Author: cowans.10

From the Ashes: Phoenix Apartments

In the town of Sunbury Ohio, there lies an abandoned factory where the Nestle company used to be.  For the years after it closed its doors, it has sat empty.  The factory closing had an obvious negative effect on the town of Sunbury, but Sunbury has come a long way since then.  That’s why this proposal is to turn the old factory and build an apartment complex on this land.  It will be called Phoenix Apartments, and it will provide many benefits to the town of Sunbury, and will help Sunbury rise from the ashes the factory left when it shut down.

See full report P. Apartments-26hymss

 

The Factory

In a small town called Sunbury Ohio there is a building that sits empty, and partly destroyed.  When someone walks by this building they don’t appreciate that this building was once a thriving factory that provided jobs and other benefits to the community.  This old building is the former Nestle Factory, and it plays a critical role in the history of the small town of Sunbury.

The factory was built in the late 1800’s and sold to the Nestle company in 1919.  Nestle used this factory to create butter, cheese, and evaporated milk.  The factory would eventually become known for a specialty product it made, instant coffee and instant tea.  The factory was actually the first Nestle factory to make an instant tea product known as Nestea, a product still sold today.  The factory continued it’s growth, including a 27 million five story addition in 1981, to perform an additional function of decaffeinating coffee beans.  However the good times would come to an end.  In 1993 the factory closed it’s doors as Nestle deemed their decaff coffee was no longer popular.  With the closing of the factory, Nestle took with it its many jobs it provided for the community and its large income tax for the community.

The factory is now partly torn down  and other than one small steel manufacturing plant, sits empty.  The factory leaving had left a huge hole in the village of Sunbury as many people where now out of a job and many businesses started to suffer.  It took Sunbury a while to recover from this, but from the ashes the phoenix will rise.  Sunbury is now a thriving community once again, and is still expanding.  The addition of an outlet mall, and several new schools, Sunbury’s population and businesses are on the rise.  Yet the factory still sits there like a scar on the community.  But all that can change.

The plot where the factory sits is in a great location.  It’s right by the Sunbury square, which is really the life of Sunbury and its very close to the middle school, high school, and several elementary schools.  An apartment complex built on the lot would make perfect sense.  Sunbury’s current problem is the population continues to expand, and they are running out of homes, an apartment complex would help that problem.  Sunbury also doesn’t have a lot of apartment buildings within the city.  It really only has one, and the rest are houses that are probably out of many peoples price range who might want to move to Sunbury.  An apartment complex would bring more teachers, police, firefighters, and many other crucial jobs that are necessary for a growing community.  With the addition of new businesses to Sunbury, finding the funds for the creation of this building wouldn’t be difficult.  The building will need fixed up a lot too, as many of it fell apart as it was not properly maintained.

An apartment complex on this location would also be somewhat poetic.  The disfigured empty factory is a painful reminder of the rough stretch Sunbury had when it closed its doors.  Especially it being so recent that many adult residents of the town remember the time when it used to be open.  But Sunbury bounced back and building this apartment complex would show how far the town and community have come since then, and showcase that Midwesterner never die spirit that Sunbury has.

 

Source: http://bigwalnuthistory.org/Local_History/Creameries/Nestles/Nestle.htm

Pinewood Park

Our plan for the vacant lot was to create a new park for the city of Newark called Pinewood Park.  The main function of this park is to develop the existing community and also bring the youth and young adults of Newark more involved in the community through the art scene.  The goal for this park is to not only be a traditional city park, but to also give the artists of Newark a place to work and display their art, as the park will have a focus on the local artists of Newark.  The park will display the works of local artists all throughout it.  The park will also feature numerous pine trees planted, including lining the alley way.  The alley will be kept in the park to divide it in half and a crosswalk will connect the two halves of the park.   The park will also include an amphitheater for local artists and musicians to perform in.  The park will also have two small food stands, one will sell ice cream and the other will sell natural food, like vegetarian burgers or organic food.  The park will also hold many various community events, for example during the cold months of an Ohio winter the park could be changed to a winter festival, so the park doesn’t sit empty for several months during the winter.  The defining feature of the park will be the Mural wall.  This wall will be a blank white wall where anyone is encouraged to spray paint, color, paint whatever they want on the wall.  It will be cleared every month and people can start all over again.

