of I-285 where there is an intense mix of auto and pedestrian traffic.  Between 2000 and 2009, at least 22 pedestrians died along that stretch of Buford Hwy.  Here's a very interesting video on that road:

Fortunately, North Fulton does not have a location of that nature.  However, there is one very concerning spot that does come to mind.  That is Holcomb Bridge Rd just west of GA 400.  With the amount of illegal pedestrian activity at that intersection, we are one misstep away from a fatal collision.  That area needs a design makeover yesterday and these signs in the median aren't going to cut it.

In order to build stronger towns, safer places and more desirable environments, we need to begin to focus more on points A and B and less on getting people to what’s between them (usually strip malls, gas stations, car dealers).  We need to build more productive streets, like Canton St, and more efficient roads, like Marietta Hwy that will capture value where it should be captured and get people between destinations efficiently and safely.

This month’s column borrowed heavily from the ideas of Chuck Marohn with StrongTowns.org.  If you are interested in hearing more from Chuck, he will be speaking on April 25th at Town Hall | Roswell.  For more info on that event or to register for it, click here.

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