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Portland: Mixed-use zoning results in apartments and one-story houses side-by-side

Another example of newer apartment buildings in what once was a single-family home neighborhood. Located in Portland, Oregon.

Do we want 5-story apartments in a residential neighborhood?

What happens when a city's zoning allows 5-story buildings in an established residential neighborhood? "When new residential architecture enters into an established neighborhood, the results are often unpredictable. The towering next door apartments upset the smaller scale of the older houses."***** "It makes me wonder if developers will eventually gobble up the remaining houses for nothing but apartments."

A good building design for the L Street corridor woonerf

Could we have buildings with human-scale design elements here in Arcata? Yes we can. Unless we specify what we want for the buildings along the L Street corridor, then it's a free-for-all situation. This potential jewel of Arcata will look like whatever developers want. With a list of GOOD DESIGN ELEMENTS and images of a building project that would fit into the Gateway area.

Marin County Form-Based Code

The Marin County Form-Based code is a thing of beauty. In addition to being a great code for Marin, it is also a valuable teaching tool, for us to read and learn about what a good form-based code can be. Includes samples of the specifications for one neighborhood type, the Core Main Street, somewhat corresponding to Arcata's Gateway area.

Gateway needs good architects !

Creating affordable housing without government subsidies is not easy. Creating affordable home-ownership is even more difficult. "Missing Middle" housing is what's been declared as sorely absent and hugely desired, all over the country. Kaplan Thompson Architects is in Portland, Maine. They've figure out how to make net-positive energy use affordable rentals, and, very importantly, buildings with home-ownership. Their designs for very-low income and transitional housing are energy-efficient and high-quality.

UC Berkeley lawsuit decisions may affect Arcata too

Did UC Berkeley bring in more students than they'd promised? How much should the University contribute to infrastructure costs? And -- is any of this applicable to Cal Poly Humboldt and Arcata ?

Four-story hotel approved by David Loya and not approved by the Planning Commission? It’s possible.

According the procedures of the draft Gateway Code, a four-story hotel project with 85 rooms could be approved by a single person -- the Zoning Administrator. As such, the project would never be seen by the Planning Commission. A hotel of this size could, by code, have a parking lot with 3/4 acre of asphalt.

How Student Housing Got Expensive – from The Wall Street Journal

At Cal Poly Humboldt and in much of America, universities are supplying dorm beds for about 1/3 of their students. The universities expect private developers to build off-campus housing -- in town -- for the rest of the housing that students need. When universities expand, they aren't making enough dorms. and the shortage gets worse.

71-year-old Californian explains why she won’t sell her home and downsize

Will Arcata Seniors move out of their homes? How this relates to the Gateway Plan in Arcata. Baby Boomer-age Arcatans may want to downsize -- but they'd want to buy a condominium, not move to a rental. And they'd want storage space, a spare bedroom, and private outdoor space. -- Reading time: 5 minutes.

Vision Statements of award-winning cities from around the world

How will Arcata look 20 or 50 years from now? A vision statement presents the city council’s ambition for the future. The vision statement sets the bar high in terms of how the city wants to be perceived by the world in the future. This article explores the components of excellent vision statements from around the world. Reading time 8-10 minutes.

Colleges must pay for increased traffic, firefighting and other costs caused by campus expansions

Are California universities required to contribute funds for increased traffic, firefighting, wastewater capacity, and other costs caused by campus expansions? The answer is Yes, they are.

The California Inclusionary Housing Programs searchable database

Do you want to look up what the Inclusionary Housing requirements are in, say, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, West Hollywood, or Goleta? Here's where you can find that data, for both renting and owning. The results can be viewed on-line or printed out. The California Inclusionary Housing Programs searchable database.

500 or 3,500 apartments in Gateway? Please clarify.

The Gateway Area Plan calls for a build-out of 3,500 apartments. If each building were the size of the block-long Sorrel Place, this would amount to 70 or 80 Sorrel-Place-sized buildings. It also calls for a build-out of 277,000 square feet of commercial space. This is equivalent to about 21 buildings that are the size of the Arcata Co-op, or the equivalent of about 150 or 200 standard retail, office, or restaurant spaces. **** There is not physical room for 70 or 80 block-long buildings. There's not room for half that many.

Could Gateway’s Barrel District be 100% free of cars?

