Consulting firm Street-Works Wednesday presented an initial analysis of the LHTC and what needs to change if it is to succeed.
According to urban planning consultants hired to evaluate the Lake Highlands Town Center plans, it is, more accurately, a mixed-use district.
Blogger Carol Toler this morning cleanly summed up Wednesday’s Skillman Corridor TIF Board meeting, during which the board approved amendments to its agreement with developers of the Lake Highlands Town Center.
As she noted, the agreement provides for a third-party consulting firm to work with Prescott on the design. The New York-based, urban-development consulting firm Street-Works conducted the initial evaluation of the Lake Highlands Town Center and urban development expert Ken Narva told us — bluntly at times — what needs to happen if Town Center is to succeed.
Bottom line: the original Lake Highlands Town Center plans, mapped out before the economic downturn, are no longer viable, Narva says.
First of all, he notes, the project shouldn’t even be called Lake Highlands Town Center — “a Town Center implies a shopping center,” he says. This is instead a 70-acre district. He proposes the “Lake Highlands Mixed-Use District”.
Street-work’s detailed evaluation can be seen here.
To further explain, he says, it should be a district with two distinct neighborhoods within. “We see two separate mixed-use neighborhoods, one around the DART station, and the other around the water feature. Together they make up a new TOD (Transit oriented DISTRICT),” he says. (p.10) Each “neighborhood” has it’s own style of multi-family housing and type of retail. A supermarket should be as close to the border (Walnut Hill) as possible so that it is convenient to both “neighborhoods.”
The town center should be viewed as a mixed- or multi-use district featuring two distinct neighborhoods, experts say.
In the perceived-problems page of the presentation (p.8), Street-Works notes that Walnut Hill “severs the two neighborhoods” and needs to be redesigned so that there is a clear connection.
He notes the need in the plans for higher density, professional office increase, wellness/medical center, perhaps with a state-of the art health club, and an entertainment anchor such as a movie theater to “activate the street at night/weekends”.
He also stresses — strongly — the need for a detailed structured-parking plan.
Outside consultants Street-Works graphically lists what Lake Highlands' reality versus what it "should be".
Page 7 lists what Lake Highlands is versus what it should be (i.e. it is Suburban and should be Urban, it is Sparse and should be Walkable, it is Simulated and should be Authentic).
Once the fundamental principals of “a great mixed-use place” (p. 6) are applied, Narva says, the development can be tailored to the community. That is where the neighborhood input, which he also recommends, will be considered.
The city paid Street-Works $25,000 for the evaluation because they want to make sure that with all of the money being put into the project, they “get it right”, a representative says.
Prescott has not yet hired Street-Works, but it does stand to reason the consultant’s recommendations will be taken seriously.
We will report as plans continue to re-develop and progress to the next stages.
