Mark Hornell of Victoria has an idea for Vancouver:
An approach that I think is an entirely achievable direction for the next 30 – 50 years would be to develop the equivalent of Kerrisdale (apartment district) at every rapid transit stop along the Canada line south of False Creek, and along the Expo line, creating in effect a micro-West End for the square kilometer around each station.
UPDATE – From New Urban Network:
There likely will be a housing shortage over the next few years (in inner-ring suburbs) …..
“It’s clear that the disconnect between housing and jobs, long daily commutes, and time wasted in traffic is causing more and more people to rethink how and where they are living,”
The appeal of close-in suburban neighborhoods is rising because of their proximity to major employment centers and because of transit options, Patrick L. Phillips, CEO of the Urban Land Institute, said Feb. 12 …
Phillips cited findings from ULI’s 2010 publication Housing in America (available here), which shows a desire by both baby boomers and Generation Y to live in more pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented, mixed-use environments that de-emphasize dependence on automobiles. This preference will hold true for suburban development, he predicted.
I agree that this is a nice idea for many of the stations…however, it should be noted that one reason why Kerrisdale works is its zoning bylaw that links density to building form…that results in a mix of building types….with an upper limit of around 1.7 or 1.8 FSR for highrises of 11 or 12 storeys. At these densities, there is space for gardens and lawn areas.
I would add that some of the proposals for new station area development are at much greater densities and in the case of Cambie and Marine…much greater heights…indeed about three times the height.
Kerrisdale would definitely be a good model – if it still had rail transit! It is a streetcar village without streetcars.
Don’t forget the Rosslyn/Ballston corridor in Northern Virginia. The Arlington planning department has a nice overview of the history (30 yrs!) and impacts of the process.
The corridor keeps mid- and high-rise buildings within 2 blocks of two one-way arterials (with Metro trains running underground along the same path) while adjacent low-rise neighborhoods remain intact.
In my opinion, the most successful corridor densification in North America to-date.
I like this from a policy perspective but as a former high rise apartment dweller (and perhaps again in future) it has always irked me that we planners think that the best place to put higher density dwellings is immediately adjacent to the arterial roads, where the noise and fumes are greatest. This great wall strategy is wonderful for the people living in the buffered ground-oriented housing in behind, not so great for those who have the balconies facing four to six lanes of heavy traffic. The beauty of the West End and Kerrisdale model is that high rise dwellers also get to live on quiet, leafy streets just like the folks in houses. Clustering the high rises within a 5 minute walk of a transit stop (400 metres roughly)gives a nodal footprint of about 50 hectares (124 acres, which even at moderate densities could house about 5,000 people and the local businesses that serve them.
Mark’s comment (which I am sympathetic to) made me laugh. Cars have to be the ultimate externality-generator, so many people go crazy if you impede their right to use them, but nobody ever wants to go (or live) near them when they’re in use…
Why hasn’t this been achieved around Nanaimo and 29th Avenue stations over the last 25 years?
Nanaimo and 29th Ave. (and Broadway Station) have not densified because the City of Vancouver passed zoning bylaws back in the 1980s practically prohibiting it. See the following thread for links to the relevant zoning bylaws and background information:
Broadway Station Area Plan Summary 1987
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/guidelines/B020.pdf
Nanaimo/29th Avenue Station Areas Plan Summary 1987
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/guidelines/N003.pdf
WRT the Broadway Station Area Plan, the preamble includes a tidbit about how the City of Vnacouver wanted to cut and cover (!!) under Commercial Drive ($14 million) but the Province didn’t want to – talks broke down and the line ended up in the alley where it is today (and was never approved by the City of Vancouver along that segment).
Excerpt:
The Plan also tells a story that should not be quickly forgotten. It is the story of a community’s fight to overcome the physical reality of ALRT in its midst.
Here’s an excerpt form the Nanaimo/29th Avenue Station Areas Plan Summary:
“Through discussion with the Nanaimo/29th Avenue Station Areas Planning Advisory Committee, it was agreed that wholesale redevelopment was not desirable but that residential development should be directed to sites meeting the following criteria:
– vacant city-owned sites
– sites severely impacted by ALRT
– sites zoned for uses other than residential
– sites either under-utilized or containing derelict properties.
… 21 sites were identified aong the ALRT alignment …
… community input was received …
Straw votes were held to determine resident support or opposition to redevelopment.
The sites recommended for rezoning and redevelopment in this chapter are the result of this process.”
If you ride the SkyTrain along that section, you’ll see that many of those same lots are still vacant land.
Of course we ought to be densifying the areas around rapid transit stations, but I think it could be more transit oriented than Kerrisdale would be even if it did have trains on the Arbutus corridor. I also don’t think it necessarily has to be towers, and zoning should be done so that it can allow lower- to mid-rise residential that’s still at densities comparable to the towers. Michael Geller’s goal of 1.7 or 1.8 FSR is easy to do at six stories or less.