Blog Post #3

1.

One interesting aspect in downtown Newark is the community garden.  Now seeing as it’s the dead of winter currently, it looks somewhat pitiful and depressing at the moment, as most of the plants are withered or covered up.  It’s also hard not to notice the buildings around the garden look old and worn down, however this adds to the charm of this garden and why it’s a great example of city planning.  Newark has gone through some tough times and there’s a lot of wasted space, even in the downtown area, and this is a creative usage for space that would otherwise be empty.  A big focus on City Planning is the community, and while the garden may be small it shows a good attempt at bringing in a community.  Ultimately a City Plan isn’t a binding legal document, it’s up to the community to get behind it and make it work, which makes this community garden a step in the right direction for the city of Newark.  Improvements that would make the Garden better, would be to fix up the surrounding buildings and either expand the garden or find more wasted space in the city to add more gardens or other community places in a similar vein.

Destination 3 was an interesting site because it was a three story abandoned building. This building was located on the corner of second street across from the city courthouse. The building looked old and rough with paint chipped off. the building did not seem to have many planning failures because it was a nice fit in where it was but there could be a few things fixed. One thing that needs to be added is new paint. The paint looked old and is a bit of an eyesore especially since it is not being used. Finding tenants is one problem that needs to be solved because there is not much use for the building currently even though it appears to be in a decent location. Another thing that could also be changed is the dullness of the side facing 2nd Street. Adding more ground level windows on that side could make the building more appealing.

Another interesting aspect in downtown Newark is the Marketplace.  The marketplace in Newark is a place that brings the community together. The Canal Market district is located on Canal Street and this marketplace encourages community access to healthier, local foods and promotes economic development in the county as a whole. Overall this marketplace was planned well with a very welcoming look to it. Even though it is a little narrow they made the market place long enough to allow many vendors sell their products comfortably. However, it seemed like there was not enough parking with only 47 spaces. With vendors and consumers both going to the marketplace, more parking could have been added to eliminate the hassle for people driving and having to park farther away. Overall this marketplace is a great way to bring the community together while being aesthetically pleasing.

2.

Cluster Zoning: Micheal Schaller

Cluster Zoning is a type of zoning that efficiency uses land in order to place more green space or agriculture. This type of zoning is useful because it good for bringing the community closer together and it saves cost of obtaining land. Cluster primarily focuses on residential whereas planned unit development is a mixed use. Although it is an efficient use of land especially in urban areas like Newark and Cleveland it can lead to conflicts over gardens or other public spaces. Cluster zoning can be put to good use in large cities  with high land value because the land is scarce to begin with and reducing the cost of obtain can lead to improvements to the building qualities or surrounding public green spaces.

 

Inclusionary: Timothy Cowans

Inclusionary zoning is an ordinance that focuses heavily on being inclusive, as the name suggests, to lower income families looking to buy homes.  This ordinance is designed to have a certain amount of houses or apartment complexes be affordable in a certain city or county.  They accomplish this by restricting new houses being purchased to make housing costs more affordable to the lower class.  This ordinance can be required or voluntary, if voluntary it will provide incentives for developers to develop these affordable living places for families below the median household income.  A scenario where this ordinance could be used, is in a rich city like a New Albany or Dublin, passes an ordinance that requires that 15% of houses developed in new projects be affordable for the lower class.  Since cities like New Albany tend to practice the opposite of this ordinance, exclusionary, this would make a real difference in the community.

 

Planned Unit Development: Trent Tackett

A planned unit development is when a large block of land is made a whole neighborhood unit with different land uses such as housing, recreation and retail. If a developer is trying to form a PUD in the city, then that developer is agreeing to be flexible with the use of that land. The city might say that the developer should have a fourth of the land be parking and a fourth of the land commercial retail. This let’s the development meet the cities requirements and the developer create housing that is surrounded by appropriate parking and retail. This planned retail and parking is convenient and can benefit the residence living in that area.

 

3. Cleveland, Ohio:  http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/

Cleveland Ohio is a city that has fluctuated over the past few decades.  It’s economy has mostly been tied to it’s sports teams performances, mainly if LeBron has been there or not.  But now Cleveland is trying to bring people back into the city and make it their home again, and also to attract newcomers.  Cleveland’s comprehensive city plan mainly focuses on three things; “Making the city and neighborhoods ‘communities of choice'”, developing the lakefront, and improving the health of its citizens.

Improving the city of Cleveland and making it a “Forward City” is a big part of Cleveland’s plan.  The focus is primarily on enticing entrepreneurs, and supporting businesses.  Cleveland also wants to encourage the youth, especially the youth from poor, ethnic communities and give them opportunities and support.  Cleveland also wants to improve the neighborhoods by having volunteers lead efforts to create neighborhoods where residents are “…engaged, empowered, enlightened, resilient, and self reliant.”  This movement is called the Vital neighborhood movement.

Developing land for the Lakefront is also a big focus on the City Plan for Cleveland.  There is currently 20+ acres of land on the North Coast Harbor of Cleveland Ohio, north of Cleveland Brown’s Stadium that has just been approved for development. Cumberland Development LLC. is planning to add 1000 apartments and 10,000s of thousands of square footage of office and retail spaces for an already rising population in the city of Cleveland. The high demand for residential has created this plan for a new vibrant mixed use neighborhood planned to attract more young professionals and improve urban lifestyle.The plan was officially approved in 2014 and ground broke in 2015.

Finally improving health is a big focus of the city plan.  As Cleveland promises a healthier city, the Cleveland City Planning Commission (CCPC), uses a tool called health impact assessment, to investigate and recommend ideas to neighborhood planning and development that enables healthier active living. This health assessment is led by the CCPC and highlights the relationship between planning and public health. The CCPC has identified five key priorities to focus on, safety, Transportation, Access to healthy food, Local employment and youth engagement. The CCPC will use these as guidelines and work with and urban design consulting firm, Crea Consulting to help shepherd future design in the city.

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