This is not the only option. As I said in my last post about this court projects, they have an option to build a tower in the middle of the current building, saving space and money compared to using the Granby Tower site. Please read Just Say NO to Federal Courthouse Plan.

Despite the negative comments on PilotOnline, light rail will be a benefit to Virginia Beach. However, it will not reduce the number of cars currently on the road. That is not the point of the light rail. The congestion reduction aspect comes into play when Virginia Beach’s “Strategic Growth Areas” begin to expand. Six of VB’s eight SGAs center around the proposed light rail stops. The most important one so far is the Pembroke SGA, which includes Town Center. The residents of Town Center did not move there because they wanted to continue a highway-oriented, suburbanite lifestyle. They moved there for the urban feel. With light rail, that urban feel will grow around each station. Urban residents don’t mind public transit. That is why they are urban residents. Even reformed suburbanites re-evaluate their position on public transit once it becomes convenient for them. People, regardless of where they live, chose what their mode of transportation based on what is cheapest and most convenient. In a mostly suburban area like HR, cars fit this description. While public transportation is definitely cheaper than car use, the convenience of the car far out weighs the cost-effectiveness of the transit. As transit in HR gets more reliable, efficient, and convenient, ridership will increase.

The Waterside

Norfolk has finally announced that it will start a 10-month-long public input period for the future of Waterside. According to the Virginian-Pilot, Mayor Fraim wants to keep the facility open to the public. This could be a step in the right direction. First, Norfolk has finally decided to listen to its own residents instead of some consultant that lives in another state. I really think that the current structure of Waterside can be utilized with the proper renovations. Before I expand on my vision for Waterside, I want to quote the prayer that was said for Waterside’s opening. The prayer was delivered by then-Vice Mayor and Reverend for Grace Episcopal Church, Rev. Joseph N. Green Jr.

Almighty God, You have given us this good land for our heritage. Make us a people mindful of Your favor and glad to do Your will. Continue to bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Bless those whom You have given the authority of government. And bless this place, Waterside. Father, in the beginning you moved over the waters in creation to cause the whole world to come into being. You led the children of Israel out of their bondage and slavery to the land of promise through water. And just as You have created us and we went away from You, You welcomed us back, and called us whenever we went astray to come and return. We began at the water but went away from You, and You called us to return to this place, to this Waterside, to build our future. May it be a place of joy, a place where men and women, boys and girls, old and young, black and white, Jews and gentiles, will gather as one people and one city. Set it aside for our use and all our people we pray in your name. Amen.

We need to look back on this prayer as more of a prayer. This is a vision statement. Waterside was built as a place that all residents and visitors could come and have a good time, regardless of gender, age, race, religion, or economic standing. This is what we need to strive towards again. Waterside seems to have turned into a place where only young drunks can enjoy themselves. The city has shut down some of that, however, and with sporadic renovations, it has turned into a place where the homeless can enjoy a comfortable nap.

Waterside cannot and should not be turned into a shopping destination. It would only compete with (and most likely lose to) MacArthur Center. It has to become a mix of local places with the aim of having something for everybody. Small shops, a locally owned convenience store or newsstand, a locally owned seafood/fresh food restaurant, a couple of clothing stores, a bag/purse store, etc. Originally, Waterside had stores like gift shops, clothing stores, a kite store, a collectible store, an other hard-to-find places. It could be returned to that. Despite popular belief, our area is full of small entrepreneurs who would love to be in a renovated Waterside. The most important thing, in my opinion, is the view. Waterside was created to give the everyday resident access to the waterfront view that was too often too expensive to see in other cities. Waterside still has a good view… from the outside. The original Waterside had an open interior similar to MacArthur Center, allowing the second floor patrons to look down onto the floor below. The second floor, instead of being closed of and made up of one or two large businesses that are only open at night, was made up of small shops. Each of these shops had large glass windows on the inside and the outside, allowing visitors to see the river from any place inside Waterside.

View of Harbor from Waterside

Waterside can once again be a major attraction. If you add in the proper pedestrian connections between Waterside and MacArthur Center (and the LRT station), Waterside could once again spur an influx in investment. This time, however, in the street level spaces around the financial district.

The next Homerama will take place in East Ocean View for the second time. The East Beach development was designed as an urban neighborhood when it was built, rather than a suburban subdivision. If you have never been to East Beach, it is certainly worth a drive. The houses sit close together. They sit close to the curb. Parallel parking is encouraged. No garage is allowed to face the street but rather made to face the rear of the house, where access is permitted by alley. To keep the back alleys (lanes) safe, the houses have plentiful rear-facing windows and guest houses. Sidewalks and parks are plentiful. Contrary to the popular belief of Virginia Beach suburbanites, the sidewalks have not led to an increase in crime. My only hope is that they stick to the plan for the new Homerama and for future development. There is plenty of room for future development. Hopefully after all of the empty land is take up with this style of development, someone can do something about the suburb at the end of East Beach. I love driving through the area, but when I get to places like the suburb part, it really makes me cringe.

