Walkability is King in 2015

This year is shaping up to be a defining year for the future of development in and around the North Fulton area.  In 2014, we saw the trend toward walkable development take a root with Avalon and Alpharetta City Center leading the way.  Smaller projects sprinkled around downtown Alpharetta, Roswell and Milton Crabapple are helping to create authentic places where people want to be.  Many of these will be wrapping up in 2015 and there are a number of additional projects, big and small, that we will learn more about. 

We will definitely hear more about Avalon’s phase II.  Judging by the crowds on the ice skating rink this holiday season, Mark Toro has hit a home run with the first phase and the development is only about a third complete.  There’s still a lot more coming on the west and east ends of the development.  The Monte Hewitt homes that will be going up will rival upscale developments on 30A, like Rosemary Beach, in design quality while the expansion of the retail and office on the east end will continue to expand Avalon into an attractive destination for dining and shopping.  Expect to see plans for a full service hotel and a convention center in phase II and Mr. Toro couldn’t be pushing harder for a MARTA train station at Avalon (AJC Op-ed Link Scroll Down).  Add in the Gwinnett Tech campus underway across Old Milton and things are really looking bright for Avalon.

You might think Avalon is enough for one city but in Alpharetta, things are really cooking.  The city just opened its new City Hall building in December as the first big piece of the Alpharetta City Center project which will bring a new Fulton County library, parking deck, park and mixed use development to the heart of Alpharetta.  There are a number of peripheral developments and business openings that are helping downtown Alpharetta evolve into a truly walkable and vibrant neighborhood. 

With both of these projects in full swing, Alpharetta is hot.  There’s even word of a planning effort that will work to design a walkable and bikeable corridor of development between Avalon and downtown Alpharetta.  

Not to be upstaged, Roswell is looking to get into the big mixed-use game as well.  The proposed Riverwalk Village would rival Avalon in size with just over 100 acres  on the south east section of the Holcomb Bridge / GA400 interchange.  The price tag is estimated to be in the $500 million range and the proposal includes over 1,500 residences, 1.7 million square feet of office and 500,000 square feet of retail.  Over 40 percent of the land would be preserved as some form of green space.  It will center on a small lake which will be the heart of the development with a 200 room hotel, Roswell’s largest, overlooking the lake.  The opportunity to connect this development to the Chattahoochee by trails is an incredible differentiator and unique in the region.  There will be much more information coming on Riverwalk Village in 2015 and if all things go as planned, ground could be broken before the end of the year.

Whenever large developments come up, traffic is always the number one concern (we do live in suburbia after all).  So, any discussion should also include what is being done doing to accommodate cars.  First and foremost, the answer to congestion is not more lanes.  Widening HBR or 400 or Old Milton will not resolve issues in the long run.  Widening roads can help in the short term but two better alternatives are distribution and options.  Distribution involves creating more connectivity while options give people different ways to accomplish what they are looking to do.  

Roswell and GDOT are currently working on some targeted projects at HBR and 400 to help remove some congestion points.  These are helpful but will do nothing to reduce the overall number of cars using that interchange each day.  The city is working on a long term, $50 million+, project to build the Big Creek Greenway which will connect Old Alabama and Warsaw and provide a much needed alternate route over 400.

Other big long-term transportation projects include widening Old Milton and the Roswell Historic Gateway which will remove the reversible lanes on South Atlanta Street.  There will likely be some progress on each of these but don’t expect to see any real progress for years.

The other long-term project that will get a little clearer in 2015 is the proposed Red Line extension of MARTA Rail.  Under new leadership, MARTA has had quite a turn around over the past 2 years.  They are expanding to Clayton County, the first new county to join MARTA since its inception and they are looking at three potential rail extensions; the Clifton Corridor, North Fulton and Clayton County.  These are obviously long-term, billion dollar+ projects but they are worth keeping an eye on.  The Red Line extension would add 5 or more stops all the way up to Windward Parkway giving a much needed option to drivers who sit in the soul crushing congestion on 400 each day.  They are also, implementing a number of initiatives to turn empty spaces and parking lots around stations into Transit Oriented Development.  Amanda Rhein is heading up that effort for the agency and was named one of the 20 people to watch in 2015 by CreativeLoafing.