We selected a park for this lot because it fills a need in the city of Newark.  Downtown Newark needs more green space, and this park will provide it.  There is a park across the street, but its small and the land is going to waste.  This park will help make downtown Newark more scenic, and beautiful.  Downtown Newark has a gray , dark feeling to it and this park will help add character to the downtown area and improve it.

This park is also a good choice because it will attract a new youthful demographic into Newark, which will be great for the town as a whole. Newark is continuing to grow and this park will certainly help the community develop.  This park’s focus on local art in Newark will hopefully help develop Newark in a similar way that the Short North developed in Columbus.  The inclusion of an amphitheater in this park will also open up the possibilities of events, like concerts or other shows to take place, which would bring more business to the downtown area.

We have decide to keep the ally way in the middle of the park to prevent future traffic in major sections of the city . the ally runs parallel from the two side roads on the parcel and it would make it more convenient for park access or possible parking.  The ally would have a boulevard feel to it with pine trees on either side of the road to keep people more immersed in the park.  A park would be a good choice with the alley way, because the park can still function with the alley way in tact.  Putting a building here would probably require removing the alley and disrupting traffic.

This plot of land also works really well for a park.  This plot of land is right by two major roads and is in the heart of downtown Newark, so the park will be walking distance for a lot of people and the park is in walking distance from other businesses in Newark, like coffee shops and restaurants.  Being by two major roads in Newark will also allow people who drive by to notice the park and stop by. The park would also not need to have much additional parking, because there is already a lot of parking around the park.  The fact that the park doesn’t need to have a huge parking lot is very nice, because it allows for more green space.  The park has all the basic utilities needed, which will make the inclusion of a public restroom, drinking fountains, and things of that nature easy to create.  One thing to note is when the park is first developed it won’t match with it’s surroundings, but the goal of this park is to develop Downtown Newark so the park may be out of place at first, but hopefully in the near future it wouldn’t be so out of place.

Finally the park is a good choice for what it’ll bring to the community.  The park will include a few businesses, but making a profit isn’t necessarily the primary function.  The park really has a focus on bringing the community together, by hopefully hosting many community events and also the inclusion of the mural wall will hopefully help build a sense of community.  The park by bringing in the local artists to participate in the goings on of the park will also hopefully help develop the community.  This park is building on the purpose of the community garden in Newark which happens to be just across the street from this plot of land.

 

The other alternative our group considered for the plot of land was to instead make an organic grocery store, like a Whole Foods.  This organic grocery store would have captured a similar demographic to the park, hopefully bringing in 18-28 year olds to Newark.  This organic grocery store would have also attracted new businesses to the downtown area.  The grocery store would also give the people of Newark an alternative grocery store to go shop at, since the traffic getting to the current grocery stores is a mess.

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.

Blog Post 2

The Planning Patrol

Micheal Schaller: Equity

Equity is one of the best elements for a neighborhood because it increases the value of the land, prevents crime, and this makes citizens happy. Equity could also reach a point by attracting people with spending money that could help improve multiple other aspects and ultimately improve the quality of the neighborhood.  Adding parks and recreation will improve activeness in the neighborhood and can also bring the community together. Extra spending money acquired from restaurants and other shops could go towards improving the the parks and other roads. Nice roads and recreations will also be a good element in attracting new members to the community

 

Timothy Cowans: Environment

The natural environment plays a major role in urban planning and development.  The environment of the land will determine how the city is set up and the architect of buildings.  If a city is near large bodies of water the city needs to plan around managing the water levels to prevent flooding.  Or if the town is a small town in the mountains the roads and houses will have to be set up differently than say a flat plains environment.  The environment also plays a role in modern cities because there is now a focus on incorporating the natural environment in the cities.  Green spaces and parks are playing a larger role in developing cities to make the city more lively and beautiful. The environment plays an integral role in city planning.