Norfolk - mid-1980's - zoom in and pay close attention to the number of people at Waterside

The image above shows a Waterside full of people. It shows a Waterside tha tis not dependent on taxdollars to survive. That is what we need to rebuild. Do not tear the building down. Renovate it. Make it bright inside again.

Back to Jillian’s. They don’t need to be inside waterside. They should remain Downtown, but not in Waterside. Same goes for Hooters, Outback, and Joe’s. By themselves, they are all good places. They simply do not belong in a venue like the one that I have described. They can stay Downtown, definitely. In fact, it would improve Downtown as a whole to have those restaurants move OUT of Waterside and INTO a street-front property. The amount of pedestrian traffic would surely increase traffic and revenue to the other stores. This move is not an end, but a beginning. A good beginning.

Most recently, the Virginian-Pilot ran an article about HRT’s new facility that they were building. In fact, I have posted already on this. For a refresher, HRT’s new building was supposed to incorperate a mixed-use development, but now the developer is putting it on hold until the economy improves. My favorite comment so far is by the Virginia Beach Taxpayers’ Alliance’s  Vice Chairman and Transportation Chairman, Reid Greenmun. Now, this man is affiated with the VBTA, so we know that by default he is against all change and somehow wants the city to print its own money and stop wasting their tax dollars doing crazy things such as repairing schools/roads/etc. His comment is as follows:

Gosh, that must touted mythical TOD (Transit Oriented Development) HRT has been pitchinf to justify its light rail boondoggles is now shown for the myth it really was – and in this case HRT is not willing to stick with their own TOD plans! Gosh, if tens of millions of state, local, and federal taxes are available to be used to subsidize the planned HRT TOD project (LEADS “green” roof and all)- and HRT can’t make it happen with all that FREE tax money thrown into the “deal”, just imagine how unlikely it is that any PRIVATE developers will be able to find the hundreds of millions needed to build the promised TOD in VA Beach, along the old Norfolk Southern right of way. The light rail TOD ROI myth is being exposed for the sham it is – right here in River City folks!

As you can see, he (and the VBTA) is severely misguided on the concept of a TOD. If we follow his definition of a TOD, every neighborhood that happens to be built near a bus line is a TOD. This is completely and utterly wrong. In order to be a TOD, the development has to have been built because of the transit line that it sits near. The HRT mixed-use development was not being build because the buses ran through. It was being built because the developer saw potential for profit. This is the same reason that the other development  was built right across the street from the HRT building: not because of HRT, but because a developer saw profit potential in an underutilized area.

Existing Development between Granby St. and Monticello Ave. HRT building can be seen in bottom right corner.

Furthermore, if TOD were “mythical,” how can Mr. Greenmun explain actual TODs in Northern Virginia? Take the following example in Arlington, VA:

This TOD is located around the Ballston-MU Station located on the Orange Line of the DC METRO

This suburban neighborhood is located only one mile from the TOD, above. It is not located on a transit stop

TODs are not myths, as Mr. Greenmun believes. They are simply not well known around Hampton Roads because there are so few of them. They do exist here, however. Both the Belmont @ Freemason and the Wachovia Center developments are TODs. The Wachovia Center development is also a mixed-use TOD. Both of these projects have a Tide light rail stop on the same block. As Hampton Roads’s light rail lines grow and become well-used, these TODs will begin to sprout up along the routes. In fact, Virginia Beach is planning a TOD off of Newtown Road because of Norfolk’s light rail stop.

Wachovia Center (TOD) - Under Construction

Belmont @ Freemason (TOD) - Under Construction

Norfolk has spent so much time and effort erasing our past that we have already lost so many buildings. Not too long ago (2007), Norfolk demolished three historic buildings to construct a four-star hotel. At the time, they couldn’t wait. It just had to be done right then or the building would not get built and the world would end. So they tore them down. Going on three years later, the still-vacant lot sits, covered in grass and gravel. The city says that they are waiting for the economy. I wonder how they could be waiting if it was supposed to be built two years ago when the economy was good.

Regardless, it is about time that we had a developer who had an actual interest in preserving historic buildings instead of tearing them down. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new path for Downtown. The district will actually grow, without the city’s help. More residents are needed Downtown to truly make a successful downtown. It is a shame that our council could not see that. Instead, they tore down buildings and catered toward the wealthy and the upscale. All of that is nice, but it won’t survive without the people of the middle class.