How about taking a big section of the Gateway area that could have housing for a thousand people -- and making it entire car-free from the start -- by designing it that way. Includes articles about the Culdesac car-free housing development in Tempe, Arizona. Reading and viewing time 7-15 minutes.

Mass Timber Technology in 4- to 6-story buildings

Photos and text, viewing time 3 minutes -- The start of a series of mid-height 4-5-6-story buildings utilizing Mass Timber construction techniques.

Garden Village in Berkeley: Pre-Fab modular housing that could be used for Arcata

Reading time: 10 minutes, or skim through the photos for an overview. -- Modular housing could be an answer to affordable housing in Arcata. Modules can be assembled into apartment buildings 40% more quickly and 20% cheaper than traditional construction. This article centers on the Garden Village Apartments in Berkeley CA.

Santa Cruz takes building height and inclusionary housing to the VOTERS

Reading time: 8 minutes -- Citizens in Santa Cruz have a ballot measure to provide 25% affordable housing in new construction, and required a vote of the people for buildings over 8 stories.

Louis Sauer, architect: Low-rise dense housing in an urban setting

Reading time: 5 minutes -- The architect Louis Sauer specialized in high-quality, high-density, low rise housing. His urban designs were typically just three stories tall, with configurations of intertwined townhomes, set in patterns so that each home had a separate and private yard. 

“Mio” apartments in Seattle — Density of 205 units per acre

Reading time: 5 minutes -- The "Mio" apartments in Seattle are 41 units with a density of 205 units per acre. I present it here not as something we can copy for Arcata, but as an example of what can be done. I do not like all of the design choices, nor believe that this design in its entirety would be suitable for us. Yet I feel we can learn and profit by looking at its design.

Inclusionary Zoning, objective design standards approved in Santa Cruz

Read time: 7 minutes. Skim: 2 minutes. -- We can look at how Santa Cruz has dealt with some of the same issues we face here in Arcata. Santa Cruz already had an existing 20% inclusionary requirement. New proposal: Projects with a 25% inclusionary requirement get a 30% density bonus. Projects with a 30% inclusionary requirement get a 50% density bonus. Other issues: Public hearings for new larger construction.

A vision of sustainable housing for all of humanity – Vishaan Chakrabarti

Vishaan Chakrabarti in a 10-minute TED talk. I believe that the answer is hiding in plain sight, that there is what I call a “Goldilocks” scale that sits between the scale of housing and towers: two- to three-story housing that should actually look very familiar to most of you, because we built the most beloved parts of our cities with it.

Linear Park and Woonerf examples for us to look at

What concepts for a full-width Linear Park in the L Street Corridor would work for Arcata? Here are some images from other cities to show what's worked for them.

Podium Construction: New apartment buildings all look the same

The buildings are five to seven stories tall and have a boxy shape. The ground floor is a parking garage, sometimes combined with shops. Four or five stories of apartments or condos sit on top of this concrete “podium,” so they’re often called podium buildings. They cover a large area compared to older apartment buildings, often taking up a considerable portion of a block face. These buildings are prevalent because they maximize developers’ profits by balancing leasable floor area (more is better) with construction cost (less is better). Simply put, podium buildings represent a proven formula for creating marketable housing at a reasonable cost.

3D Modeling: We’re still waiting

Original article: June 16, 2022 --We've been promised the 3D modeling for at least four or five months now. *** ONE AND A HALF YEARS NOW **** Why is 3D Modeling so important? Look at the pictures here and decide for yourself.

Redwood City Downtown Precise Plan – Form-Based Code

Redwood City's Downtown Precise Plan includes Form-Based code and Planning Commission review. It all took 4 years to develop. The Form-Based Code can serve as a model for Arcata.

MIG City Planning and Design: Communities can plan their own futures

MIG is a design and planning firm with over 200 employees in 14 locations, founded in 1982. "We believe that the environment around us has a profound impact on our lives. We plan, design and sustain environments that support human development." "We are a community of designers, planners, engineers, scientists and storytellers engaging, involving and acting with people in creative problem solving."

Utah Senator Mitt Romney calls bike lanes “the height of stupidity”

This just goes to show that almost anything can become controversial. Last year, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton warned Fox News viewers that Democrats "want to make you live in downtown areas, and high-rise buildings, and walk to work, or take the subway, or ride an electric scooter" and "make us all poor."

