63 Million Tourists Missing from Reason Foundation's High Speed Rail Report

UPDATES-Feb. 16-22--Governor Scott told the U.S. Department of Transportation that he was rejecting Federal funding for the Orlando to Tampa high speed rail line. The Governor's press release making this announcement relies on contentions in the Reason Foundation's report, discussed below.  This includes a view that metro Orlando's 2 million and Tampa's 2.7 million populations are too small to sustain high speed rail, while disregarding their 63 million tourists (equivalent to one-fifth of the U.S. population, or in other words, more than twice the population of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston combined). The Governor also said he was protecting Florida taxpayers from up to "$3 billion" in cost overruns.  That figure, from the Reason report, is based on California construction cost estimates, inflated by the extra expense of engineering and constructing a high speed rail line in a major earthquake zone and over miles of viaduct.  (See the video in the blog post below).

Click HERE to read the reaction of House Transportation Committee Chair Rep. John Mica (R-FL) and HERE for U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's. (LaHood is also a Republican).  Florida Senate budget chairman, J.D. Alexander (R-Lake Wales), and State Sen. David Simmons (R-Orlando) expressed the view that Governor Scott exceeded his authority. Former Republican Congressman Lou Frey stated on WFLA-AM that the Governor was marginalizing the legislature.  State Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Tampa), chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, and Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland) voiced their disagreement with the Governor making this decision before allowing the private sector to submit bids.  Congressman Dan Webster (R-FL) told WDBO that, while he agrees the Federal Government spends too much, the Governor's decision will not reduce the Federal deficit. 

Sen. Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) noted how Florida loses 10 cents of every tax dollar sent to Washington.  "So the money that was sent to us for high-speed rail, those are our dollars, and now we're not going to accept our own money," he said. "We're going to give it away to others states and we're going to have to pay for those dollars that we'll never use." 

More than two dozen members of the Republican-led Florida Senate signed a letter to Governor Scott in opposition to his decision.  Click HERE for a link to the letter.  I have rarely seen this much public criticism of a sitting Republican Governor by Republicans. 
  
The Orlando Sentinel reported that Governor Scott relied on a telephone briefing without having reviewed an updated FDOT ridership study, still incomplete.  The Governor also gave no indication of reviewing an analysis from the U.S. Conference of Mayors showing a return on investment of $2.9 billion in the Orlando area alone. 

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is proposing the Cities of Tampa, Lakeland, and Orlando form a new entity that could receive the $2.4 billion in Federal funding, with private bidders to assume the remaining $280 million capital shortfall, maintenance, and operations.  The Spanish rail company, Talgo, stated publicly it was confident it could absorb the State's $280 million capital share.  Another prospective bidder, Alston SA, publicly stated Florida taxpayers would incur no bond liability.  Public contracts require performance surety bonds to protect the government from any default. 

Late last Friday, Congressman Mica renewed his call for a 21 mile airport to Disney World initial line, which he said, could have some of the best ridership numbers in the world.  This shortened route would involve an entity created by Orange County, Osceola County, and the City of Orlando.  However, on Saturday, Senator Nelson said Federal officials had reacted negatively to the shortened route concept despite the potential for future expansion.    Ironically, the Reason Foundation proposed this shortened route as an alternative to lessen cost overrun and sustainability concerns. 

Here is my original blog post:


Concept drawing for Disney World High Speed Rail Station

 The Reason Foundation released a "Taxpayer Assessment" report to convince Governor Rick Scott to either abandon High Speed Rail in Florida or insist upon strict terms "to limit the obligation of Florida taxpayers to the [existing] $280 million commitment...."  Despite the report's flaws, reflecting the organization's longstanding anti-transit bias, the latter suggestions are mostly constructive.  The report warrants both study and scrutiny.

A Fiscally Conservative Approach to Florida High Speed Rail

Florida's proposed High Speed Rail system is unlike typical government-run transit in that private industry would build, operate, and maintain it.  This scenario is similar to airport infrastructure--typically paid for and built by government with private airlines operating the flights.

I agree with the Reason Foundation that private industry should bear the risk of cost overruns.  The City of Orlando relinquished authority to the Orlando Magic to build the Amway Center.  The Magic bore the risk of cost overruns, which gave the team an incentive to keep construction within budget.    