Other interesting local and regional projects to watch in 2015 are; Golf Carts in Roswell, the Roswell City Walk Apartments, Grove Way redevelopment in Roswell, Riverwalk Trail extension to Willeo, the bike/ped bridge over the Chattahoochee, Canton St & Woodstock Redevelopment, Sun Valley Extension, GA400/I-285 Interchange, Path 400 in Buckhead, the Beltline Westside and Eastside Trail extensions, Ponce City Market, Atlanta Waterworks Park, Bellwood Quarry Park, the Braves and Falcons stadiums (new & old) and perhaps the biggest redevelopment out there, the Doraville GM Plant redevelopment.

As you can see, the future is bright for walkable and mixed-use development in North Fulton and the Atlanta area.  Get out for a walk, there are more options than ever before in our Region.

Flyovers: Fantasy vs Reality

I took a look at the newest Avalon CGI flyover video that was released last week and couldn't help but think of the Charlie Brown flyover video that I ran across a few months ago.  The first represents reality of what can be done when well managed capital comes along and properly (in most cases) engages the community and works with them to provide a product that will work within the context of the city.  The second represents a dreamer's vision of a mega project that wasn't well received by the neighboring subdivisions due mostly to the scale of the project. 

Take a look and add your thoughts on which one you like best.  (remember that CGI imagery has improved a lot in the last 7 years)

Avalon

Roswell East (aka Charlie Brown)

"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.

Stop the Madness: Stop 4 Pedestrians x3

On Windward Parkway, they really love their pedestrians.  At least at the Marconi Dr entrance to the Ryder building they do..  First, we have a crosswalk which should be the first indication to anyone driving that a pedestrian has the right of way.  However, drivers obviously don't know the rules of the road any longer so we had to invent the little stand up signs to remind the drivers.  Then

Windward and Marconi Triple Pedestrian Reminder

I'm guessing there was an accident at this spot that influenced the decision to put three signs withn 15 feet of eachother.  It's my opinion that one well placed sign could probably do the trick and the other two could be better used at other parts of the intersection or neighboring intersections.  

Avalon Gardens: Finally, Real Urbanism in Alpharetta

I generally like to keep my longer posts focused on Roswell but I couldn't pass on this one due to the impact it will have on new urbanism in North Fulton.  Unless you have been living under a rock, you already know that Avalon will bring true mixed-use to Alpharetta.  We have seen the renderings and videos of the commercial and apartment section of Avalon but we haven't gotten a clear picture on what the homes in Avalon will look like.

Recently, I had the opportunity to take a look at the plans for Avalon Gardens, the residential portion of the Avalon project put together by Monte Hewett Homes (builder) and Lew Oliver Inc (designer).  Monte Hewett Homes has a couple projects in North Fulton, Heatherton in Roswell and Lake Haven in Milton.  Both of these are very nice and are quality product but lack good urbanism. However, the addition of Lew Oliver to the equation is what sets the design apart.  Lew Oliver is a renowned local designer and town planner.  Locally, he put together the Milton Crabapple Master Plan Visioning Study (pdf) which promises to expand upon the walkability and sense of place that already exists in that area.  This team should deliver a high quality product combined with top notch placemaking that is unparalleled in North Fulton.

Up front, it is obvious that Avalon Gardens will quickly blow any new development in North Fulton away in terms of walkability.  In terms of placemaking, it looks to be a cross between Vickery Village and Rosemary Beach. In my opinion, there are three things that set Avalon Gardens apart.  Those are Proximity, Design and Housing Options. 

The first differentiator, proximity to amenities, sets Avalon Gardens apart from virtyally every development in north Atlanta.  This will be one of the only places in the outer burbs where someone will be able to live in a place that doesn't require them to get into a car to make most of their daily trips.  The commercial side will have a grocery store, dining options and entertainment options.  There is even the possibility that people will be able to live in the same neighborhood that they work.  WHAT?

