This – never meant to be seen by the public – sketch is my proposal for the old Kmart property. See Color ‘Key’ below. The Park: Public or better yet, public/private funding of a park located behind McDonalds & Taco Bell. The Park would be put in place first – and would go a long way to encourage development of the remaining property, creating an inviting, people focused atmosphere. The park would include - Fun Stuff: In the park - a kid friendly fountain, which in winter becomes an ice skating rink – lit at night for the enjoyment of shoppers and diners looking down from the outdoor dining balcony of a chef-owned restaurant. A children’s playground located adjacent to the amphitheater, containing unique play sculptures created by local artists. These sculptures - not found in other parks – double as vendor display areas at a Saturday morning flea market. An amphitheater in the corner of the park, thus, allowing seating throughout the park on blankets or chairs, to enjoy the entertainment. The amphitheater would also include a drop down TV screen for ‘Movie Night in the Park’. Covered picnic areas: Encourage businesses bordering the park to build covered seating, overlooking the park, to benefit their customers, their business and visitors to the park. Keeping kids safe: The border of the park, near the roadways, would be a combination of decorative fencing/low wall and boxwood plants (very little maintenance, kids can’t get past them). Access to the park would be from the crosswalks & walk ways. Fencing/gateways would also be needed at the rear of McDonalds/Taco Bell. Beauty: Paved walkways bordering the park edge creates beauty and easy wheelchair access. Adding large trees and low maintenance flowerbeds & planters (day lilies, hosta, black-eyed susans, boxwoods, etc) would complete the park atmosphere. The Buildings & Parking: Buildings on the west are a combination of 2 (6, if you see them as individual ‘pods’) retail buildings that ‘sandwich’ a multi-level parking structure. The parking structure, although expensive, allows land normally used for parking, to be used for shops & restaurants – which will generate more income. Cars are ‘hidden’ in the parking structure; easy access to shops is available via. several corridors (in yellow) between each building pod. This layout gives shops greater flexibility in entrance location and the ability to have more window space and natural lighting within the shop, thus, encouraging ‘window shoppers’ to step inside. Many small unique shops use as little as 30’ x 100’ of space; this design allows the complex to be utilized by many shop owners. Yet it is ‘expandable’ to fit the needs of most any retailer. The buildings on the south contain shops on the first & second level and condos/lofts on the top level – some condos overlooking the park, others overlooking the creek bordering the south side of the property. This design allows shop owners to choose a live/work arrangement. The land would be used as part of the park, and maintained by the park developers, until a retail developer chooses to develop the site. A vibrant Town Center has… people, and what better way to encourage a vibrant Town Center than to provide a variety of specialty shops, unique dining establishments & micro brews, urban style housing and an event/entertainment filled garden style park – all in one location & designed to create a true ‘Town Center’ feel. Key: Green: green-space/park/plantings Yellow: sidewalks and pathways Blue: cars Red: crosswalks Lt. Purple: amphitheater White: buildings, roadways & parking
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:19:59 +0000
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