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.

NUR Weekly - TSPLOST, Parking, Restaurants, Blocks & Mixed-Use

I keep coming up with good ideas for this weekly digest so I had to add a section.  The last part is dedicated to fun stuff and may or may not relate to what we discuss on the NUR blog.  This week, Joan Durbin at the North Fulton Neighbor was on fire with several notable stories.

What’s Up in Roswell

Holcomb Bridge/GA 400 Improvements Tied to TSPLOST - North Fulton Neighbor

Here’s the gist from city council woman Betty Price:

Whether or not T-SPLOST passes, some interim improvements will be evident in the near future. With additional funding and guided by the recommendations of this study, whole-scale improvements can be made in the future that will revitalize this inadequate intersection, bringing with it a welcoming and functional entrance to Roswell from 400.  

Pay Parking May Come to Roswell Historic District - North Fulton Neighbor

My prediction...  People are going to hate this more than they hate looking for a space.  If you’re willing to walk 200 yards, there is NO parking problem.  Key Excerpt:

The locations are the lot next to Wells Fargo on the west side of Canton Street and a lot on the east side between Ga. Hwy 9 and Canton Street that used to be the old city fire department years ago. 

Roswell’s Red Light Cameras May be Relocated - North Fulton Neighbor

This is fairly controversial to some.  Here’s my 2 cents.  These cameras tend to reduce deadly ‘perpendicular’ or ’T-Bone’ crashes at intersections but increase rear-end collisions.  Generally, anything that causes people to pay more attention

Four Canton St Restaurants on Jezebel Magazine’s Top 100 Restaurants for 2012

This is a great sign that Canton Street is doing all the right things.  Little Alley Steak, Inc Street Food, Salt Factory and Table & Main made the list in that order.  You’ll have to check out the magazine to see where they weighed in.

4th Annual Trilogy Trolley Crawl Tix on Sale

Top 5 Articles of the Week

What is a Block? - Better Cities and Towns

The block is something that confuses most people.  This article takes a stab at defining it and does a pretty good job.  Here’s how they define one:

the definition of a block should be based on the legal structure of urbanism. Therefore, a block is legally defined as private property surrounded by public rights-of-way. By this definition, a block is one of the two fundamental units of urbanism (alongside the right-of-way) reflecting the two types of property (private and public, respectively).

The article also uses an example from up the road in Alpharetta to illustrate the absurdities of suburban ‘blocks.’  They managed to find one has a perimeter of 12 miles!  We need more connectivity and smaller blocks. 

Don’t get Mixed Up on Mixed-Use - PlaceShakers

Mixed-use is one of those terms like sustainability.  It is over used and often used out of context.  This article lays it out pretty well:

Today, the most common misunderstanding I find about mixed-use is that most people think it equates, on any street or in any context, to a shopfront with housing above.

In short, mixed-use makes for three-dimensional, pedestrian-oriented places that layer compatible land uses, public amenities, and utilities together at various scales and intensities. This variety of uses allows for people to live, work, play and shop in one place, which then becomes a destination for people from other neighborhoods. As defined by The Lexicon of the New Urbanism, mixed-use is multiple functions within the same building or the same general area through superimposition or within the same area through adjacency… from which many of the benefits are… pedestrian activity and traffic capture.

How to Get a Trader Joe’s - Smyrna is signing a petition - Smyrna Patch 

I’d love it if it were just this easy to get a grocery store where you want it.  I’m sure we could collect a lot of signatures to get one here in Historic Roswell.  This commenter said it best:

Ultimately Smyrna has to prove we have the demographics to ensure Trader Joe's can survive. It's not about where we want it and why. Will Trader Joe's consider Smyrna and why?

Cops Set Up Sting to Keep Pedestrians Safe - AJC

Read this article, you just might learn something that will keep you out of trouble when walking or driving.  Here’s a stat that I wanted to be sure got out there.

