[Vision2020] When Moscow Doubles -- Doing Planning Work

[Nils Peterson]

Tom Hansen and I have a discussion going off list about doing some
conceptual and site master planning. The specific focus is the Thompson
property. Tom has some ideas that I'll let him share. I was sharing about a
UI student who did a master plan for the site, using Smart Growth & mixed
use principles. Some of you saw it at the Council hearing May 1, in the
lobby. I'm trying to get photos to post.

I had thought NewCities was supposed to help us do this kind of work, but
they ran into a couple problems. First, they heard input from a divided
community: do contain sprawl, don't limit growth; grow density near
downtown, don't deny people their 1/2 acre lot, etc. Second, they made
lists, not spatial plans. Its easy to list stuff you want, its another thing
to make it fit on the ground.

A minute ago I saw the headline on the yesterday's DNews about Affordable
Housing. Brenda VonWandruska spoke at that meeting about City red tape and
the slowness of the process to get a PUD that would allow some alternative
development. The student I worked with considered the need for affordable
housing, he made small blocks with a mix of lot sizes, achieving a density
Moscow considers too high. The important thing was, he worked spatially and
the design is pretty credible.

Back in the late 90's, Tom Lamar was working with the school district on the
Joseph St property, on a project that would become the Carol Ryer Brink
park. He was asking for some land to make the stream meander. He had an
artist's drawing of the site, but the Board got hung up, asking: would Tom's
plan use too much land, could they still have ball fields and a school
there. I helped PCEI make some pizza box-sized site models that were like
felt boards. One for each Board member. The kit came with a supply of school
building, parking lot, baseball diamonds, track, soccer fields, etc. More
pieces than would fit the site. Instructions invited the Board members to
master plan the site, including meandering the stream. At the next meeting
the Board gave Tom the land he wanted -- the spatial planning they had been
able to do with the felt boards convinced them that there was plenty of
ground for all their ideas _and_ a meandering stream.

So, how do we do spatial planning and get beyond list making, yet keep the
activity open enough that the community can participate? I have an idea to
try, the subject of another post