The Reason report cites the negligently designed Boston Big Dig, which had about $10.6 billion in cost overruns, as an example of what could go wrong with Florida's High Speed Rail.  The comparison has little merit since the Florida high speed rail system does not include costly underground tunneling.  (Nor could it, given Florida's high water table).  

The Reason report suggests that Florida should anticipate construction costs commensurate with California High Speed Rail's cost per mile estimate.  However, engineering a High Speed Rail line in a major earthquake zone invariably results in higher construction costs.  California's Central Valley line would include miles of viaduct construction.  The video below may give you an idea why California's construction will exceed the cost of Florida's mostly at-grade construction:

The Reason report raises an idea floated originally by Rep. John Mica (R-FL), the House Transportation Committee's new chairman, to phase-in the project, beginning with a line between Orlando International Airport and Disney World.  Governor Scott should, at a minimum, allow this segment to proceed.  The Transport Politic, in a thoughtful post, "A Fiscally Conservative Approach is the Right One for Florida High-Speed Rail," opines that phasing is unnecessary if the State of Florida follows most of the Reason Foundation's other cost-containment recommendations. 

Criticism of Ridership Projections Omits 63 Million Tourists

The Reason report attacks Orlando-Tampa ridership projections as follows:

3. Comparison to Amtrak Acela Express Ridership: The Tampa to Orlando line ridership projections appear very high in relation to Amtrak's high-speed Acela Express service that runs between Boston and Washington, DC. The Florida project is predicted to carry 2.4 million riders annually, which is two-thirds the ridership on the Amtrak Acela Express service (3.2 million in 2010).  This could be difficult, in view of the much smaller size of the Tampa to Orlando market compared to the Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Washington, DC market. The Acela market has approximately eight times the population of the Tampa-Orlando market. The metropolitan areas in both markets have substantial tourist volumes.

The report does not quantify the "substantial tourist volumes" -- a glaring omission, given that the Orlando leg runs through the tourist corridor.  The number of tourists in both cities amounts to over 63 million people--far more significant than the Orlando metro area's 2 million or the Tampa area's 2.7 million populations. 

City                       Number of Visitors      

Orlando                48.7 million

Tampa                  15 million

TOTAL                63.7 Million

Disney World, the nation's most visited tourist destination, would have a station on the High Speed Rail route.  The Orange County Convention Center, also with a station, is the nation's second largest convention facility.  A rail-to-rail connection with SunRail could generate non-tourist usage.

The 2.4 million annual ridership estimate averages 6,575 riders each day.  Despite old passenger cars (one person told me his car was leaking in the rain), inconvenient schedules, and slow travel, Amtrak had about a quarter million passengers board or get off non-high speed trains in Orlando, Lakeland, and Tampa in 2009.  Some portion of existing rail riders would use high speed rail when traveling between these cities.  Press reports state the Florida Department of Transportation is preparing new ridership estimates for Governor Scott's review. 

Over the Christmas holiday, on C.R. 535 outside of Disney World, traffic stood in gridlock for much of the day.  While spending an aggravating half-hour getting through one intersection to cross C.R. 535, we checked GoogleMaps Traffic.  It depicted I-4 as one long red line, meaning traffic was at a standstill.  The tourist district needs options other than automobiles to address transportation (and consequent economic) dysfunction.     

State Senator Paula Dockery, a fiscal conservative and early supporter of Governor Scott, knows well how to scrutinize rail projects (as SunRail supporters can attest).  Yet she is on record supporting the High Speed Rail system.  She said that "private companies are talking about putting $300 million to $400 million on the table, which would cover the $200 million for construction not covered by the federal government."  John Mica, another fiscally conservative Republican, has likewise stated that the project is viable with private industry covering the 10% capital shortfall.  As part of his vetting, I hope Governor Scott is reaching out for their important perspectives.

General Electric, Siemens, Bombardier, and other corporations, appear interested in building and operating these systems.  They would not demonstrate this interest if they did not expect to turn a profit.  High speed rail systems internationally--including in Japan, Spain, France, Great Britain, and Taiwan--return profits, though that does not occur in every instance or in every year. 

Amrak's Acela line--the closest we have in the U.S. to High Speed Rail--turns a profit, even though it's government-run. 

