Final SmartCode Presentation Tuesday

Designers wrap week's worth with show-and-tell for City Commission

February 5, 2007 - Over the last six days, the people of Lawrence have made clear their commitment to this city's endearing character by voicing their hopes and concerns about future growth. They've shared their views online, in stakeholder meetings, at community presentations, and in one-on-one sessions with PlaceMakers designers here to draft a new regulating plan known as the SmartCode.

"People love this town, and for good reason," noted Susan Henderson, the firm's project leader. "It sets a high standard."

As part of the city commission's regular agenda, PlaceMakers will present the product of their week here. The meeting is scheduled to begin Tuesday evening, February 6, at 6:35pm. Here's what citizens and officials will see:

-- An optional, parallel zoning ordinance, known as the SmartCode, "calibrated" to both the city's existing character and to its citizens' aspirations for long-term growth;

-- Illustrated examples of how six specific study areas could evolve if they were developed under the new code.

Watercolor renderings, hand-drawn site plans, and maps will make up much of the Tuesday-night presentation, translating the principles of the SmartCode into easy-to-understand visuals. "The code is a regulatory document," continued Henderson. "People want to understand the possibilities it presents."

For example, PlaceMakers will show a potential redevelopment plan for 19th and Haskell, one of the six target areas. An older shopping center now occupies the 5.5 acres next to an historic site and an underutilized park. It's part of a larger neighborhood, but it's out of character with the neighborhood context because it's exclusively commercial.

After consulting with the property owners and nearby residents, PlaceMakers planner Howard Blackson designed a mixed-use proposal that would be possible under the SmartCode. "Instead of bringing more commercial to the site,'' he said, "I added residential - single family detached homes, town houses, and live-works. I kept the most intense commercial stuff next to the intersection and put the least intensive development closer to the historic site and the park. I think just about everybody, the owners and the neighborhood people, are excited about the possibilities."

That kind of consensus will be necessary for the SmartCode to be accepted and implemented. Step one begins with the City Commission meeting tonight. To whet your appetite for the meeting, here's a quick glimpse at depictions of some potential SmartCode scenarios:



1: A New Library Downtown
This vision for a library provides a large formal front within a complex of surrounding buildings, rather than a single massive building, encouraging strolling among the buildings and around the grounds. The complex could have multiple service areas scattered throughout the spaces, inside and out.



2: Infill on Vermont Street
This idea brings new sensibilities to the downtown's historic functions. Key to the mixed-use concept is the utilization of over-the-shop space for residences and/or office space. External design helps create a comfortable consistency on the street. The interiors can vary dramatically in design and use.



3: Neighborhood and Community School, West of K-10
Here's a look at a neighborhood square in a walkable community, with a school in prominent civic space and a variety of housing scales that allows for a diversity of incomes. It's a new version of an old Lawrence pattern of neighborhood design.



4: Walkable Neighborhood with Town Square and Commercial Center /23rd and Louisiana
Demonstrating how growth and development aren't always a "next-year" proposition, this idea demonstrates how the current commercial center could be reconfigured in the long term to become a new walkable neighborhood. Its public square at the center is ringed with commercial buildings that support both national retailers and live-works for local retailers. A concentrated center transitions into a less intense neighborhood with street-oriented apartments and townhouses. Primary thoroughfares have been reconfigured to become more hospitable to pedestrians.



5. Transect-based Ranges of Intensity on 19th Street
This rendering demonstrates levels of intensity based on the Transect, the organizational framework behind the SmartCode. The view begins on the edge (looking southwest down 19th) with the Robert H. Miller Historic Site transitioning to single family homes and, ultimately, to a neighborhood commercial center that permits living above the shop.