Remember Riverpark is supposed to built on new urbanist smart growth principles. Unfortunately the housing bubble popping has left Oxnard with ll the residents and none of the mixed use. That means these ultra high density homes will be generating twice the VMT the planners predicted. Dumb growth, dumb Oxnard, evil planners.
12 comments:
Where are they going to put the movie theater, grocery store, dry cleaners, resturants, and 15 Starbucks? I assume they will will be in easy walking distance within the utopian dream?
-jbjbj
From the online brochure:
At the heart of RiverPark is its Town Center, with a mix of casual and upscale restaurants, boutiques, amenities and entertainment. RiverPark's Town Center features a "mixed-use" district with residential units above light commercial uses.
RiverPark's Town Center is designed as a lifestyle center with national retailers attracting both residents and visitors. It is a short distance from the neighborhoods, providing residents a one-stop destination to dine, shop and enjoy entertainment in outdoor courtyards and promenades. Like the parks and schools of RiverPark, the Town Center is also a social center, a place where neighbors can meet for lunch, stroll the shops or pick up groceries, all while remaining comfortably close to home.
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Snigger. Can you see walking across those rotaries? Not.
Ooh, national retailers... I'm thinking Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Applebees. You can't get that just anywhere! I'm sold! Where do I sign up?
This is Oxnard remember. Think 99 Cent Stores, Popeye's Chicken, 31 Flavors, Payday Advance Centers.
This is gonna be worse than Camarillo and their new NeoTrad, MUHD SmUGLERS Cove; "Village In The Park." No Village, no park but a brand spankin' new multimillion dollar skool with only 375 kids in a district that is planning on closing 4 similar schools this year. Fustercluck.
Robert,
I grew up in Camarillo (Rio Mesa class of 94 for timeline). Have you elsewhere elaborate on the "Village in the Park"?
My family moved out in 2000 and I'm far, far away but I'm quite curious how my childhood city is doing. I fear things have turned disastrous in what I recall as a nice little town to grow up in.
Jason, my eldest is Rio Mesa '08 and no I haven't talked about VITP yet. I'll let the Riverpark thread play out first. There's also theMoorpark Highlands fiasco to cover then the topper; Ventura's forms based overhaul of the General Plan. That can be presaged by blog searching "Rick Cole." Moved in 2000? Missed prices doubling or more. And yes, it has lost that mall town feel.
Robert,
This junk you are showing is not Neotraditional and I would beg to differ on the Ultra High Density label. I was in Fairfax VA this weekend and I saw 6-8 story condo towers going in out near the UsaToday building. What you are showing is not smartgrowth but some crappy little development. As for the town center being a lifestyle center, sounds like more of the same junk. It is not integrated as mixed use so I would say this is just haphazard development.
Metro, I respectfully disagree with your assessment. Partly my fault as I am clearly presenting the project in a worst light. I might say light of day but you get my point and I acknowledge my bias in this matter. Really, go to http://www.riverparklife.com and go through the tours and layouts. It's a nice sight and has lots of info if you know what to look for. This really is a lving labortory for neotrad and smug.
As to density:
700-acres
1,800 attached and detached home
1,000 apartments in village-style neighborhoods. 880,000 square feet of retail
a hotel
convention center
city and county fire stations
open-space system encompasses 14 parks, tot lots, jogging trails, pedestrian paths, shared-use playgrounds and water features.
A lot to fit into 700 acres eh?
"A lot to fit into 700 acres eh?"
Aren't there supposed to be 3 schools in the mix, too? I think I remember that from the site.
I know that I'm just an old school greedy SOB but sometimes the 1.45 acres I live on seems too close to my neighbors. Can't imagine living on .15.
Yep, Riverpark is the perfect storm of several planner wet dreams. Cars = bad, density = good, large public dedications, weak private ownership, traffic calming, strongly nodal-centric and weakly integrated with the adjacent communities.
Robert,
I looked at the website. Your right,smartgrowth. Although, usually that would include some kind of transit, ideally rail. I don't see it.
BTW I am used to seeing even higher density in SG communities. If you like I can provide you with some pics from newtown in Reston, VA.
The density comes from dedications and public spaces.
700 acres.
250 open space
3 schools
Fire Station
Police station
roads
3 village squares
7? Pocket parks
60 acres commercial only
2800 DU in less than 300 acres plus mixed use. That's dense.
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