Third Public Workshop for Palm Desert 111 Corridor Plan

Mar 10th, 2015

In a third and final public workshop, the Raimi/Sargent team presented a preferred alternative framework plan for the Palm Desert 111 Corridor and City Center. The plan presented consolidated concepts presented in two earlier workshops, reflecting the expressed community input and preferences.

The presentation included illustrations of themajor streetscape transformations proposed, illustrations of typical devleopment types and urban scale and character, and preliminary recommendations for zoning changes and updates. As in the previous two workshops a lively and productive discussion ensued, with additional valuable input and direction. The team will now organize all of that information into a 111Corridor Plan section for the General Plan Update, along with new zoning standards. public realm standards and implementation manual for the Corridor.

STP on team selected for Fontana General Plan Update, Downtown Specific Plan, and Zoning Code Update

Mar 10th, 2015

New Work

At their March 10 meeting the Fontana City Council awarded the contract to update the City’s General Plan and Zoning Ordinance and prepare a Downtown Specific Plan to a consultant team led by Stantec.

Sargent Town Planning will lead the team’s urban design work for the General Plan Update and Zoning Code Update, and will lead the team’s effort in preparing the Downtown Specific Plan. Stantec’s Urban Places Group, based in Boston, Massachusetts, will be directing the project and collaborating with STP in all phases of the work, and Lisa Wise Consulting will be leading the Zoning Code Update and supporting STP in preparing the Downtown Specific Plan. Stantec – a large multi-disciplinary consulting firm – will provide most of technical services for the project, and additional team members include Raimi + Associates for health and sustainability planning and policy advisement, and Kosmont Companies for economic and fiscal strategy and analysis.

Lancaster T.O.D. Zones Adopted by City Council

Feb 10th, 2015

Plan Adoption

The Lancaster City Council has adopted new transit-oriented development (T.O.D.) zoning that provides development standards, street standards, and architectural guidelines the under-developed area at the east end of their downtown, around the Lancaster Metrolink Station.

The new zoning is based on a conceptual station area plan prepared previously by STP, which envisions the largely vacant area being developed as a compact, walkable, transit-oriented mixed-use neighborhood center, anchoring that end of the City's rapidly rebounding Lancaster Boulevard main street. New zoning was also prepared for existing neighborhoods to the north and the west of the station area - to ensure that new infill development and housing renovation enhances their quality - and for the Sierra Highway Corridor to gradually transform it from a highway that cuts the station area off from downtown, to an urban avenue that connects and unifies the two areas.

Second Public Workshop for Palm Desert 111 Corridor Plan

Dec 8th, 2014

Plan Progress

On Thursday, December 4 at the Desert Willow Resort the Raimi/Sargent team led a second public workshop to present and receive community input on a range of design concepts for Palm Desert's 111 Corridor.

Following the successful initial workshop in early October, the STP team had worked rapidly to devise and illustrate the urban design framework to transform the 111 Corridor from an old highway strip to a multi-way boulevard to expand the existing El Paseo shopping district into a larger City Center District, linking it to the existing Civic Center to the north on San Pablo Avenue. The assembled group of residents, business and property owners and community leaders received these recommendations enthusastically, and through large group and small group discussion offered a great deal of creative input. A third workshop is scheduled for March.

North Bayshore Precise Plan for Transit-Oriented Employment District Adopted by Mountain View City Council

Nov 25th, 2014

Plan Adoption

The Mountain View city council voted to approve a new precise plan defining how and where development can occur in this 500-acre light industrial area north of Highway 101.

The plan allows for up to 3.4 million square feet of new commercial space to be built, transforming the existing auto-oriented business park into a walkable, transit-oriented, mixed-use employment district. The Plan includes development standards, design guidelines, a transportation management plan, public improvement funding strategies, and a system of density bonus incentives for projects that provide high levels of environmental sustainability or transfer of development rights abutting environmentally sensitive areas.

Tehachapi Adopts Groundbreaking Hybrid Zoning Code

Oct 22nd, 2014

Plan Adoption

At their October 6 meeting the City Council of the Town of Tehachapi unanimously adoped a groundbreaking citywide hybrid development code, prepared by the team of Lisa Wise Consulting, Tony Perez Associates and Sargent Town Planning. The new code is the culmination of a decade-long effort, with contributions by Sargent Town Planning, Moule & Polyzoides, Lisa Wise Consulting, Opticos Design’s Tony Perez and others.

In 2005 the city hired David Sargent of Sargent Town Planning in 2005 to help them understand why new development wasn't meeting the communities expectations for a "small mountain town." Through policy and regulatory analysis and a charrette-based community visioning process, it became clear that Tehachapi General Plan and zoning standards was generating the very results that they didn’t want and the Sargent team prepared a vision plan, interim form-based design guideliines, and recommendations to update their general plan and zoning.

In 2007, when Sargent and Perez were working for Moule & Polyzoides, that firm was hired to prepare a new form-based general plan based on the new vision plan. They led that general plan consultant team and the new general plan was adopted in late 2012. In 2013 the City retained the team of Lisa Wise Consulting, Sargent Town Planning, and Tony Perez Associates to completely overhaul the zoning ordinance, integrating form-based development standard and street type standards for areas of growth and change, with conventional zoning for other parts of town.

First Public Workshop for Palm Desert 111 Corridor Plan

Oct 20th, 2014

Plan Progress

In a public workshop hosted by the Desert Willow Golf Resort, the Raimi/Sargent team presented initial planning concepts and suggestions for the 111 Corridor to a gathering of over 50 residents, business owners, property owners and community leaders.

The 111 Corridor is the historic "main drag" of Palm Desert, adjacent to their renowned El Paseo retail main street, which as developed a reputation as "the Rodeo Drive of the Desert", but 111 remains a somewhat ragged highway strip cutting through town.

The purpose of the workshop was to offer some suggestions of how Highway 111 might be repositioned as Boulevard 111 that extends the high quality pedstrian/shopping environment of El Paseo, becoming part of the City center rather than a "downtown bypass". Through extensive discussion in small groups participants provided a great deal of creative input, very supportive of the direction the team was heading. Following the workshop the Sargent design team will work rapidly to prepare a series of design concepts and alternatives that will be presented in a second public workshop in early December.

Moreno Valley Selects Raimi/Sargent Team to prepare Nason Street Corridor Plan

May 20th, 2014

New Work

The City of Moreno Valley has selected a consultant team - led by Raimi + Associates with Sargent Town Planning leading the urban design work - to prepare a vision plan for the Nason Street Corridor.

This planned transit corridor connects southward from the I-60 Corridor - for which Raimi and Sargent recently prepared updated zoning recommendations – through a commercial district and a series of developing neighborhoods. Funding for the plan is provided by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) as part of their Compass Blueprint program for smart growth implementation.

The plan will define a vision and strategies for balancing pedestrian, bicycle and transit modes with automobile circulation, along with streetscape improvement and mixed-use development recommendations to help promote sustainable development and build long-term value throughout the corridor. A key focal area for the plan will be around the intersection of Nason Street and Allesandro Street, also identified as an important transit corridor, for which the Raimi team prepared a corridor plan under another SCAG grant in 2011. The consultant team includes Fehr & Peers for multi-modal transportation planning and Metropolitan Research + Economics for market-based development strategies.

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