There was a national New Urbanism conference in Rhode Island within the past month. Some of my planning colleagues attended and one prepared the following notes from the conference. These are short hand notes and more information on New Urbanism can be found by searching the Internet. Essentially, the NU movement promotes compact, resource and pedestrian friendly development - consistent with long standing urban - not suburban, development patterns. In many ways, Lake Worth is what everyone who is doing new "urban" greenfield development wants to be - a real "feather in our cap" and one that we can use to promote responsible redevelopment within the City.
I have highlighted sections of these notes that I thought were particularly insightful or applied in some way to the City of Lake Worth. I give credit to Andrew Frey, an attorney with Gunster Yoakley, who is the author of these notes. He provided a disclaimer in his transmitting e-mail that these didn't necessarily reflect his personal views - so it probably is a fairly accurate, albeit condensed, version of what he experienced at the conference. I have also provided this on my blog wesblackman.blogspot.com. I am also not necessarily a proponent of all of these views, but I find them interesting and many of them we as a City are already doing. They are definitely worthy of discussion in light of the development of the Master Plan.
Enjoy.
Wes Blackman
Congress for the New Urbanism XIV
Providence, Rhode Island
Day 1 – Opening Remarks, Andres Duany
FAQ About New Urbanism (NU)
1. What is NU? It is about the environment and human habitats. Environmental regulation is everywhere, but environmentalists still play the victim, and in fact lose to developers all the time, because most human habitats are unpleasant and people want to move out of them, spread out. There are few places where people enjoy living together in a compact development pattern. Basically, "the environmental problem" in America is due to the American middle class lifestyle. But it clearly cannot be solved by environmental regulation; limits to development must be primarily market-driven.
NU is complex and pragmatic, not categorical or ideological. It is about what works in the long run. The present is actually an impediment to good planning. NU is good design plus time.
2. Could you sum up NU on a bumper sticker? Compact, walkable, diverse.
3. What drives NU? First, it was a backlash against the suburban pattern of development, and its proponents were developers. Then environmentalists got behind NU, advocating smart growth policies. For example, Manhattan is the most environmental city in the US because it preserves wilderness and attracts tourists who would otherwise disturb the bears in Yellowstone. Now NU is driven by the price of energy. Energy may not continue to skyrocket in price, but it will never be cheap again, as described in the most important book of our time, The Long Emergency.
Note: Democracy doesn't avoid mistakes, it just correct them in the long run. Dictatorship keeps making the same mistakes again and again.
Why are developers drawn to NU? Market forces. A developer delivers a house plus amenities. An amenity may natural, such as location or view, or man-made, such as a clubhouse, golf course, or guardhouse. The developer pays for the amenity, either in the cost of land or construction, and then passes the cost to the home buyers. NU creates a fourth kind of amenity: urbanism, sense of place, the good design of things a developer would have to build anyway. This amenity is free, but the developer can charge a premium for it.
4. Don't people still drive in NU communities? Yes, good NU communities actually park more cars on average than traditional subdivisions. In fact, a community that minimizes or bans cars is not NU. NU promotes mobility choices.
5. Why don't NU communities have better town centers? Manhattan took time to get to where it is. Communities have to go through development cycles. For example, Seaside, the first NU community, will become a slum, and then will be rediscovered as a historic district.
6. How does retail work in NU communities? Most importantly, retail in NU communities is not exempt from national competition. Mom & Pop stores still have to learn the new rules, and NU communities should include both national and local retailers. Anyone who hates Starbucks is an ideologue, not a true NU.
Note: Some critics of NU say that NU communities are not "real places." This is a medieval way of thinking, i.e. that an abstract idea is somehow more real than bricks and mortar.
7. Why have home owners associations (HOAs) ? NU communities are not exempt from government; they are still governed by federal, state, and local law. In fact an HOA is an additional level of government, and local governments now get ideas and customer service standards from HOAs, in the American tradition of "laboratories of democracy."
8. Why do NU communities look so traditional? Seaside included Modern architecture from the start. The traditional look of NU communities is market-driven, democratic, not nostalgic. Modernists only raise this criticism because Modernism is not in demand and Modernists feel impotent. In Modernism, there are no rules, so it is impossible to do anything wrong. Traditional architecture can be done wrong, resulting in kitsch, so NU produce pattern books. NU does not care about style in general, but does recognize that if a style is chosen, it should be done correctly.
9. How is NU different from architecture? The fundamental difference is heterogeneity. NU puts in place a system so that different design professionals can act sequentially and the result will embody the principles of NU. First the planners plan, then the designers design the public spaces, then different architects design each building. This also allows for learning over time, an organic process. NU is about designing and managing a process, not designing individual buildings.
10. Where's the affordable housing? NU is affordable, but it doesn't stay that way. Prices go up in a kind of instantaneous gentrification. The only way to keep housing affordable is to do ugly HUD-style project housing. The best way to promote affordability is to include rental buildings and duplexes, and allow outbuildings in single-family districts.
11. Why are most NU communities greenfield developments? Actually, 50% of NU developments are infill. Regardless, greenfield developments will get built anyway, so they might as well be NU.
Day 1 – Seminar 1, Victor Dover
Challenges to NU Development
1. NIMBYism. The solution is communication and information, such as a charette, which creates a rapid feedback loop between the developer and the public. As a general rule, when passions are hot, add information, and when enthusiasm is low, add passion.
2. Bad zoning. The solution is form-based codes.
3. Bad architecture. The solution is better training. Architecture professors often criticize NU communities for the bad architecture of individual buildings. But those buildings were designed by their former students. The key to better training is looking to precedent, what works.
