www.takomadcplan.org
|
Takoma
DC Growth Plans www.takomadcplan.org |
Official Small Area Plan | Media Coverage |
| Developer Plans | Metro. Branch Trail | ||
| Transportation Study | Update Log Links | ||
Click here for full size image of Concept E (121k jpeg).
It was drafted in accordance with the same planning principles used to give definition to the SAP consultants' Preferred Plan Alternative, which was largely drawn from the consultants' own Concept B -- due to the fact that the Community Charrette did not last more than a day, and so didn't provide time for citizens to come forth with and debate concrete, specific new alternatives for localized design issues.
In drafting Alternative E, I sought to provide such an opportunity for a number
of the many such ideas that
Friends of Old Takoma has heard local residents propose over the past two years
of its existence, by depicting them in a sympathetic manner. As such, Alternative
E is not a stand-alone proposal, but an organic entity intended to complement
other citizens' proposals stemming from the Charrette, which may have yet to
see the light of day.
The Alternative E has many authors in its individual parts. The common thread
among them is that they have yet to
be considered or rendered sympathetically by the various outside professionals
now involved in planning our community's future.
As such, I've tried to include them without editorializing, excepting that, in the interests of maintaining a sympathetic whole, I have omitted a number of various proposals which may be good ideas, but unlikely to happen in the near future.
Conversely, Alternative E is intended to show --just-- alternatives. In those places where no bold new ideas have come to my attention, I have tried to stick to the same sources the consultants are using.
My own personal feeling about development is that we can have our cake and
eat it too. The Metro site is over three times as big as the Takoma Village
Co-housing project, which accommodates almost 50 units in a fashion which is
both more urbane --and-- in closer proximity to single family homes than what
EYA is
currently proposing.
By these lights EYA's current proposal is a step back & away from the design innovations employed by Takoma Village and similar transit-oriented developments, for better or for worse.
But more to the point, its prescription for townhouses of the same density
on all four corners of the site reflects nothing that has come before it in
citizens' conceptions of the future of the site, be they pro-growth or slow-growth,
and would likely not be the consultants' or anyone else's' recommendation were
we not stuck in a development-driven process with a developer who would be perfectly
willing to innovate on its long-established business model were they working
in a jurisdiction that dared to hold them to an existing planning framework.
Historically, the 1/3 of the Metro site adjacent to the tracks was --the--
densely developed, mixed use downtown center of Takoma -- a huge proportion
of our downtown even in the middle 20th century -- while 2/3 was essentially
wooded. There is no reason why that pattern cannot exist today with whatever
number of units
one wants to think up.
There should be only one zero-sum game in architecture & planning: Don't tear something down without building up something more creative & unique in its place. With that in mind, I'd welcome constructive criticism, but I'd rather see more folks advocating for an extensive, genuine community charrette process, at the grassroots level if necessary.
Brian Robinson
Treasurer, Friends of Old Takoma
wrob@erols.com
Ask about our Electric Maid Community Room project:
electric-maid@earthops.org
(268 Carroll Street, visible in center of drawing)