...four people are hit by cars each day in the metro Atlanta area. (Sally) Flocks said between 70 and 80 pedestrians are killed each year in the metro area and more than 20 percent within 100 feet of a transit stop.

Alpharetta Downtown Development Picks Up Speed - ABC

Keep moving forward Alpharetta!  This will be a big boost to walkability in North Fulton.  I thought this excerpt was noteworthy:

In the past decade, other suburban cities including Woodstock, Norcross and Suwanee have tried to reinvent their downtowns by launching major projects.  Those ideas reflect principles of New Urbanism, a countermovement to the development patterns in the 80s and 90s across metro Atlanta that to suburban sprawl. New Urbanism aims to create public spaces, such as a city center, where people can congregate in parks that are near shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

Unfortunately, Roswell didn’t get a mention in the article but we are doing great things and our historic district has arguably been more successful than any of the towns that were mentioned even though they pursued very high profile projects.

Fun Stuff

Church vs Beer Map - Guess Where Georgia Is

Beijing’s Olympic Ruins - Much worse than Atlanta’s Ruins

Top 10 Best & Worst Cities to Live - This ranking used a very interesting methodology.  Number one on the list, Hong Kong.  Last on the list, Tehran.  Best US City, Washington DC.  

What the World Would Look Like Covered in Lego - Simple and Fun.. I’d love to drive under this bridge..

NUR Top5 - Traffic, Soccer, Entertainment Districts, Walkable Urbanism

We're once again trying something new here.  The plan is to post this weekly.  Each week, I will be sifting through the noise out there (I already do that) to bring you the top five stories of the week related to new urbanism, complete neighborhoods and Roswell.  First though, please check out my most recent article in the Roswell Current, The Elusive Neighborhood Grocery Store.  In no particular order, here’s what we have this week.

Chicagos Ambitious Plan for Zero Traffic Fatalities - The Atlantic Cities

Chicago wants to eliminate all pedestrian, bicycle and overall traffic crash related fatalities by 2050.  I’d love to see Roswell take on a challenge like this.  We should start by lowering all of our current 25 mph speed limits to 20 mph.  The 20 is Plenty movement is a great one that will reduce deaths worldwide if it can take root.  I also think our obsession with adding more and more traffic signs to our roads is counterintuitive.  People tend to drive more recklessly when they feel they don’t need to anticipate and pay attention.  Road signs and safety features have been proven in some cases to reduce driver awareness or increase complacency and in many cases have no impact on safety (they just make our city uglier).

Urban Entertainment Districts: Blocks Where No One Has Fun - Salon.com

Reading this, you can’t help but conjure up images of Atlantic Station, Lindberg Center, the proposed Avalon development in Alpharetta and Buckhead Atlanta development in Buckhead.  Although, not exactly what the article is referring to, they are close enough as they are manufactured environments devised primarily for corporate profit.  Atlantic Station and Lindberg Center have a distinctly plastic feel.  The jury is still out on Avalon and Buckhead Atlanta.  There are dozens of other spots that feel authentic such as Canton Street, Va Highlands, Inman Park, Downtown Decatur, and the old Buckhead Village... that grew up incrementally.  I think incremental growth is the key.  Roswell should be wary of any situation where one developer is planning on developing a huge tract of land all at once to create a place... You run the risk of that place being distinctly corporate and not distinctly Roswell.  (now, all of the these corporate developments are good but they likely will never reach the greatness of an incrementally incubated environment)

Arizona DOT Study: Compact, Mixed-Use Development Leads to Less Traffic - StreetsBlog

This one is no secret but the article has some great data.  It is applicable to Roswell primarily in the Groveway area as it is the only area in our city that has a true grid system with potential to be built out as a Mixed-Use environment (if you assume our NIMBYs will continue to block any action at the HBR/400 interchange).  The study basically concludes that as net residential density increases, daily vehicle miles traveled per capita decreases.  It talks about the added benefits of the grid distributing traffic more evenly than the sprawl arterial system as well as the park-once ability when visitors come to a mixed-use area.  There isn’t a need to go back to the car to drive to the next parking lot over.  Why?  Because it’s more interesting to walk there.

