Downtown Soledad Vision Charrette
June 26th, 2011

From May 1 to May 4 the Soledad Downtown Specific Plan design team - led by Lisa Wise Consulting and Sargent Town Planning - conducted a public design charrette in a downtown Soledad storefront.  Through a series of meetings with City staff and officials, property and business owners, and the general public, the team developed a conceptual illustrative plan and related illustrations depicting a long-term vision and strategy for continuing preservation, revitalization, and economic development within the downtown.  The concepts were welll received by the City Council and Planning Commission at the conclusion of the Charrette, and the team has prepared a Vision Program document and will next prepare a Draft Specific Plan.

Key elements of that strategy include conservatoin and restoration of the Districts fine historic building stock, the development of a new hotel and movie theater in the core, the construction of strategic new buildings on the southwest side of Front Street, the recruitment of new businesses and a junior college to the district, transforming the image of the dowtown from the 101 freeway and off-ramps. 

The image above depicts facade restoration of the historic market on the left, and a new hotel on the vacant parcels across the street adjacent to the railroad.

Downtown Soledad Vision
June 26th, 2011

Similar to the orginal main streets of many of California's railroad towns, Front Street was historically the highway through town, with retail buildings on one side the the railroad on the other.  As Front Street continues its evolution from highway to downtown mixed-use district, new buildings on the railroad side of the street are a key element of the strategy for making it a more interesting, comfortable and walkable environment for residents and visitors to spend time in.  The perspective about illustrates how a new hotel building and small retail building could flank a new transit station, facing a new plaza at the terminus of Main Street at Front.  In the near term this transit center would be served by local and regional bus service, and in the future it is expected to also provide passenger rail service to the Bay Area and Southern California.

Downtown Soledad Vision
June 26th, 2011

A key element of the vision for Downtown Soledad is improving the connections between the Front Street core area to surrounding neighborhoods and open spaces.  The perspective above illustrates the recommended extension of Front Street through the site currently occupied by the City's maintenance yard and related industrial uses connecting the downtown core directly to the city's major downtown park for the first time.   New residential and mixed-use buildings are shown in the newly formed block on the left, the park is visible at the end of the street, and a new community center is illustrated on the right.  The community building is sited at a turn in Front Street, making it prominent in views as one is entering and leaving the Downtown district.

Residential Design Guidelines, Mission Hills, Kansas
May 9th, 2011

The City of Mission Hills, Kansas has retained Sargent Town Planning to prepare residential design guidelines that will supplement and reinforce their zoning standards to help ensure that new development is consistent with the high quality and unique character of its neighborhoods.

Mission Hills is one of the later and more picturesque sections of the renowned Country Club District, the majority of which is in Kansas City, Missouri while Mission Hills lies to the west of State Line Road in Kansas. The Country Club District was developed by visionary developer J.C. Nichols between 1910 and 1950 and was among the first and finest master planned communities in the United States. The Country Club District was from the outset – and remains today – a national model for well-planned and well-designed neighborhoods, serving as the inspiration for many other fine communities throughout the country, including River Oaks in Houston, Beverly Hills in Los Angeles and a proliferation of more recent developments based on the sustained success of those early 20th century places.

A leading practitioner and national advocate for the City Beautiful movement of the early 20th Century, Mr. Nichols pioneered a wide range of planning techniques, development strategies and implementation tools, including the design “restrictions” linked with zoning that form much of the basis for current practices in vision-based development codes and design guidelines. He was a founding member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) whose foundation awards the annual J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Our firm is honored to have this opportunity to work with the City of Mission Hills to extend Mr. Nichols commitment to “planning for permanence” into a second century.

 

 

San Juan Capistrano Town Center Master Plan
May 23rd, 2010

Sargent Town Planning, in association with Studio One Eleven of Long Beach, has completed the public review draft of an updated Historic Town Center Master Plan and Code for the City of San Juan Capistrano.  The town’s historic center abuts the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano and includes a mix of historic buildings, underdeveloped land and suburban shopping centers. Following a rigorous program of background research and analysis – including historic, economic, traffic, parking analysis and public workshops – the Studio One Eleven/Sargent team led a five-day community Charrette in which an ambitious, long-term vision plan was prepared and generally embraced by the community.  The Public Draft Master Plan based on that vision plan can be downloaded here, and information about the ongoing public process can be found at the City's website.

 

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International Boulevard T.O.D. Plan
January 20th, 2011

Sargent Town Planning, in association with Raimi + Associates, was selected from a large field of candidate teams to prepare a vision plan and urban design recommendations for this 6-mile corridor in East Oakland, from 14th Avenue to the San Leandro border.  AC Transit is proposing to establish bus rapid transit (BRT) service in the corridor, and the City obtained a grant from CalTrans to identify strategies for leveraging that investment by encouraging transit-oriented devleopment (TOD) along the corridor, which is one of Oakland's more economically and socially troubled areas.

International Boulevard T.O.D. Plan
January 20th, 2011

Sargent Town Planning, in association with Raimi + Associates, was selected from a large field of candidate teams to prepare a vision plan and urban design recommendations for this 6-mile corridor in East Oakland, from 14th Avenue to the San Leandro border.  AC Transit is proposing to institute bus rapid transit (BRT) service in the corridor, and the City obtained a grant from CalTrans to identify strategies for leveraging that investment by encouraging transit-oriented devleopment (TOD) along the corridor, which is one of Oakland's more economically and socially troubled areas.