 

Trent Tackett: Design

In terms of city planning, I believe that design is very important and essential to creating a livable city. With the growth of urbanization, design lets city planners maximize the efficiency of a city, suburban  and rural areas. The design of a certain area should correlate with the quality of life, while being aesthetically pleasing. Many cities do not fully prioritize the look and design of the city. What they do not know is that a city that looks visually appealing can attract a more innovative workforce and more investors that could benefit the future of the city. Design directly correlates with economy because if the city does not have a lot of finances then the city planners cannot afford to make design changes to benefit the city.

 

Our ideal Neighborhood

Our ideal neighborhood is very much inspired by a typical American suburb.  This suburb we designed would most likely be found in a wealthier part of the state, like Dublin or New Albany or any equivalent of those.  So the economy is an element that certainly plays a role in our design of our neighborhood.  Our neighborhood features a pretty simple oval design with houses along the perimeter and also houses in the cul de sac.  The cul de sac design is inspired by the early neighborhood designs of the balloon neighborhood.  Our neighborhood also features stores in the front both for people in the neighborhood and people driving by.  Also included in our design is public parking for the stores and also for the park.  We have different levels of housing for people with different financial situations.  In our deisgn we decided to have nicer houses in the back of the neighborhood and cheaper single family homes in the middle, and an apartment complex at the front of the neighborhood near the stores.  We also include a stream and a few ponds to help deal with draining water in the neighborhood, which is both an environmental element and a design element.  One of the biggest features of our neighborhood is the park in the middle of the neighborhood, which uses the design of open spaces and public parks that have become prevalent in city development.  Building on that we also include a community garden where people could plant fresh vegetables. We would also encourage alternate forms of transportation by having bike paths and side walks along the road.  We also use technology in our design by featuring automatic street lights that will sense light and turn on when the light level is low enough.

 

Planning Patrol

The Planning Patrol

The Planning Patrol is made up of three members.  These three members chose the name Planning Patrol because it was just silly enough and just serious enough to be the perfect name.  The first member is Timothy Cowans, who is a junior born in West Side Columbus, but raised out in a small town out in the country called Galena.  Timothy is taking City and Regional Planning as an elective, as he is currently a business major.  Timothy thinks the class will be an interesting elective that will give him some insight on the world and what exactly an urban planner does.  His favorite city is Columbus, and the city that he considers to be his home.  The second member is named Trent Tackett.  Trent is a freshman from the nearby small town of Granville.  Trent’s favorite city, like Timothy, is Columbus.  Trent is taking this class because he has always been interested in urban planning and what goes into it.  Trent would also like to see if it’s something he would want to do as a career.  The third and final member of the Planning Patrol is Micheal Schaller.  Micheal is also a freshman like Trent.  Micheal lives in Columbus, but his favorite city is where he was born, the gate way to the west St Louis Missouri.  Micheal is taking this course to gain interest into his major.  He also enjoys urban planning and wants to know more about it.

For activity 1, we drew and discussed our childhood homes.  Here we learned a bit about each other and our childhood homes that we all grew up in.  We learned that this is as far East Geographically as Micheal has ever been, as he previously lived in St Louis.  The Childhood homes that were drawn were actually all pretty similar.  They were all small, quite houses that were removed from the city, with trees in the front yard.  The childhood homes all had that charm to them.  All the members of the Planning Patrol seem to have fond memories of there childhood homes. This activity also showed off the different artistic styles each member had, with Micheal’s drawing being the most solid in the group, which lead him designing the Planning Patrols logo.

Emotions of the City:

Curiosity

This picture of the creek represents curiosity to us.  Seeing a river flow out to a destination you can’t see can inspire wonder on whats beyond the horizon, what lies at the creeks end?

Love

The picture of the animals holding hands represents love to us.  It shows many species, some predator some prey all getting along.  With one open spot left.

Fantastic

The picture of the dam represents fantastic to our group. The dam is always an interesting meeting of man and nature. The dam and creek are also so different than the rest of campus, you can’t help, but to be taken by it.

Dread

This picture of an animal skull represents dread to our group. A skull like this feels almost like a warning sign, and tells a story of death and danger.

Happiness

This picture of a man and his son fishing represents happiness to our group. There is something so simple about a father and son fishing trip, so innocent that conjures up feelings of happiness. It’s the little things in life.