Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/02/1998

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FEBRUARY 1998 AMERICAN pLA. NNING ASSOCIATION I I I New Life for Old Waterfronts By Mike Davidson For aging industrial communities, mixed-use development on the waterfront was once thought impossible. Shoreline areas that served as backbones to the Industrial Revolution were transformed from successful industrial tracts into abandoned and inaccessible expanses of contaminated wasteland. Awareness of this problem has escalated, however, and created an impetus for action in many waterfront communities. In short, today's industrial towns are seeking the economic and social benefits of . waterfront living. This issue of Zonlng News considers the changing face of industrial waterfronts and explores the processes some of them are using to bring residential uses to property once monopolize.d by manufacturers. The analysis focuses primarily on small and medium-sized communities whose limited resources make waterfront investment difficult. facilitated mixed-use waterfront development that incorporates all of these elements and residential living. While clear visioning is an appropriate first step, local administrators must consider questions common to old working waterfronts: m Is the waterfront free from environmental contaminants that would jeopardize the health of residents and inhibit development? m Is the area both physically and psychologically accessible to the community? · Does the waterfront plan contain elements that are both aesthetically and functionally beneficial to the entire community? m What land-use controls can be implemented and enforced to help the plan meet its objectives? Addressing these questions and uslng a collaborative approach to waterfront planning and project implementation may be the most effective way to facilitate change. There was a time when working wateg%nts, llke this one in Waukegan, Illinois, were exclusive to industrial uses. Now planners are realizing t/Jat mixed-use de'velopment is possible, even desirable. Start with cz Vision A series of planning steps, moving from idealism to practicality, is often incorporated into projects geared toward returning the community to the industrial waterfront. Visioning is perhaps the most importa.nt and underrated aspect of waterfront development. It not only suggests a restlessness that often precedes significant change, but it promotes enthusiasm, motivation, and creativity. In Suisun, California, a deteriorating industrial community on the channels northeast of San Francisco Bay, residents' desire to shed the community's reputation as an undesirable place to live forged a partnership benveen them and a cooperative local government to make Suisun one of the area's most successful turnaround towns. Their new urbanism approach to waterfront planning--which promotes, among other things, a pedestrian- friendly atmosphere and inviting public space--eventually Environmental remedlatlon. Residential development on working or industrial waterfronts is unlikely if the environmental conditions do not foster new growth. Investors favor clean soil and water over polluted, even inexpensive, property. Waterfront stakeholders need to summon a variety of resources for effective cleanup. Some waterfront communities have done this with astounding results. Suisun's channel entered its final stage ofcleanlng, dredging, and widening in 1996 after a long and arduous process. The community orkanized a deal with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that ultimately provided disposal space for the dredged material and provided for the restoration of native wetlands. When completed, the wetlands would lie just beyond a planned development of 35 live/work units (one of which exists now), each custom-built to encourage ground-floor businesses. In the March/April 1996 issue of Historic