It is coming very fast. Virginia Beach, Virginia is putting to rest its long History of uncontrolled sprawl. The city is set to approve a plan that will turn its succesful town center experiment into a full fleged downtown. The town center already has the tallest building in the state, but it dosen't have any friends. That will change. Along with expanding light rail from Norfolk into thier own city, the city will continue to transform.
The Plan presentation. Note the before and after pictures.
http://www.vbgov.com/file_source/dep...n_00-final.pdf
Virgnia Beach Corridor extension pdf. I have full faith the final will be LR extension.
http://www.gohrt.com/vbtes/documents...-sep09-web.pdf
The following are notes from the council meeting taken by varider from UrbanPlanet.org
13,000- 14,000 housing units. 20,000 residents.
9-10 million square feet of office space on top of the current 2.5 million.
6 million square feet of retail.
1 million square feet of civic use.
3000 additional
[COLOR=black !important][COLOR=black !important]hotel [/color][COLOR=black !important]rooms[/color][/color].
Sessoms said "The additional sq.footage blows my mind."
SGA # 4 is 1200 acres.
There are 4 distinct districts. They are:
CBD (Town Center expanded west of Indy., North to mall, East to Barnes & Nobles and Princess Anne High)
High Density. Financial District. Cultural Arts District. Theaters, Museums. Skyline.
Central Village District.
Medium density. Bohemian style. Place for local businesses to grow and prosper.
Western Campus District.
Additional schools built in a campus style setting to serve the additional population.
Waterfront Area.
Central park. Vertical, More urban, Princess Anne High. Mix of residential and office with residential facing residential. Medium- High density.
Transportation Plan:
Light Rail, Busses, Bikes, Pedestrian.
Light rail would be elevated amd within 1/2 mile of both edges of the SGA.
Indy would be tunneled throughout the entire SGA to create pedestrian oriented streets.
Constitution and Market extended to Bonney.
2 flyovers over 264 to connect to the Southern Corporate District.
4 LRT stations.
Virginia Beach Blvd. slowed down, lined with artwork, trees, street frontages.
Urban grid.
Full use of urban services (fire, police, schools).
In communication with fire, police chief, school superintendent. More fire stations, police stations, and schools will be needed.
Environmental:
Would like to be a model city. Clean up the bay. Green buildings. Urban park system.
Goals:
Attract employers.
Retain creative class.
Create a place for youth to return and have good careers.
Attract more visitors through urban tourism.
Main concern:
Transportation. A few councilmembers were concerned about how gridlocked it already is. They are afraid the enormous increase in population and activity will make it impossible to travel. (LRT is the key)
The plan has been finalized. Council votes on Nov. 10. and then implementation.
Mayor Sessoms finished the meeting by saying:
"You don't know how excited I am. We're going to do this thing."
It is coming very fast. Virginia Beach, Virginia is putting to rest its long History of uncontrolled sprawl. The city is set to approve a plan that will turn its succesful town center experiment into a full fleged downtown. The town center already has the tallest building in the state, but it dosen't have any friends. That will change. Along with expanding light rail from Norfolk into thier own city, the city will continue to transform.
The Plan presentation. Note the before and after pictures.
http://www.vbgov.com/file_source/dep...n_00-final.pdf
Virgnia Beach Corridor extension pdf. I have full faith the final will be LR extension.
http://www.gohrt.com/vbtes/documents...-sep09-web.pdf
The following are notes from the council meeting taken by varider from UrbanPlanet.org
13,000- 14,000 housing units. 20,000 residents.
9-10 million square feet of office space on top of the current 2.5 million.
6 million square feet of retail.
1 million square feet of civic use.
3000 additional
[COLOR=black !important][COLOR=black !important]hotel [/color][COLOR=black !important]rooms[/color][/color].
Sessoms said "The additional sq.footage blows my mind."
SGA # 4 is 1200 acres.
There are 4 distinct districts. They are:
CBD (Town Center expanded west of Indy., North to mall, East to Barnes & Nobles and Princess Anne High)
High Density. Financial District. Cultural Arts District. Theaters, Museums. Skyline.
Central Village District.
Medium density. Bohemian style. Place for local businesses to grow and prosper.