The $300,000 starter home is going extinct

The figure of $300,000 is shown as a house that is "attainable" for a couple or small family, based on earnings and ability to pay the mortgage and expenses. And a house at $300,000 or below just is not available anymore. --- The answer? Smaller units. Higher densities -- apartment buildings, that is. And if there cannot be condominiums (see: The Housing Market Needs More Condos. Why Are So Few Being Built?), then this equates to renting and not owning. Ownership opportunities have become a part of the past.

Windowless bedrooms? Sunlight is considered a luxury benefit

In recent years, windowless bedrooms have become somewhat normalized on college campuses. Students at the University of Texas, Austin and the University of Michigan are currently renting dorm bedrooms without windows. Sunlight in your bedroom could become a luxury as cities debate allowing landlords to rent windowless rooms in former office buildings to alleviate the housing crisis.

Visualizing Compatible Density

Examples of a range of density housing, with photos and descriptions. -- Density is a controversial subject in virtually all American communities and is often viewed as a thing to be feared. Density can be ugly. More bigger buildings, more asphalt and concrete, fewer trees and green space, less sunlight and privacy, and even less air to breath.

Berkeley modular “village” housing with rooftop garden

Garden Village is a 77-unit student-orientated apartment building located in Berkeley, California completed in August of 2016. Designed to echo the massing and rhythm of the community, the innovative design departs from the standard single-volume building. Instead, 18 distinct building volumes are spread out in a garden and linked by exterior walkways in a design that seamlessly integrates into the surrounding fabric of the community.

Pre-Fab Modular Housing – a dozen articles and more

Modular housing could be an answer to state housing crisis. A collection of articles from other sources, and lots of photos. Modules can be assembled into apartment buildings 40% more quickly and 20% cheaper than traditional construction. ------- From factories in Vallejo, Sacramento, Klamath Falls OR, Idaho, Canada, and China.

Berkeley approves housing plan, with pledge to upzone wealthy neighborhoods

The Berkeley City Council voted  unanimously to approve their 656-page Housing Element, an eight-year housing plan. The plan shows how Berkeley will add at least 8,934 new homes over the next eight years. The plan commits to rezoning several major streets in an effort to encourage denser development in some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

Can the Superblocks of Barcelona work in Arcata? Yes!

The Barcelona "Superblock" design that is capturing the imagination of city citizens in Europe and all over the world -- Can this concept be applicable here in Arcata? The answer is a resounding YES. It is perfect for us here in Arcata.

Organic Food Waste: It’s very considerate of people….

"It's very considerate of people to separate their trash." Perhaps require new construction to accommodate or have collection services for food-waste -- as is done in Korea currently.

Does Building Luxury Condos Create More Affordable Housing?

This article is a re-print of the article of the same name in the July 25/August 1, 2022, issue of The Nation. It is...

A possible 6-story design for Arcata

Here's a 6-story building that could work in Arcata, with some modifications. Originally proposed for Santa Cruz, it incorporates many of the design elements and features people here have said are important.

Meriam Park, Chico: Where Form-Based Code didn’t work out so well

Why the Chico Meriam Park development in Chico is a terrible example of Form-Based Code

Redwood City has PlanComish review

Redwood City's Downtown Precise Plan was adopted in 2011, after three or four years of development.  It is helpful to us because it incorporates a well-designed Form-Based Code -- and has a blend of Discretionary Review and Ministerial Review.

McKinleyville is transparent. Arcata is not.

How is it that McKinleyville has all of the info for their Town Center plan in one location?  And in Arcata, the same info is scattered all over the place -- or is in obscure locations that so buried that it might as well not exist. Read more here.

McKinleyville Town Center – The County web page

Links to the Humboldt County website for info on the McKinleyville Town Center, and Mad River Union articles.

Affordable Housing: Thinking ‘Outside the Box’

Providing housing for working-class people does not involve rocket science. Major technological breakthroughs aren't required to create low-income housing. It is a matter of national will.

Density Guide for Housing Types

A density guide that shows the variety of types of housing that is suitable for different density levels.  Which types would be suitable for Arcata?

Three things California must do to address Affordable Housing

Changing the RHNA allocation and Tax Credits could do more to help build Affordable Housing. An article from The Marin Post.

Redwood City DTTP – Explore the document

Redwood City's Downtown Precise Plan includes Form-Based code and Planning Commission review. It all took 4 years to develop. The plan can serve as a model for Arcata.

Vancouver, British Columbia: 40-story buildings proposed

A plan for Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia involves new building heights of 40-stories, seriously changing the existing neighborhood.