Nothwithstanding the Reason report, now that the Federal Department of Transportation is redirecting to Florida $342 million in funding from Ohio and Wisconsin, the case for rejecting a Florida system has weakened.  Any decision to abandon this project will not shrink the Federal deficit, but will instead direct $2.4 billion intended for Florida to California and elsewhere.  Governor Scott is too smart to make that his legacy, given the option of making private industry shoulder the risks of proceeding.

A Smarter Built Environment Could Make Kids Smarter, Too

A study of 9 and 10 year olds in the journal, Brain Research found an association between brain size, cognitive ability, and exercise.  You can find an online article about the study, written for a lay audience, at the website of Science Today magazine:

When they analyzed the MRI data, the researchers found that the physically fit children tended to have bigger hippocampal volume -- about 12 percent bigger relative to total brain size -- than their out-of-shape peers.

The children who were in better physical condition also did better on tests of relational memory -- the ability to remember and integrate various types of information -- than their less-fit peers. 

The new findings suggest that interventions to increase childhood physical activity could have an important effect on brain development

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, Ohio State University, and the University of Pittsburgh, was serious enough to warrant notation in the December issue of Pediatrics magazine, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.  The study provides further evidence that a built environment creating walkable and bikeable schools could improve academic performance.  Other studies examined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have linked physical activity and academic performance.  

We have engineered incidental exercise out of our lives.  Sprawl development patterns, using dangerous highways to connect schools to subdivisions, have reduced the percentage of children walking and biking to school from over 40% in the late 1960's to around 13% today.  Partly as a result, childhood obesity is reaching epidemic proportions--at about 17% of the pediatric population--with about a third of children overweight.   Instead of self-reliance, we are instilling in our children a culture of dependency. 

A properly built, smart growth environment can induce up to 80% of children to walk to school.  I suspect additional research in coming years will show that smart growth can make kids smarter.  

Leave it to Beaver depicted an America we've lost--kids walking to and from school.  The sidewalks in our newer, conventional subdivisions are four feet wide--not wide enough for two, let alone three bigger kids to walk side by side comfortably. 

The Road Safety Paradox

Traffic engineers straighten and widen roads, then establish "clear zones" to make roads safer.  That was the premise for four-laning Apopka-Vineland Road through Dr. Phillips in the late 1990's into a treeless drag strip with Interstate highway lane dimensions.  The result: a faster, deadly road.  The high-speed road design contributed to the death of my neighbor, who lived a couple homes away from us in the Emerald Forest subdivision.  He left a young wife and toddler. 

Charles Marohn, P.E., president of  StrongTowns.org, states, "Taking highway standards and applying them to urban and suburban streets, and even county roads, costs us thousands of lives every year."  He posted  a cartoon illustrating the road safety paradox through a parody of statements he used to make to concerned citizens.  Increasingly, leaders in the engineering field are rejecting this old line of thought in favor of context sensitive solutions.        

Sidewalks Need Buffers from Traffic

My heart goes out to the parents of Patricia Martin, 8, run over by a small day care center bus while riding her bicycle on Oakland Road at Cynthianna Circle in Altamonte Springs, Florida.  Patricia, who diligently wore a helment (which may have saved her life) remains hospitalized, in critical but stable condition. 

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "Troopers are still trying to determine why the girl left the sidewalk and rode into the path of the bus," apparently traveling northbound behind her.  The photograph below may help partially explain what happened:

Oakland Road and Cynthianna Circle--Altamonte Springs, Florida.

The sidewalk, where Patricia was riding initially, is four feet wide with no landscaping buffer from the road.  Phil Laurien, executive director of the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council pointed out to me that, if Patricia was distracted and her bike left the sidewalk, nothing buffered her from traffic on Oakland Road.  The sidewalk merges with the street at Cynthianna Circle without any painted pedestrian crossing. 

A grassy landscape buffer, like that depicted below, might have avoided the incident.

Courtesy: Jurgen Duncan, Transportation Planner, Canin Associates

The photo above depicts a shaded five-foot sidewalk and landscape buffer perhaps ten feet from the road.  The cross-street in the background has a painted pedestrian crosswalk, setback from the more heavily traveled road and defining the path for pedestrians and bicyclists.  The environment is not perfect.  The brick walls eliminate natural neighborhood surveillance of children walking and biking--a crime deterrent.  However, the photo provides a good example of a more complete street that could lessen the number of parents who experience the terrible anguish of a critically injured child. 