Design creates the place and this will be quite a place if the final product remains true to the plans.  Below is a rendering of the housing that will surround the center lawn wilt a vew of the urn fountain that will serve as the centerpiece of the neighborhood.  There are also 14 lots reserved for icon architecture.  Most "architecture" in the burbs is reserved for very pricey single family estates and it has little appetite for enhancing the public realm in which it is placed.  Most subdivisions in North Fulton lack anything that one could truly define as creative.  That will not be the case here.  

This plan is significanlty more pedestrian focused than what was originally shown to the public.  The designs have eliminated some of the auto-oriented streets in favor of two small lanes that will provide access to the homes for residents and visitors.  A number of pedestrian ways cris-cross the neighborhood interconnecting the property.  The reduction of car-oriented streets helps create a more distinct place while also lowering infrastructure costs.

The last of my three main differentiators is housing options.  There are a total of 108 residences planned.  Most subdivisions that size have one or two type of housing stock.  You may get all single family, all townhomes or a mix of the two.  In the case of Avalon Gardens, potential buyers will find nine different housing types to choose from.  Listed below along with the quantity of each: 

• Courtyard Terrace (21)
• Grand Terrace Homes (8)
• Tower Homes (2)
• Courtyard Homes (35)
• Park Homes (7)
• Garden Cottages (5)
• Urban Lofts (3)
• Shop Front Homes (5)
• Terrace Homes (12)

Here's the plan.  Westside Parkway is to the west, Old Milton Parkway borders on the south and the mixed-use commercial section of Avalon is to the east (click on image for larger view).

In all, the plans for Avalon are giving every indication that it will be a stellar place.  And that's what it is, a "place" not a destination or shopping center or lifestyle center or power center any of the other buzzwords for commercial developments.  I believe this truly will be one of the two defining places in Alpharetta ten years from now.  The other will be the Alpharetta City Center area.  So, regardless of whether you like it or not, Real Urbanism which provides walkability, thrives on design and gives more options for housing is coming to Alpharetta and once it is there, people are going to want more.  

images: Lew Oliver Inc

It Takes Time to Turn the Titanic...

I saw an interesting tweet a few days ago from Alpharetta city councilman Jimmy Gilvin that referenced some 2010 US census stats. He was basically pointing out that during that timeframe people flocked to suburban environments while urban places didn't fare as well. Here’s his tweet:

"From 2000 to 2010 the City of Atlanta added 3500 residents. Suburban Alpharetta added 22,600. Please spare me the urbanism talk."

First off, if you would like to follow Jimmy on Twitter his handle is @jimgilvin. He is often entertaining and I appreciate an elected official being active in social media. It is definitely a risk.

That being said, I had to take a look at his stats (which are correct) out of curiosity since my blog is primarily about New Urbanism.  The data from 2000 to 2010 pretty much shows that it was business as usual for the suburban experiment. This isn’t really much of a surprise. I wondered if anything had changed since those nubmers came out last year because everything that I’ve read recently points to a renewed interest in walkable urban environments as a preference over the drivable suburban environments that have dominated population growth over the last 40-50 years. 

Interest in walkable urban environments started to pick up around 2004-2005 and a lot of condos started to go up in the denser areas of the region, most notably in Midtown and Buckhead. But, there was also a lot of development that broke ground around our traditionally suburban city centers that could also be deemed walkable even if it wasn't as intense as what was going on in the urban cores. A lot of this development was crushed by the economic downturn and still hasn’t fully recovered.  All types of development suffered this fate whether it was walkable urban, drivable suburban, single-family, multi-family, single-use or mixed-use.  There was no single boggieman here.

We are starting to see some signs of recovery in all of the aforementioned areas.  My expectation is that over the next two to three years, we will start to see more walkable development pick up steam again as you see condos, townhomes and apartments start to go up around the region.  Most of this will occur in the centers of our suburban towns. I think this is ringing true in the more current stats. The latest population estimates as of July 2011 show a much different story.

