Exciting conversations are going on in our local communities about how to revitalize and redevelop our civic cores. BWL's Ann Pierce reports on one of these--Cape Coral's visioning process for the Bimini Basin.
By Ann Pierce 5/1/15
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| Ann Pierce |
Look out Fort Myers; Cape Coral
is coming after you! Such was the good-natured introduction last Thursday by
Mayor Sawicki to the final community presentation of the Bimini Basin Redevelopment
Visioning Process. Fort Myers’
beautifully redeveloped downtown has become a local model of revitalization,
but if these plans in the works for Cape Coral are realized, it will be the
model to beat.
Over 300 interested and
enthusiastic Cape Coral citizens crowded into the standing-room-only
presentation given by fifteen advanced design students from USF’s School of
Architecture and Community Design. In three teams of five, the students
presented a beautiful series of development variations informed by researching
the City’s previously commissioned plans and soliciting citizen input during a well-attended
Charrette and midpoint-review meeting in January and March.
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| Mayor Sawicki discusses plans with Cape resident |
Even with distinct creative
differences there were common themes that ran strongly through the individual
plans. The future city depicted by these
millennials was decidedly different from that of the previous generation - this
was definitely not your father’s city.
Yet the vision of pervasive open public spaces; greenscaping; active
transportation; minimization of the presence of automobiles; human-scale,
mid-rise structures; and vibrant, diverse city life seem to get a positive
reception from the audience of aging Baby Boomers.
With a strong emphasis on “The
Outdoor City” and maximization of water and view and access as a public asset
to be preserved, each team proposed accommodations for business, entertainment
and residential districts. From Class A office space to mid-rise, mixed-use,
multifamily residential, to a basin-encircling boardwalk, each plan emphasized
strong connections to active outdoor living with community-wide networks of
shaded greenways for walking and cycling, connecting every district to the
other and to the water's edge.
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| Local architect Joyce Owens discusses plan with USF presenter |
Banished were the massive seas of
asphalt parking lots, storm water retention ponds and forlorn transit stops. With an emphasis on walkability and active
transportation, each plan featured rich cityscapes of multi-story buildings
with retail and open air restaurants on first levels and office, studios or
residential space above. A continuous
flow of shaded walks and linear parks knit the community together. With this
emphasis on connective walkability, was an equal de-emphasis of automobile
primacy.
Streets were to be narrowed or
‘right-sized’ and traffic slowed, sidewalks and bike lanes installed or widened
and parking directed to on-street or multistory garages. A truly multimodal
transit hub with bus access, bike share stations and kayak rentals was
envisioned as a central city feature, fulfilling aesthetic, transportation and
social gathering space needs.
Sustainability was cleverly integrated
in detail through each of the plans where every roof surface served multiple
purposes of hosting solar arrays or gardens designed to detain and process
storm water, cool the surrounding air and provide fresh foods for the
restaurants below. Dense tree planting and innovative ground-level, low impact storm
water management, both visually and functionally appealing, were the standards.
Parks large and small were shown as accessible from every part of the redevelopment
area. Some to serve as community farms or public flower gardens, but all acting
to unify the whole of the redevelopment area.
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| USF student Ashley Barkley explains model to resident |
In a reverse of many of today's
cities, parks and connected treed greenways totaled 20% or more of the total
acreage, with active transportation avenues replacing much of the land typically
given over to roadways and parking.
Bimini Basin itself was to be
enhanced with the extension of the Rubicon Canal creating a larger and more
dramatic waterfront, a waterfront designed to remain publicly accessible, with
the tallest buildings kept the greatest distance from the water's edge. Mayor
Sawicki announced that she had already received a positive response from the
Florida based director of the Army Corps of Engineers regarding possible
enlargement of this canal. With the
emphasis on visual and physical public access to the waterfront and to the
mixed use business, entertainment and residential districts beyond; high rises
were not part of this millennial vision and no structure reached more than 7 to
10 stories tall.
The need to create and retain
local jobs and increase access to higher education were issues also addressed
in imaginative ways. Certainly,
practical realities will temper some of these visionary flights. But, the message presented by these very
talented students was clear; they did not see a future of auto centric
single-family homes, garages or private backyard entertainment or even the
glitz of high rise living. Instead, they were creating highly dynamic and
beautifully organic shared public spaces, rich with opportunity ranging from
quiet contemplation to robust activity. The
indivisibility of environmental and economic sustainability was a matter of
course, with deeply integrated planning and design drawing together the
business, entertainment and residential districts into a socially nurturing
place to thrive.
All three plans and their component parts will
be posted on a City website with citizen engagement and feedback encouraged. After
which, the preferred elements can be further developed, vetted for practical
application and consolidated into a final implementable plan.
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