Road Context: A Disconnect

The Miami Herald wrote a troubling editorial.  The Florida Department of Transportation maintains a pedestrian-hostile environment, Brickell Avenue, and then, due to insufficient pedestrian activity, claims FDOT regulations disallow slower design speeds and most other pedestrian safety improvements.  It doesn't matter that thousands of condominiums and apartments tower overhead.  You can find photographs and an article by clicking HERE. 

The agency charged with designing, constructing, and maintaining State of Florida roadways -- the nation's most perilous for pedestrians -- enforces out-of-date policies when it comes to road context.  The disconnect results in a grim, mounting death toll--including an elderly woman on Brickell Avenue last month--warranting legislative intervention, if FDOT won't update its regulations on its own.  It's time for FDOT to assume a leadership position and provide for "complete streets," safe and comfortable for motorists and non-motorists--and appropriate for the context.

Click here for the Miami Herald editorial.

UPDATE 12/17/10:  The Brickell Avenue controversy is heading towards resolution.  FDOT conducted additional studies and agreed to lower the speed limits to 35 mph (still not low enough for some) and to add Bike Share lane markings.  You can get more details by clicking HERE.

UPDATE 1/5/11:  An op-ed in the Miami Herald is criticizing plans for only four new crosswalks on Brickell Avenue, three at existing intersections, out of 25 proposed locations.  Click HERE for the Miami Herald op-ed. 

Even a 7 Year Old Can Figure Out Urbanism

Windermere Elementary School teacher Anthony Simms assigned his second grade students the task of creating a city or town.  Future planner Max Geller received an A+ for his paper machete town, inspired by Downtown Winter Garden, where we often bike on the West Orange Trail.  The elementary school terminates a vista (now illegal in most jurisdictions).  A photo of my high school inspired the architecture, including pillars made of straws and a dome made from a paper bowl.  The roads are narrow, slow, and safe, with wide sidewalks shaded by trees.   Apartments provide a ready source of customers for the retail below.  Max didn't even consider creating a town of strip shopping centers and highways that kids can't cross safely.

Child Deaths, Injuries Warrant Road Design Investigations

You may have noticed a lot of kids critically injured and killed on our roads last week. Children with green lights, in crosswalks, walking to school, walking to catch a school bus.  Boys losing their brothers.  Parents losing their children. Reading about this carnage day after day in the Sentinel is unbearable. I'm hugging my four kids a little harder every night.

A pick-up truck struck and critically injured Douglas Ethan Swayze, 10, walking in the crosswalk directly in front of his elementary school, Spruce Creek, in Port Orange.  The road is a typical 45 mph posted arterial highway engineered for 50 mph traffic.  The child had about 70 feet of pavement to cross, with no refuge island, exposing him to danger for an extended period of time. 

Taylor Road--The highway in front of Spruce Creek Elementary School (lower left-hand part of photo) in Volusia County where Douglas Swayze, 10, was struck and critically injured while walking to school in the crosswalk.  The crosswalk, in the upper center of the photo, is not lit.    

I cannot comprehend why a school board member, school planner, or official would place elementary schools on highways, where we know children will walk. 

A week earlier, in front of nearby Silver Sands Middle School, a car hit Kasey Alexander, 12, and Sarah Griffin, 11, but only injured them slightly.  The road is two-lanes, tamer, and safer compared to Taylor Road.

The two-lane road in front of Silver Sands Middle School. 

Studies find a correlation between the percentage of pedestrians who survive a collision and vehicle speed.  Billy Hattaway, VHB Miller Sellen's director of transportation planning for the State of Florida, gave me the following chart:

To summarize the chart: speed kills. 

In East Orange County last week, a motorist ran over and injured Miguel Rodriguez and killed his twin brother, Anthony Rodriguez, both 15 years old. Anothony was an English honors student and football player.  The brothers were walking to their school bus stop on the side of Valencia College Lane.  There's no sidewalk on the highway, yet that's where Orange County Public Schools designated a school bus stop.   

The Orlando Sentinel reported the family was "angered that the teens could no longer use a bus stop close to their house — accessible by a side walk. A school district spokeswoman said that bus stop is for middle school students. Anthony and Miguel couldn't use it anymore because they graduated to high school."  This terrible policy had deadly consequences.   
 

