Neighbors share design ideas for Curtis Park Village
By Rosanna Herber
Viewpoint Staff Writer
More than twenty neighbors attended a meeting to discuss design elements
for Curtis Park Village. The meeting began with a short presentation from
Michael Corbett and Elizabeth McDermott, who both have a background in
planning sustainable communities. Michael Corbett, who was named a "Hero
of the Planet" by Time Magazine in 1999 for his design of Village
Homes in Davis, shared an alternative plan he created for Curtis Park
Village. "What I have done is take ideas from many neighbors and
pulled together what I think is a vision of how this development could
be a logical extension of Curtis Park," said Corbett.
Corbett's plan puts a focus on neighborhood shopping, much like a New
England village. "The most successful shopping centers are focused
around a square," he said. "Green spaces are big enough for
a soccer game and help create the ambiance you see in a village. People
want to go there and hang out." Other features included in Corbett's
design are 2-3 story buildings with live/work units, senior housing, many
connections to existing streets, increased housing units and reduced commercial
space, placement of retail space closer to the street with parking in
the back, and an emphasis on local stores rather than regional stores.
After sharing his plan, Corbett was quick to point out that it was unusual
for a planner to create a design for a development when he wasn't hired
to do the job. "I have no idea what constraints the developer was
facing," said Corbett. "I just focused on maintaining the same
scale and community feeling of the existing Curtis Park so that you would
never know this new development wasn't there when the original neighborhood
was built." Corbett acknowledged he was not sure if any of his ideas
could be integrated into the existing design for Curtis Park Village.
He made a point of thanking Phil Harvey, vice president of development
for the Petrovich Development Company for coming and listening to the
discussion.
Neighbors liked many of the ideas proposed by Corbett and added other
design suggestions. Some neighbors objected to a gated community in the
development and suggested the gate in the Petrovich plan be removed. Others
expressed interest in having the development be more pedestrian friendly.
Representatives from Walk Sacramento supported this concept and urged
the neighborhood to push for a pedestrian crossing between the development
and Sacramento City College. One neighbor expressed concern about a design
option for a hotel that is mentioned in the Petrovich plan and stated
he did not think a hotel was appropriate for the neighborhood. Other neighbors
expressed concern about increased traffic and how to best manage this
impact. There was also applause given to Petrovich for making the financial
investment to clean up the toxic soil in the railyard to make the area
suitable for development.
The meeting ended with an invitation for neighbors to join the Design
Subcommittee of the Neighborhood Concerns Committee and continue following
the process. Interested neighbors should contact Kathleen Babin through
the Sierra 2 office. Corbett and McDermott's design proposal is posted
on the Rail Yard Update page of the SCNA Web site, www.Sierra2.org.
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