In the period from April 2010 through July 2011, the City of Atlanta's population growth, 3%, exceeded much of the region as new buyers and renters started filling in much of the empty development that was left unoccupied after the real estate crash.  The Atlanta condo market is healthier than it has been in years. Many of the high profile condo buildings that were noticeably empty for years have hit the tipping point where 70% of their units have been sold.  This threshold makes financing much easier and will accellerate the sale of the remaining units.  Additionally, a significant amount of apartment capacity is going up intown.  What I'm saying here is that the trend is looking favorable for walkable urbanism.  Most drivable suburban areas are growing but at a slower clip.

In fact, the ONLY suburban market that exceeded the city of Atlanta's growth on a percentage basis between April 2010 and July 2011 was North Fulton.  The US Census estimates show that the city of Atlanta added 12,424 residents during that 15 month period.  This was the most of any city in the metro area.  There were only 7 cities with over 20k residents that exceeded that growth.  Five of them were in North Fulton (Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Roswell, Sandy Springs).  The other two were East Point and Union City.

If these trends continue, traditional suburbia may be in for a tough road ahead.  Here are some key points:

1. North Fulton, specifically Alpharetta, is not your typical suburban environment. It is a Technology hub that functions as a job center. It has much more wealth than most of the other suburban areas on the region. Most suburbs do not have the same inherent benefits that North Fulton does.
2. All of the cities in North Fulton have either approved, planned or built walkable urban environments
   1. Alpharetta – City Center, Avalon
   2. Roswell – Groveway, Historic Roswell Master Plan, Centennial Walk
   3. Johns Creek – Johns Creek Walk
   4. Milton – Crabapple Area
   5. Sandy Springs – New Town Center
3. Boomer and Millennial demographics are pointing toward a very large demand for walkable urbanism over the next 10 to 15 years as boomers downsize and millennials buy homes.
4. Much of this growth in walkable urbanism will be in areas that have been traditionally labled the suburbs.  Just look at where the most talked about areas are in your suburban city.  They aren't the newest golf, tennis or gated subdivision.  They are the city centers with lively environments of shops and restaurants.

The suburban experiment is almost over and it is even coming to an end here in North Fulton.  People want places where they don't have to rely 100% on their cars to live their lives.

Weekly Top 5 - Cars, Conservatives, Alpharetta, Congestion, Innovation

Each week, New Urban Roswell brings you our Top 5 most interesting and thought provoking articles about urbanism and neighborhoods.  We sifted through about 100 articles this week to find the top 5.  We hope you enjoy.

Beware the 18% - New Urbanism Blog

Embedded in this article is a very interesting statistic that goes beyond the headline.  That statistic is that the average annual cost for owning a mid-size car in the US  is $9,519 when you factor in all pertinent costs and assume annual mileage of 15,000.  That’s almost 65 cents a mile!  It’s a statistic that’s just crying out for some common sense. Much of the current debate in Atlanta is about the Transportation Investment Act and the fact that 48% of the money is allocated to roads... this statistic tells me that we might want to consider lowering that.  Assuming that you have a 10 mile commute, your round trip is costing you about $13!!!  WOW!  Bet you didn’t think about that.  We need to start building walkable places where people aren’t forced to use their car and can even consider reducing their car ownership.  The automobile is a drag on our national wealth. 

Smart Growth for Conservatives - Bacon’s Rebellion

This is a highly interesting read if you are at all concerned about he politicization of common sense.  In the preface to this post, Bacon comments that “efficiency is efficiency... cost effectiveness is cost effectiveness.”  The current dichotomy is Sprawl (Conservative) vs Smart Growth (Liberal) and that isn’t going to cut it as reality begins to smack us in the face more and more frequently.  The argument in this post is whether the top-down liberal solution or the bottom-up conservative solution is best.  As a staunch independent, I think a little of both is needed.  An additional excerpt from the preface:

The logical, if somewhat extreme, outcome of the conservative dismissal of Smart Growth is the anti-Agenda 21 movement, which connects non-existing dots between the United Nation’s Agenda 21 sustainability agenda, President Obama’s green policies and efforts in Virginia’s cities and counties to implement Smart Growth. Thus, in this conspiratorial mindset, anything resembling Smart Growth is seen as part of a larger movement to undermine American freedoms and liberties. Frighteningly, this movement has gained momentum in a number of Virginia counties and created a distraction from the real issues.