In Kissimmee last week, a Lynx bus ran over and injured Mark Robinson, 12, and killed his brother, Mathew Robinson, 10, walking with a green light in a crosswalk in Kissimmee.  Look at the well-rounded curb radius--about 35-40 feet--which encourages high speed vehicle turns.

The Lynx bus turned left, heading northbound on Dyer Blvd. to westbound on Columbia Avenue.  Numerous apartments are in the northeast corner.  The approximately 40 foot curb radii encourages vehicle turns exceeding 30 mph. 

Compare those curbs to those in old neighborhoods, or New York City, where curbs are more square than round.  That slows vehicle turns to speeds safer for pedestrians. 
 

The Dangerous by Design report came out in November 2009 and--one year later--I am hard pressed to identify substantial measures undertaken by FDOT and our local governments to improve upon our #1 in the nation pedestrian danger ranking. 

Putting aside designated sources for transportation funding, it's ironic that we can spend $70 million widening three miles of the Turnpike, $12 million tearing out part of the 429, hundreds of thousands on this and that intersection widening, and not more than a pittance making our existing roads safe for pedestrians. 

10/17/10 UPDATE: I received the following information from the Orange County Planning Department regarding $2.4 million in budgeted pedestrian safety items not in the Capital Improvement Element:

The Public Works engineering budget includes $2 million for sidewalks.  Last year the County spent $1,774,194. A safety committee meets to prioritize projects for this budget item.  Additionally, Traffic Engineering has $419,500 budgeted for FY11 for pedestrian safety. This funding is for safe routes to school. Last year the County spent $675,000 under this line item.  In addition to these line items, funding for new roads or road widenings include sidewalks, and new subdivisions are required to construct sidewalks.

I did not find any projects to redesign dysfunctional roads in the DRAFT Orange County Capital Improvements Element probably because the Element is directed to facilities needing minimum Levels of Service (e.g. levels of service for automobile flow).   It is counterintuitive that a "road diet"--removing lanes and slowing traffic--can improve a road's level of service.  However, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council executive director Phil Laurien told the Council this morning that a road diet, if done correctly, can have that effect. 

We should not single out Orange County for criticism.  Can anyone name one existing arterial or collector road elsewhere in Central Florida redesigned in the last year to slow-down motorists for the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists?

The new Town of Windermere roundabout next to the Elementary School is a notable exception.  The roundabout provides an example how a local government can keep a road safe and narrow.  Traffic tie-ups have virtually vanished while low-engineered speed traffic enables motorists and pedestrians (mostly children) to make eye contact.  Motorists then ease to a stop and wave the kids to cross.  After a Federal SAFETEA-LU grant, the roundabout will cost the Town about $120,000, according to my discussion with town manager, Cecelia Bernier.  By comparison, a traffic light would have cost the Town at least $225,000 while imposing ongoing electrical and maintenance costs. 

The time has long passed to consider sweeping reform of our road design standards, both locally and at the State level.  We need road designs sensitive to the context.  Where we know kids will walk--in front of schools and apartments--we need design standards that slow the traffic.  We need to narrow the lanes. We need landscaping that gives motorists a better sense of their speed.  We need to require lit pedestrian crossings and refuge islands.  The Institute of Transportation Engineers has published new standards for designing walkable, urban thoroughfares that warrant adoption.  The Federal Highway Administration endorses the concept.  A growing national movement advocates "complete streets," designed for all road users, not merely motorists.  Local governments take note: Federal grants opportunities are shifting in this direction, as Windermere's experience with their new roundabout demonstrates. 

Saving motorists an extra 10-15 seconds (lost at the next red traffic light) was not worth the lives of Anthony Rodriguez or Mathew Robinson.  In the meantime, official investigations into their senseless deaths and the other incidents discussed here warrant in-depth consideration of the role played by poor road design. 

Voters Give Smart Growth Mandate to Teresa Jacobs

Source: Orange County Supervisor of Elections

Teresa Jacobs' overwhelming 68% victory for Orange County Mayor translates into one of sweeping geographic scope.  The election results, and the precinct map above, confirm she is Central Florida's most formidable--and popular--public figure. 

