DTO Luv writes:
“If you want to build a place like this, why not do it next to other similar areas. Heck, do it on 68th and State. I think what you do will be nice but I see it becoming isolated from the developments around it.”
DTO Luv, perhaps you missed a post of mine from several days ago in which I described how my hand has been forced by development all around me such that now I must develop land that I have owned since 1992. I will include part of that earlier post here again now for your review:
“First a situation analysis: my parcel is now completely surrounded by property already developed, being developed or owned by conventional subdivision developers: houses are going in now at Pine Creek to the South, Stratford Park to the west of me at 2.45 lots per gross acre is ready for building to commence, grading is completed and utilities are going in at Hanover Falls to the east of me, and the land to the north is owned by a conventional residential developer.”
“My choices were easily identified: sell out to a conventional subdivision developer, develop the land myself in the conventional way, do nothing and have the largest single family lot in the Omaha area at 2,640' by 2,640', or try to do something better.”
This is why I am not doing the project at 68th and State. I already own this land and have to do something with it now.
I do not know what you mean by the “real thing” but perhaps a bit of clarification is in order.
Much like the fable of the Six Blind Hindus and the Elephant, there are diverse aspects of the New Urbanism:
Greenfields are Traditional Neighborhood Developments or smaller Hamlets on the fringe
Grayfields are redeveloped and/or abandoned shopping centers
Brownfields are redeveloped industrial sites
Additionally the principles which define New Urbanism can also be applied successfully to infill sites (i.e. vacant and/or passed-by) and redevelopment projects (i.e. adaptive reuse of existing construction) within existing urbanized areas. If 160 acres of vacant land were available for development at 68th and State Streets, that would be an infill project. If you know of feasible, well located infill or redevelopment sites, please suggest them to me. I am always looking for a good new project. But right now I am developing the land I have owned for 14 years because I have to, and it is a greenfield project and not one of the other types.
I sense that you lament that my new traditional neighborhood is not a grayfield, brownfield, urban infill or redevelopment project. Nonetheless I assure you that this project, designed by PlaceMakers, one of the country’s pre-eminent new urban master planning and design firms (
http://www.PlaceMakers.com), is a TRUE new urbanist greefield traditional neighborhood and that it will be implemented well. It IS the “real thing;” it is just not the type of real thing you would prefer to see.
Let us consider and be guided by the words of one of the founders of The New Urbanism, Andres Duany, Principal, DPZ & Associates, master planning firm of Seaside, FL and the Kentlands in Gaithersburg, MD and a charter member of The Congress for the New Urbanism:
“The sum of human happiness increases because of New Urbanism.”
Yours for ALL types of new urbanist development no matter of which type or where located,
Herb
)
Just kidding