Atlanta Needs a New Football Stadium, But Not For the Falcons - Curbed Atlanta

I had originally thought this article in the AJC addressing recent Stadium cost overruns and overzealous revenue projections would be appropriate for the Top 5.  However, I loved the idea from Curbed Atlanta that we need a soccer stadium instead of a new NFL stadium.  Recruiting an MLS team to Atlanta would be big.  Curbed thinks the right spot for a soccer specific stadium would be along Northside Dr by the Atlanta Water Works.  However, I think our own 400/HBR intersection would be a really sweet spot.  Roswell, could stake a claim to a sports franchise and it would then make even more sense for a MARTA connection in Roswell.  We have a large Latino community and the northern burbs are ripe with young soccer talent that would love to attend the games.  The Real Salt Lake team is located in the suburb of Sandy which is very similar to North Fulton in demographic... it’s worth a shot.

Now Coveted: A Walkable, Convenient Place - NY Times Opinion 

We’ve written about Christopher Lienberger here before.  He basically coined the dichotomy of Walkable Urbanism vs. Drivable Suburban development.  He makes the case as we have as well that walkable urbanism is spreading beyond our large city centers and actually into our smaller cities and towns.  This is mainly due to a change in preference amongst our two largest generations.  This is nothing new but reaffirms virtually everything that NUR is about.  Roswell, needs to get in gear quickly to meet the coming storm of demand/need for walkable urbanism.  

Quote of the Week: Mixed-Use Logic

Cities haven't always been organized this way. In fact, for most of history, they mixed homes with factories, businesses and shops...  The term mixed-use is a product of the fact that for the past 50 years we've experimented with forbidding mixed-use...  Pioneering mixed-use in a completely car oriented environment is not a particularly wise move. Where it makes sense is where you already have significant foot traffic or critical mass - in downtowns or older suburban settings.

Rick Cole, Ventura, CA City Manager (link)

I love the fact that we as a society have to come up with terms to define things that historically are very normal.  Mixed-Use is now viewed as some sort of building pattern that is experimental but in reality it's hte primary building type that humans did for a few thousand years.  Another term that comes to mind is organic.  What is organic compared to?  Conventional. Conventional produce is grown with lots of man-made chemicals and fertizers while organic is grown the way humans have grown for 8,000+ years.  Hmmm....

Big Box vs. Mixed-Use

Joe Minicozzi has been doing this kind of analysis for a while and this article is definitely an interesting read that should be considered by our local government officials.  Here's the link. 

image: Urban3

Density and Mixed Use in Roswell

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I'm a supporter of mixed-use development as well as livable, context appropriate density.  We keep up with issues that are going on in and around Roswell and today, I came across an article in the Roswell Neighbor that I found interesting.  Essentially, the East Roswell Forum, one of the groups responsible for crashing the mixed-use/density party at Holcomb Bridge/400 the first time around, has decided to sound the alarm bells to the leaders of its member subdivisions about the potential resurrection of mixed-use and density at the HBR/400 intersection in the Roswell 2030 master plan.  For the record, I do feel that the proposal this group rallied against was inappropriate and I am glad it was not built.

That being said, this group obviously yields some power but I'm not sure just how representative they are of the community as a whole.  Unfortunately, the article did not link directly to the email that was circulated.  So, there is no way to determine whether it is representative and/or factually accurate.

Anyway, I have attended four of the Imagine 2030 meetings and have seen scores of residents come out to give input.  There is no effort to hide this master planning effort from the populace.  I even drove all the way out to East Roswell Park for the event held on the east side of town.  I found that it was well attended although not crowded.  Now, I'm not sure what section of town all of attendees live in but I can assure you that the meetings weren't attended exclusively by developers, politicians and realtors.  From my anecdotal discussions, most people were simply residents of Roswell who cared enough to take time out of their busy lives to attend.  Many of them were supporters of gradual increases in density and mixed-use but for the most part they wanted more walkability, bikability and less congestion.