In her campaign mailers, Teresa touted her chairmanship of the Central Florida Smart Growth Alliance.

Teresa stated she opposes expanding the Urban Service Area when our population is not growing and so much of our urban core needs redevelopment.  Teresa voiced her opposition to Innovation Way East, which included two miles of one acre homesite sprawl next to the Econ River.   (That was the basis of my "no" vote on the Planning and Zoning Commission). 

On the campaign trail, Teresa promised "frankly, more urban" development for Orange County.  That's a good thing.  Urban means walkability.  It means development patterns shifting to create human-scaled environments like Baldwin Park and Celebration--with safe streets so our kids can walk and bike to school and to interesting places--and less disconnected, traffic-clogged, strip shopping center suburban sprawl based on 45+ mph highways that severely maim or kill our children walking to school and waiting for their school bus.

While campaigning, Teresa spoke of her lost effort in the 1990's to replace a planned arterial highway--Apopka-Vineland Road--with a tamer road that would not have divided her neighborhood.  The experience propelled her into public life. 

At the West Orange Chamber of Commerce Mayoral Candidates Forum, Teresa spoke in favor of a transportation future that is "multi-modal."  At a WMFE debate, she described SunRail as an "insurance policy" to keep our economy moving when we again see gas prices soaring to $4.00 or more. 

  At the Orlando Business Journal's Mayoral Candidates Forum, Teresa spoke of the need for "predictability" in how development appears.  She spoke of the need to streamline bureaucracy so that good development is not stymied.  Form-based SmartCodes, like those adopted by Miami and Denver this year, incorporate both principles and merit her serious consideration.  Orange County staff will come under Teresa's direction in January.  As staff prepares a Unified Land Development Code, you can rest assured that Teresa will read every word and consider every detail. 

The voters gave Teresa a mandate to lead Orange County into a Smart Growth future--and that mandate is as strong as anyone can conceive. 

For more on the principles of Smart Growth, click HERE. 

Mayor-elect Teresa Jacobs and family.

Amendment 4's Defeat a "Wake up Call to End Sprawl"

Eliza Harris, director of the Congress for the New Urbanism's Orlando Division, says, in wake of Amendment 4's defeat, local governments and developers should thank voters for a "second chance" to do better land planning.  Amendment 4 would have required voter approval of comprehensive land use plans.  She called the massive effort to defeat Amendment 4 a "wake up call" to "end the sprawl that congests our roads, endangers pedestrians, and chokes off transportation alternatives." 

"CNU Orlando's Advisory Committee is urging local governments to revise their comprehensive plans to make walkable development--instead of sprawl--the default development pattern," Harris said. "To avoid future proposals like Amendment 4, local governments need to fundamentally change their required development patterns.  Miami and Denver did so this year by replacing their zoning codes with SmartCodes and some local jurisdictions like the City of Orlando have started to create space in their regulations for walkable neighborhoods.  Local governments in Central Florida should revise their Comprehensive Plans to enable form-based codes and mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods."


You can find her full comments at The Daily City.

Architect Critiques Horizon West's Lakeside Village Siteplan



Lakeside Village Siteplan -- As Shown on the Developer's website

Tory Parish of Jackson Parish Architects posted a critique of the proposed Lakeside Village Siteplan on her blog.  Tory, a resident of Horizon West, relied on a siteplan and architectural renderings posted online by the developer, Boyd Development Corporation.   (There's no relationship between Boyd Development Corp. and Commissioner Scott Boyd). 

Tory writes:

Nothing about the current architectural renderings speak to the history or desirability of this area of Central Florida.  The current renderings depict a typical regurgitated shopping center as found anywhere in Florida.  Why can't the architecture be timeless?  Have some character?  Resonate with our history?  Reflect elements of the Florida vernacular as found in nearby Gotha and historic downtown Winter Garden?

What about apartments and offices above retail?

The current site plan prioritizes the automobile.  Pedestrians and bikers are a distant second.  Every building is surrounded by asphalt.  .... 

The critique comes late, after road and infrastructure construction has begun and when the developer is already seeking Development Plan approvals.  Nevertheless, Commissioner Boyd invited Ms. Parish and me to meet with the developer earlier this week. 

I respect Boyd Development Corporation as a fine conventional suburban retail and office developer.  Its principal partner developed Sand Lake Road's Plaza Venezia, an upscale strip retail center with Publix, Season's 52, Cedars, Shala's Salon, Roy's etc. 



