City of Phoenix hires consultant to simplify codes and make city more livable!! Yes!!!
Code changes aim to alter downtown
Ginger D. Richardson
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
Anyone who currently trudges through downtown Phoenix knows that shade is hard to find and there isn't much to look at along the massive car- and construction-clogged streets. But city officials want to change that. And on Thursday, they announced that they plan to create development standards for downtown buildings and change their zoning ordinances and codes to make it easier to build visually pleasing structures in the downtown area. It's an arduous process that will likely take 12 to 18 months. But if it works, downtown visitors and workers could reap the benefits in the form of more shade, better public art and lots of pedestrian-friendly buildings with street-side retail.
"The goal is to make downtown a place where people want to be," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said as he kicked off the Downtown Urban Form Project during a presentation at the Orpheum Theatre. "We are going to get away from looking at downtown as just steel and concrete."
The idea has its roots in the city's downtown strategic plan, which was formally adopted in December 2004. The document includes districts for government, education, entertainment, restaurants and art spaces and sets goals for new retail development, public green space and extensive shade. It is scheduled for implementation over the next decade.
Phoenix has hired Dyett & Bhatia, a San Francisco-based urban and regional planning firm, to help. The company has worked with cities from Pittsburgh to Santa Monica on their growth and design efforts."
Phoenix has the opportunity to be one of the great downtowns, comparable to Seattle or Portland," said Leslie Gould, Dyett's director of planning services. But, she added, "You have quite a number of issues." Challenges, Gould said, include the size of Phoenix's downtown, the fact that it has a great deal of vacant land, is automobile oriented and has notoriously hot summers.
Gould said Phoenix's zoning code is complicated and isn't written in a way that allows the city to get the kind of buildings it wants. Once the city simplifies its development codes, and creates minimum design standards, the City Council is expected to look at which items can be incorporated citywide.
Ginger D. Richardson
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
Anyone who currently trudges through downtown Phoenix knows that shade is hard to find and there isn't much to look at along the massive car- and construction-clogged streets. But city officials want to change that. And on Thursday, they announced that they plan to create development standards for downtown buildings and change their zoning ordinances and codes to make it easier to build visually pleasing structures in the downtown area. It's an arduous process that will likely take 12 to 18 months. But if it works, downtown visitors and workers could reap the benefits in the form of more shade, better public art and lots of pedestrian-friendly buildings with street-side retail.
"The goal is to make downtown a place where people want to be," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said as he kicked off the Downtown Urban Form Project during a presentation at the Orpheum Theatre. "We are going to get away from looking at downtown as just steel and concrete."
The idea has its roots in the city's downtown strategic plan, which was formally adopted in December 2004. The document includes districts for government, education, entertainment, restaurants and art spaces and sets goals for new retail development, public green space and extensive shade. It is scheduled for implementation over the next decade.
Phoenix has hired Dyett & Bhatia, a San Francisco-based urban and regional planning firm, to help. The company has worked with cities from Pittsburgh to Santa Monica on their growth and design efforts."
Phoenix has the opportunity to be one of the great downtowns, comparable to Seattle or Portland," said Leslie Gould, Dyett's director of planning services. But, she added, "You have quite a number of issues." Challenges, Gould said, include the size of Phoenix's downtown, the fact that it has a great deal of vacant land, is automobile oriented and has notoriously hot summers.
Gould said Phoenix's zoning code is complicated and isn't written in a way that allows the city to get the kind of buildings it wants. Once the city simplifies its development codes, and creates minimum design standards, the City Council is expected to look at which items can be incorporated citywide.
posted by urbanliving360.com at 7:32 AM
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