Having said this, virtually every time something came up about the HBR/400 corridor, people wanted it cleaned up.  They dislike what is on the ground there.  I do too. I've actually posted on it before here.  I want something different and I'm going to guess that what I want will match the vision of a good number of our neighbors.  Here's a quick overview: 

• Density - I'm not too concerned with the number here. I'm more concerned with the character and context.  You can have beautiful single family homes that can be in the high teens in units per acre while you can have ugly apartment complexes that are only 10-12 units per acre.  I think we're more concerned with what they look like.  If you've been to Paris since the mid-1800's, you'll notice that they pack an incredible amount of density into the city while still looking and feeling appropriate, beautiful, safe and relatively uncongested.  Below, you're looking at 384 units per acre mixed-use with transit and you wouldn't find significant traffic, crime or overall congestion. You could argue that the French are more civil than we are here in Roswell but I'm not buying it.  The design is the key... not the # of homes on an acre. 

• Transit - Bus Rapid Transit first, then MARTA rail later (density of 10-15 units/acre can support heavy rail ridership needs). Anything built should be done so with the intent of connecting to rail in the future. 
• Building Height - 5-6 stories.  No high-rises.  It's amazing what kind of density you can get even without looking like Hong Kong.  In some areas, Paris actually is more dense than Vancouver, one of the densest cities in the world. 
• Programming - Residential (Townhomes, Condo/Loft, Apartment), Office, Retail, Hotel, Public Space. There might even be some room for single family on this parcel but I don't think it would fly with a potential developer and I'm not sold that Roswell needs more single family housing.  We could definitely use some more class A office space and retail given the number of aging strip malls and office complexes we have.  Not many employers are looking to Roswell these days.  This is a major opportunity to attract high quality jobs to our city.
• Mixed-Use - Significant vertical (intra-building) and horizontal (intra-block) mixed-use.  We don't have to expound too much on this one.  Suffice to say that, on average, new residents of Atlantic Station reduced their overall vehicle miles traveled by more than 70% after moving into Atlantic Station.  They also have reported a high level of satisfaction with amenities like grocery and retail being nearby.  Say what you will about the look of the place but it's hard to argue with the results in the area of driving reduction and convenience.  Many people rail on MU because of the high profile failure of Prospect Park and the Streets of Buckhead but there have been significantly more failures in the single use area since 2007 than there have been in the mixed-use area.  The concept is not the problem, the timing, financing and hubris are.
• Street Grid - Highly networked with two flyways over 400 to the north and south of the current bridge.  If designed properly, a road network coupled with an increase in density in the area could actually increase the mobility.  The key is getting people out of their cars at the peak commuter times and increasing the choices available to them.  If this land is to be developed, I believe we are only going to accomplish a reduction in congestion by building a network and coupling with with a transit component.   

The way I see development in this area should be akin to Glenwood Park off of I-20 in Atlanta... not Atlantic Station.  The city and developers may see differently but I think many of the residents would be happy with something that looks like this.

Now, we should not forget that what is on the table at this point is nothing but an idea of what could potentially go there that resulted from brainstorming sessions with actual Roswell residents.  Nothing is set in stone.  But, at the end of the day, we need to recognize that this parcel of land is extremely valuable and something will happen there.  Do we want it to be useful for the city and attract visitors from the region?  Or do we want a single use office park or 'lifestyle' center that is built to be obsolete in 10 years and does nothing to improve our community?

Images: YouTube! Guess the Housing Density | Dover Kohl & Associates

Pedestrians, Parking and Prospect Park

It's been a while since the last update. Today's post primarily focuses on Roswell and Alpharetta. There's been a lot going on lately especially in Alpharetta. Enjoy!

Roswell

City Considering Ways to Warn Drivers of Pedestrians - Roswell Neighbor