If you really have some time and are interested, you can listen to a panel that Mr. Bacon was on at CNU 20 here.

Three Simple Ideas for Cities - Strong Towns Blog

This is a great posts that throws some ideas and thoughts out on how some small, experimental ideas could improve the overall development picture of towns and cities.  The three ideas that are thrown out for consideration are building a local building bank, moving to land value taxation rather than building value taxation and encouraging/allowing code free zones where a city can experiment with what an area with no zoning would develop like.  I feel that experimentation of this nature is not only a good idea but necessary to move into the next generation of development in this country.  The systems we have now are dysfunctional at best and toxic at worst.  

Alpharetta City Center Plan Stirs Concerns About Green Space - Live in Alpharetta

All I can really say on the newly revised plans for Alpharetta’s city center are WOW!  The plan as it is would create an incredible mixed-use destination that is quaint, people focused and inherently local.  This plan is about a mile away from Avalon but it is extremely different in the way it will interact with people.  I think once both are done, there will be no question that this project will win the ‘lovability’ contest. Great work Alpharetta!  I’m more than a little bit jealous that Roswell’s neighbor city seems to be a step ahead of us in redeveloping it’s urban core.

Rethinking the Economics of Traffic Congestion - The Atlantic Cities

Is traffic congestion really a drag on economies and productivity?  This article looks at areas with low congestion and compares them to areas of high congestion and asserts that congestion is a byproduct of a healthy economy.  You can’t get around it.  They found that when traffic delays went up, GDP also increased and that the correlation was statistically significant. Here’s an excerpt that helps make sense of it:

How could being stuck in traffic lead people to be more productive? The relationship is almost certainly not causal. Instead, regional GDP and traffic congestion are tied to a common moderating variable - the presence of a vibrant, economically-productive city. And as city economies grow, so too does the demand for travel. People travel for work and meetings, for shopping and recreation. They produce and demand goods and services, which further increases travel demand. And when the streets become congested and driving inconvenient, people move to more accessible areas, rebuild at higher densities, travel shorter distances, and shift travel modes.

Avalon Flyover

This is a nice flyover of the Avalon development. Right now the biggest sticking point is the apartments. North American Properties doesn't feel they can do the project without them and some vocal folks in Alpharetta feel that adding apartments will further violate their 85/15 desired owner/renter ratio as defined in their master plan. They are currently at around 75/25. Personally, I feel these types of apartments are fundamentally different from anything that is currently in North Fulton and NAP should be granted approval on them. We shall see what happens.

Alpharetta's Big Project Part Deux

image: North American Properties

So, the big news out of Alpharetta lately has been the release of the site plan for the new Avalon development.  You may want to check out their promotional video as well.  Very well put together with the always catchy Temper Trap song Sweet Temptation as background.  You can comment on the plan here on the Alpharetta City website and Mark Toro will be presenting the project to the public at 7pm on Monday 2/13 at Alpharetta City Hall.  Mark seems like a good guy and his presentation will probably be top notch.  Unfortunately, I can't make it.

This project is better than what is there now.  It's not better than the original Prospect Park plan in my opinion.  All in all, it has a long way to go to earn my full approval (but what the hell does that matter).  For what it's worth, here's My feedback...

Pro

• Thus far, a well executed marketing and promotional plan.  NAP knows what they are doing on the retail side and will no doubt put together a product that will work in Alpharetta.
• Nice use of terminated vistas on the central avenue.  Retail has figured it out, now we just need our transportation engineers and subdivision developers to figure it out.
• Bold move with the apartments given the current mood in Alpharetta toward anything non-single family.  These apartments will be leased with a quickness.  