Plaza Venezia, Sand Lake Road

Horizon West's pedestrian-friendly, pedestrian-oriented requirements challenge conventional suburban developers, who tend to propose siteplan layouts used in automobile-only, sprawl environments, like that depicted above.  Conventional suburban developers find comfort in their formula business and financing models.  The transition to a different model is not easy.  Resistance is natural.  The industry does not widely understand New Urban development's long-term financial return advantage compared to conventional suburban development. 

More than a year ago, Orange County approved the Lakeside Village Center's Preliminary Subdivision Plan (PSP), which included a Conceptual Layout.  Boyd Development Corp.'s proposed deviations do not necessarily favor the pedestrian.

How To Turn Main Street Into A Parking Lot

 

Tory writes, "The four central buildings, which could be tweaked to provide a pedestrian-friendly zone [with parallel parking], have been pushed apart" with perpendicular parking.  The Conceptual Layout below, approved by the County, shows diagonal parking, a compromise between parallel and perpendicular parking. 



Approved Concept Plan--Diagonal Parking narrows the roadway somewhat, keeping the buildings closer together to establish enclosure and a sense of place. 



Perpendicular parking, proposed by the developer, pushes the buildings further apart, and creates more of the appearance of a parking lot. 

Parallel parking requires parking lanes 7-8 feet in width and allows the narrowest street realm.  The charm of old European cities results, in part, from their narrow streets.  SmartCode, a model New Urban Code, allows diagonal parking lanes as little as 17 feet in width.  The perpendicular parking, proposed by the developer, will require two parking lanes, each 18 or 20 feet wide, as required by Section 38-1479(b) of the Orange County Code.  

The developer's explanation for wanting perpendicular parking is that a tenant in Retail Building "D" will not want a customer of Retail Building "C" parking in front of Building "D."  The developer--and perhaps their prospective tenants--do not appreciate the irrelevancy of where customers park in a shared parking environment, especially when the customers have a very narrow and safe street to cross.    

UPDATE Nov. 4--The Orange County Development Review Committee yesterday approved perpendicular parking. 

Lack of Pedestrian-Oriented Outparcels

While the approved Lakeside Village Center PD (called the "Frye PD") allows for more than 800 apartment and live-work townhome units to the west, within a five minute or so walk, the developer contends that "98% of people will drive" to the development.  That's the justification for omitting pedestrian amenities at the outparcels.  However, the omission will make exclusive automobile use a self-fulfilling prophesy.  Tory told the developer she would never walk between their disconnected outparcels.   

The disconnected outparcels give weight to Tory's criticism that the Lakeside Village Center plan "is in direct contrast to Orange County's goal of designing and creating sustainable communities designed for pedestrians."  

"The McDonald's Will Be Pedestrian Friendly"

We advocated an urban prototype for McDonalds with direct sidewalk connection to the restaurant door and a drive-thru in the rear (see the blog post on McDonald's below).  We noted the aesthetic benefits and how they could extend the internal main street's pedestrian experience.  Veteran Orange County planner John Smogor assured about 80 Horizon West residents attending a Community Meeting earlier this month that, "The McDonald's will be pedestrian-friendly." 

The Gas Station Gateway

The developer proposes to move the gas station to the northernmost parcel along C.R. 535 and face the gasoline station pumps and canopy towards southbound motorists.  The view would be similar to this, with vegetation and a knee-wall obscuring much of the vehicles:

Typical suburban prototype gas station.

That is not the gateway view I imagined for a "Village Center."  We urged the developer to hide the gas pumps and canopy from C.R. 535 behind the building as shown below:
 

Pedestrian-friendly gas station.  Most motorists, even if not familiar with the area,  will recognize the Shell logo and understand where to go.

Orange County required such a layout in Avalon Park, a New Urban development east of the airport. 

Horizon West Residents: "Stick with the Vision."

Orange County Planner Luis Nieves-Ruiz is spearheading a "retrospective" study of Horizon West.  He told the Planning and Zoning Board that Horizon West residents who responded to a County survey want to "stick with the vision."  I'm hopeful the Orange County Development Review Committee, when considering the Lakeside Village Center Development Plan submittals, will do just that.