My question is this: Why can that same principle not be applied to Downtown in general? For example, I think a Macy’s would make a great fit into Downtown’s plan and clientele. I don’t think, however, that it should be part of MacArthur Center. Instead, I think that Macy’s would be a good fit somewhere outside, such as the building on Market between Granby and Monticello (used to be TCC offices and Targeted Publications). This location would be in good proximity to MacArthur. Shoppers would shop at Macy’s and cross the street to MacArthur Center. In fact, compared to standard malls like Greenbriers, with four anchors, this location would be a de-facto fourth anchor to MacArthur.  However, because it is outside, the patrons would be inclined to shop around on Granby Street, leading to an increase in demand for Granby Street storefronts. As for the Center’s elusive third anchor, I think that something like a Best Buy (or better yet, their new competition in the region, hhgregg) would be good. A Target would be another good store to have, but since Norfolk has no full electronics store, the hhgregg might be a better option. This third anchor would be included in the current plan, of course. If you are unfamiliar, Norfolk’s vision of the third anchor lot is a high rise, mixed-use building, including an anchor, perimeter storefront shops, and apartments/condos and/or offices upstairs. This plan would do wonders for the Center, due to its residential population.

Norfolk 2020 Plan

Norfolk needs to start looking at Downtown as an area with faded boundaries. They have spent that past 30 years trying to divide it. We have office space on Main St., Commercial Retail on Granby St., etc. We need to mix this up a bit. Stores won’t move in by themselves unless there is sufficient foot traffic. You can’t get foot traffic without having residential towers. Norfolk needs to try to get these stores to work with developers to build mixed use, high-rise residential buildings with plenty of storefront shops. Additionally, they need to attract larger retailers as “anchors” Downtown. A full-time residential population, combined with jobs and retail, is the key to a successful, viable Downtown.

Cambie St & W 7th Ave., Vancouver - Note the Urban Home Depot. Across the street is an Urban Best Buy. There are condos on top of each of these buildings

Most people have heard about conventional zoning. In conventional zoning, each area of the city is defined as either Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Institutional, or Government. These categories or broken down further based usually on building size and use. For example, a simplified definition of each zoning district in Norfolk is shown below:

Residence Districts.   (du=Dwelling Unit)

• R-1 One-Family District: 25,000 sq. ft./du* (1.74 du/acre)
• R-2 One-Family District: 20,000 sq. ft./du (2.18 du/acre)
• R-3 One-Family District: 15,000 sq. ft./du (2.90 du/acre)
• R-4 One-Family District: 12,000 sq. ft./du (3.63 du/acre)
• R-5 One-Family District: 10,000 sq. ft./du (4.36 du/acre)
• R-6 One-Family District: 7,500 sq. ft./du (5.81 du/acre)
• R-7 One-Family District: 6,000 sq. ft./du (7.26 du/acre)
• R-8 One-Family District: 5,000 sq. ft./du (8.71 du/acre)
• R-9 One-Family District: 4,000 sq. ft./du (10.89 du/acre)
• R-10 Townhouse District: 2,000 sq. ft./du (21.78 du/acre)
• R-11 Moderate Density Multiple-Family District: 2,900 sq. ft./du (15.02 du/acre)
• R-12 Medium Density Multiple-Family District: 2,200 sq. ft./du (19.80 du/acre)
• R-13 Moderately High Density Multiple-Family District: 1,800 sq. ft./du (24.20 du/acre)
• R-14 High Density Multiple-Family District: 1,333 sq. ft./du (32.67 du/acre)
• R-15 High Density Multiple-Family District: 1,000 sq. ft./du (43.56 du/acre)

Office and Business/Commerce Districts.

• O-1 Office District
• BC-1 Business and Commerce Park District
• BC-2 Business and Commerce Park District

Commercial Districts.

• C-1 Limited Commercial District
• C-2 Corridor Commercial District
• C-3 Retail Center District
• C-4 Large Scale Commercial District

Industrial Districts.

• I-1 Limited Industrial District
• I-2 Light Industrial District
• I-3 General Industrial District
• I-4 Waterfront Industrial District
• I-5 Deep Waterfront Industrial District

Downtown Districts.

• D-1 Downtown Waterfront District
• D-2 Downtown Regional Center District
• D-3 Freemason/Granby Conservation and Mixed Use District
• D-4 Downtown Cultural and Convention Center District

Historic and Cultural Conservation Districts.

• Ghent Historic and Cultural Conservation Districts (HC-G1 and HC-G2)
• West Freemason Historic and Cultural Conservation Districts (HC-WF1 and HC-WF2)
• Hodges House Historic and Cultural Conservation District (HC-HH)
• East Freemason Historic and Cultural Conservation District (HC-EF)

Special purpose districts.

• Institutional Districts (IN)
• Manufactured Home Park District (MHP)
• General Airport District (GA)
• Open Space Preservation District (OSP)
• Military Installation District (MI)
• University Village District (UV)

Overlay Districts.