4. Bad streets. The solution is better street design standards. Are wider streets with larger turning radii and no trees really safer for pedestrians?
Day 1 – Seminar 2, Emily Talen
The History of NU
Over the course of the 20th Century, US urban population grew 40%, while suburban population grew 700%, and four schools of thought rose and fell in urban planning:
1. Social Reformers. Promote social services. Not concerned by urban form, i.e. not anti-urban.
2. Garden City. Advocate totally new settlement patterns that create a sense of place, early NU.
3. City Beautiful. Burnham and his ilk. Advocate planned cities or adding order to existing cities, particularly by introducing grand civic spaces under the theory that good planning benefits people and commerce. Not concerned with social problems.
4. Regionalists. Advocated location of cities and other human interventions based on highest and best use of geographic advantages and natural resources, e.g. the Tennessee Valley Authority. Very authoritarian.
While these four groups were fighting, Corbu came out of nowhere and swept the global imagination of planners. NU has emerged to revive and synthesize the original four schools, finding solutions in the fertile tension among the four.
Day 1, Seminar 3, Dhiru Thadani
The Transect
Notes: There are 5-7 spaces for every car in the US. Narrower streets are actually safer, e.g. 9' lanes instead of 12'. 99% of all pedestrian fatalities occur when the vehicle is traveling faster than 38 mpg.
Day 2, Seminar 1, panel
How Finance NU?
Bob Burch: bonds
Joel Cohen: TIF
Bob Chapman: developer
David Mayfield: developer
Kelli Stevens: marketing
How finance NU?
KS: Banks look to the same three factors regardless – character, credit, and collateral – but it is important to sell the bank on the NU vision.
RC: Banks don't care about NU, only care about equity, location, and pro formas.
BB: Bank will finance anything, regardless of concept, as long as you can show that it will sell.
DM: "New" is a bad word to banks`, but now there are comps.
Subsidies for infill?
JD: Tax credits: New Market, if 20% of rent is from commercial use; historic; green building; brownfield; low-income, i.e. up to 80% AMI
What about mixed-use?
DM: The secondary market will not accept loans for mixed use, so banks have to keep in house.
KS: Need friendly appraiser.
BB: Office use is scary for banks.
RC: If can, build uses in phases, e.g. retail later.
DM: 4-story brownstone is easy, three units over retail, avoid ADA.
What is your exit strategy?
DM: Keep it simple so you can get out quickly. The key is phasing for more flexibility.
How can bank help?
DM: Keep the same loan officer on the job for the whole project.
RC: Get a good appraiser who will recognize the income stream from the first sales and how that money can be used to finance later phases, i.e. self-finance.
Day 2, Seminar 2
Modern architecture in NU
Why should NU include Modern architecture?
1. There is some market demand for it.
2. Modern architecture can be urban
3. Modern architecture expresses optimism in future
4. Diversity of styles is more modern
Seaside: The design code only applies to homes, not public buildings, and the code is style-neutral. Public buildings maybe any style, and several are definitely Modern. One home owner was specifically encouraged to push Modern as far as possible within code, and the neighbors hated the result. Prospect has a design code, but many individual houses are modern. Aqua has no code, but all the units ended up looking the same.
Day 3, Seminar 1, panel
Doing well by doing good
David Pace: Baldwin
If your development doesn't have a view, you have to create a sense of place for value and profit. You should create such a premium for every lot, i.g. frequent parks and public waterfronts, not waterfront lots. However, you have to have the courage to charge for that premium on every lot.
You cannot tell what product category our buildings contain by looking at them. What looks like a $4M home could just as easily be a rental building containing $700/mo apartments. Baldwin has 350 product types all being sold at the same time, which is known as co-absorption. Lots are designed to fit any of the product types: 120' feet deep, alley-loaded parking.
Deal with lots of builders, so no one builder can buy lots and sit on them. Make sure contracts with builders have strict time limits and clear rights of redemption, i.e. you can take lots back from builder and sell to another builder to maintain velocity. Another cost saving: a good code up front allows builders, not the developer, to hire and pay for architects.
Denise Gammon: Stapleton
City and developer negotiated a document, called the Green Book, outlining both the design and the economics of the development. Sustainability should be market-driven, but you have to create a market for it by educating all the stakeholders. For example, the Green Book requires 1/3 open space. Individual lots in Stapleton are only 90' deep, but this is made up for by an abundance of parks. Customer surveys consistently show that the #1 amenity of Stapleton is walkability to the town centers.
The first phase of Stapletong included 1M square feet of retail, so the developer could use the revenue to issue $150M of revenue bonds to help finance the rest of the deal. Try to externalize the cost of infrastructure with bonds or TIF.
Keeping the product mix diverse and the number of builders high (18) promotes absorption. Stapleton neighborhoods are like "Chia Pets," just add water and they grow instantly. Contracts with builders only last for one year, and the developer only works with mid-sized builders who can't hold onto lots.
Notes: NU is best as infill, but for a small project, do not overspend on amenities. Do your homework on market demand. NU projects are 15-20% more expensive to build, but command 30% premiums and 50% faster absorption. Even in an NU development, 80% of land goes to single-family homes, but most profits come from multi-family. The myth is that only luxury home-buyers have enough money to pay a park premium, but that is untrue; all product types will pay a park premium. The best way to phase a project is to start with the area either 1) with most product types, 2) near existing neighborhoods, or 3) including town center retail for revenue bonds. The best way to ensure affordability is a land trust.
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