Western Campus District.
Additional schools built in a campus style setting to serve the additional population.
Waterfront Area.
Central park. Vertical, More urban, Princess Anne High. Mix of residential and office with residential facing residential. Medium- High density.
Transportation Plan:
Light Rail, Busses, Bikes, Pedestrian.
Light rail would be elevated amd within 1/2 mile of both edges of the SGA.
Indy would be tunneled throughout the entire SGA to create pedestrian oriented streets.
Constitution and Market extended to Bonney.
2 flyovers over 264 to connect to the Southern Corporate District.
4 LRT stations.
Virginia Beach Blvd. slowed down, lined with artwork, trees, street frontages.
Urban grid.
Full use of urban services (fire, police, schools).
In communication with fire, police chief, school superintendent. More fire stations, police stations, and schools will be needed.
Environmental:
Would like to be a model city. Clean up the bay. Green buildings. Urban park system.
Goals:
Attract employers.
Retain creative class.
Create a place for youth to return and have good careers.
Attract more visitors through urban tourism.
Main concern:
Transportation. A few councilmembers were concerned about how gridlocked it already is. They are afraid the enormous increase in population and activity will make it impossible to travel. (LRT is the key)
The plan has been finalized. Council votes on Nov. 10. and then implementation.
Mayor Sessoms finished the meeting by saying:
"You don't know how excited I am. We're going to do this thing."
It is coming very fast. Virginia Beach, Virginia is putting to rest its long History of uncontrolled sprawl. The city is set to approve a plan that will turn its succesful town center experiment into a full fleged downtown. The town center already has the tallest building in the state, but it dosen't have any friends. That will change. Along with expanding light rail from Norfolk into thier own city, the city will continue to transform.
The Plan presentation. Note the before and after pictures.
http://www.vbgov.com/file_source/dep...n_00-final.pdf
Virgnia Beach Corridor extension pdf. I have full faith the final will be LR extension.
http://www.gohrt.com/vbtes/documents...-sep09-web.pdf
The following are notes from the council meeting taken by varider from UrbanPlanet.org
13,000- 14,000 housing units. 20,000 residents.
9-10 million square feet of office space on top of the current 2.5 million.
6 million square feet of retail.
1 million square feet of civic use.
3000 additional
[COLOR=black !important][COLOR=black !important]hotel [/color][COLOR=black !important]rooms[/color][/color].
Sessoms said "The additional sq.footage blows my mind."
SGA # 4 is 1200 acres.
There are 4 distinct districts. They are:
CBD (Town Center expanded west of Indy., North to mall, East to Barnes & Nobles and Princess Anne High)
High Density. Financial District. Cultural Arts District. Theaters, Museums. Skyline.
Central Village District.
Medium density. Bohemian style. Place for local businesses to grow and prosper.
Western Campus District.
Additional schools built in a campus style setting to serve the additional population.
Waterfront Area.
Central park. Vertical, More urban, Princess Anne High. Mix of residential and office with residential facing residential. Medium- High density.
Transportation Plan:
Light Rail, Busses, Bikes, Pedestrian.
Light rail would be elevated amd within 1/2 mile of both edges of the SGA.
Indy would be tunneled throughout the entire SGA to create pedestrian oriented streets.
Constitution and Market extended to Bonney.
2 flyovers over 264 to connect to the Southern Corporate District.
4 LRT stations.
Virginia Beach Blvd. slowed down, lined with artwork, trees, street frontages.
Urban grid.
Full use of urban services (fire, police, schools).
In communication with fire, police chief, school superintendent. More fire stations, police stations, and schools will be needed.
Environmental:
Would like to be a model city. Clean up the bay. Green buildings. Urban park system.
Goals:
Attract employers.
Retain creative class.
Create a place for youth to return and have good careers.
Attract more visitors through urban tourism.
Main concern:
Transportation. A few councilmembers were concerned about how gridlocked it already is. They are afraid the enormous increase in population and activity will make it impossible to travel. (LRT is the key)
The plan has been finalized. Council votes on Nov. 10. and then implementation.
Mayor Sessoms finished the meeting by saying:
"You don't know how excited I am. We're going to do this thing."