Con

• Far too much land area dedicated to parking.  I hope they are planning on using the space as a land bank for future mixed use buildings.
• A 14 story building is a show stopper in Alpharetta.  Nothing on this property should be go over 6-7 stories.  NAP will get some serious backlash if they want to push the height.
• Does Alpharetta really need another movie theater?  Good grief!  Also, what will the back end of the movie theater look like from Westside Parkway?
• Poor use of the detention ponds.  Take the Historic Old 4th Ward Park pond as an example of great use of a detention pond.  I know.. the site is topographically challenged and the detention ponds can only go in so many places but where's the creativity?
• Townhomes should surround the park instead of the single family homes.  The little park does nothing to increase the value of the single family homes that have their own little yards already.  However, the townhomes would see an increase in value.  
• Townhomes should face out along Westside Parkway.  This entire project seems to look in on itself.  That could be a byproduct of the fact that it is surrounded by multi-lane arterials that not even the most ardent traffic engineer would want to stare at all day, but that's no excuse.  They should be designed more like the Lake Deerfield townhomes along Deerfield Pkwy where the buildings on the outside address the street.  There is nothing that can help the situation along Old Milton.. you're stuck with a 6 laner + turn lanes.  However, Westside can be done well and the right addressing of the street could really change the feel through that stretch of road.
• The outparcels are very concerning and leave uncertainty.  What will be there? They are too close to the residential.. the residential should interact with the main project and not be plagued with uncertainty of what will be developed right next door.  

Maybe some of these concerns will be addressed and questions answered at Monday's meeting.  Either way, thanks to Mark Toro and NAP for bringing life to this project and working to engage the public.

Dirt Lots, Economic Development and Holcomb Bridge

Roswell

Roswell OKs Economic Development Contract - AJC

City Council voted recetly to approve a $103,775 contract to develop a strategic economic plan. The plan has been signed with RKG Associates. RKG is based out of New Hampshire but has consulted many local and regional muicipalities. One of the most notable to me is Greenville, SC which has done a fantastic job rejuvinating its downtown.

New Study will Pinpoint Ways to Improve Traffic on Holcomb Bridge - Alpharetta Neighbor

The study will look at the 1.5 miles between Warsaw Rd and Holcomb Woods Pkwy. The total cost of the study should not exceed $463k and Roswell's share will be just under $100k. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this.

Big Creek Wetlands Workday - RoswellGov.com

The city is holding a work day for wetlants restoration, plantings, and litter removal at Big Creek on March 5th.

Region

Developer Promises No Dirt Lot at Mixed-Use Site Near GA 400 - Alpharetta-Milton Patch

There has been a lot of talk about the proposed development at the MetLife/Peridot campus in Alpharetta. Naysayers complain that Alpharetta doesn't need more mixed-use and are requesting a moratorium on approvals of proposals. Proponents say there is nothing even close to similar in N Fulton and that Alpharetta should encourage this type of development because demographic trends show that it is becoming more ad more desirable. We can all agree that another dirt lot similar to Prospect Park is undesirable.

Public Concerns Spur Alpharetta to Reconsider MetLife Project - AJC

The city council has tabled this until the February meeting. I hope they are not persuaded by the naysayers who are using faulty statistics and clinging to a 1990's land development model.

Tough Questions for Mayor of Johns Creek - CBS Atlanta

My only question is this: $400k for 9 Electric Bikes???

MARTA to Spend $117M on Train Control Technology - AJC

At first glance, this seems staggering but according to MARTA has been planned for some time. However, it was plainly obvious after the DC Metro crash in 2009 that MARTA would be spending some money since our systems are essentially identical (except that DC decided to build neighborhoods around their stations and we decided to build parking lots, that's another story though)

Beyond

Miami21 Wins National Planning Excellence Award - CEOs for Cities The form based code that has been adopted in Miami is a model for the 21st century. I would love to see something like this adopted here in Roswell and in the larger metro area. We're a long way off.

Are Cities Any Place for Children - Shareable

This is an interesting piece on why cities are percieved (in some cases rightly so) as bad places for children.

Survey Finds "Buy Local" Message Beneffiting Independent Business - NewRules.org

Notable Quote:

For the fourth year in a row, a national survey of independent businesses has found that those in communities with an active "buy local" campaign have experienced markedly stronger revenue growth compared to those located in areas without such a campaign.

I wonder how Roswell's buy local campaign Find it All Roswell is doing.