• Airport Safety Overlay District (ASO)
• Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay District (CBPAO)
• Flood Plain/Coastal Hazard District (FPCHO)
• Historic Overlay District (HO)
• Downtown Historic Overlay District (HO-D)
• Pedestrian Commercial Overlay District (PCO)
• Residential Compatibility Overlay District (RCO)
• Institutional Residential Impact Overlay District (IRIO)
• Bay Front Residential Parking Overlay District (BFRPO)
• Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District (LASO)
• Norfolk International Airport Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District (NIA-LASO)
• Alternative Siting Residential Overlay District (ASRO)
• Janaf Shopping Center Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District (JANAF-LASO)
• Bayfront Residential Siting Overlay District
• Pedestrian Commercial Overlay District–Colley Avenue (PCO-COLLEY)
• Pedestrian Commercial Overlay District–21st Street (PCO-21st ST)
• Palace Shops Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District
• Military Circle Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District
• Pedestrian Commercial Overlay District–Riverview (PCO-Riverview)
• Military Crossing Localized Sign Overlay District
• Nauticus Localized Sign Overlay District
• Park Place Residential Overlay District
• MacArthur Center Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District
• Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District for the Waterside
• Roosevelt Gardens Localized Sign Overlay District
• Pedestrian Commercial Overlay District–35th Street (PCO-35th)
• Medical Center Sign Overlay District
• Pedestrian Commercial Overlay District–Five Points (PCO 5 PTS)
• Super K-Mart Localized Alternative Sign Overlay District (Super K-mart LASO)
• Kimnach Ford Localized Sign Overlay District (Ford-LASO)
• West Church Street Overlay District
• Picadilly Mews Siting Overlay District
• Ocean View Residential Siting Overlay District
• Best Square Sign Overlay District
• Lafayette Boulevard Pedestrian Commercial and Residential Overlay District (PCRO-Lafayette Boulevard)
• Green Gifford Localized Sign Overlay District (Green Gifford-LASO)

Look overly complicated and confusing? Try building something and following the rules of each district. Better yet, try building something that spans lots of different zones, which would require council approval for rezoning. I live in a house zoned R-8. According to this zone, my lot should be a certain size and their are requirements to keep me from building to the edge of the lot. It also prohibits me from opening, say, a convenience store on the lot next door to me. This, by its very nature, is designed to keep uses separate. How can you walk to your destinations when they are required to be separate? These zoning codes a designed to increase the ability of the city to predict and manage automobile traffic patterns. Think about that. These codes are designed to prevent effective non-motorized travel. These codes are intended to benefit automobile drivers and promote a suburban, car-centric lifestyle.

Think about what you would call a ‘vibrant’ city or area. Downtown Norfolk? Town Center? The Oceanfront? New York City? San Francisco? Chances are, that no matter what area you picked, there is a lot of foot traffic. That said, it would also be fair to say that foot traffic equals vibrancy. It can also be said that most people agree that vibrancy is a good common goal. Nobody, not even the staunchest suburbanite, likes to be in an area with zero human interaction. Now think about the area that you picked. Why is there heavy foot traffic? Even if you picked MacArthur Center or Lynnhaven Mall, the reason there are people walking around is because everything is close together and because there are other people. Now, think about this. If Lynnhaven Mall required each store to be a minimum of 100 feet apart, would you still go? Or would it no longer be comfortable and convenient? That is what conventional zoning does. It forces you apart.

Form-Based Zoning on the other hand, is designed to keep you together. It is thoughtfully structured to allow only structures that are slightly denser than what is currently there, thereby creating an environment of steadily increasing density. It also allows for mixed use. The higher density a mixed use development is, the more likely that it will succeed of its own accord. Form-Based Zoning actually encourages mixed use. If you could walk everywhere you need to shop at and all you neighbors did the same, wouldn’t you?

Now, keeping in mind the conventional zoning, such as Norfolk’s, here is the basics for the Form-Based Zoning code that was recently adopted for Miami, Florida:

Notice how much simpler it is. The actual written code would include things such as height requirements/restrictions and building placement but it would be much more flexible. We should encourage Norfolk and even Chesapeake to adopt a form-based code. In addition to fostering higher density, mixed use developments, the form-based code make mass transit possible and gets people to walk/bike instead of drive, therefore lessening the amount of traffic on the roads without building more of them. Looking at it from a business point of view, localities that stick to form based codes tend not waste developers’ money. The developer can plan a building and already know what the city wants without having to go through lengthy meetings with a planning department. Finally, from a municipal standpoint, the city spends less time and money regulating and more time enjoying what it really wanted the whole time: strong developments that don’t take a toll on city resources. Please encourage your councilmen/women to look at and approve a form-based code.

If you would like to learn more about form-based codes, please visit http://www.formbasedcodes.org/

If you would like to see the specifics of a community that has already started the switch to a Form-Based Code, visit http://www.miami21.org, which is the main page for Miami’s Comprehensive Plan update process.