Concerned Citizens

Tonight the City of San Antonio’s Planning and Developments Services Department revealed the vision for River North and started a rezoning process that will involve a series of public meetings and hearings. Early in 2010 City Council will vote to rezone the area to prepare for the expected redevelopment of the area into mixed use that will hopefully spark a collection of condos, shops, restaurants, and offices. It is a part of the goal of many to help rebuild the urban core of San Antonio and bring more people to live in the area. Tonight the proposed zoning map was shown to about 40 people who showed up for a public hearing at the Central Library. It’s the beginning of a process but from what I saw I’m pretty much pleased where this is going.

River North is the stretch of downtown that encompasses much of everything north of Lexington and Fourth and is bounded by the freeways on the north and east sides. It takes in a large part of the newly developed Museum Reach and has the Broadway corridor running along its east section. Also within the east section is the historic area known as Irish Flats. The San Antonio Museum of Art and Maverick Park sit in the northern area and Madison Square Park sit in the western area. Right in the center of the area is Central Catholic and Providence High Schools. Scattered throughout the area is a mix of all kinds of structures, businesses and residences. Several of the buildings in the northern area have fallen in disrepair and there is a mix of empty lots throughout the area.

Driving through the area you can quickly see there really is no rhyme or reason to the development, hence the need for a master plan and new zoning ordinances. Based on the new master plan four new neighborhoods are envisioned clustered around the river corridor – Performing Arts, Museum, Broadway, and Madison Square Park. Each is designed to be zoned in such a way that within a 5 minute walk a person can find many of the amenities expected in a neighborhood such as shops, restaurants, offices, and residences. This is a vision that will help grow the area into a busy and vibrant center for people to live and work. It will also help drive additional transit opportunities within the area.

Tonight we were also introduced to the concept of form-based codes which provides for more flexibility in zoning and managing land and building usage within an area. To sum up what Richard Milk, Community Development Coordinator for the city, explained it allows for a mix of uses to exist for a plot of land and a building. A good example of form-based codes is the building I currently live in, the Vistana. While most of the building is residential, the first floor is designed for businesses such as the Sterling Commerce bank and the soon to be opened IHOP Cafe. It provides a better environment for neighborhood living by more efficiently utilizing the space for multiple uses. Without form-based codes “the widespread adoption by cities of single-use zoning regulations has discouraged compact, walkable urbanism” as stated by the Wikipedia entry.

The form-based codes designed for River North are focused on urban style development focusing on the final three transects of General Urban, Urban Center, and Urban Core. If you’re as new to these concepts as I am I found this great presentation and video by Kevin Klinkenberg on Understanding the Transect, Form-based Codes. River North is designed to provide the most dense form of development around the River North Center area and River North Corridor area and move to less dense as you move away from the river. However, just because dense and high-rise development is planned along the river don’t think the integrity of the river has been compromised. The RIO zoning directives will still be utilized along the river providing for protection of the historic and natural integrity of the San Antonio River. RIO-2 is the overlay district encompassing River North.

So, based on what I see so far, good things are in store for the River North area. Redeveloping this area to become a part of the urban core area will compliment the development that is already occurring in downtown San Antonio. It will also help protect the investment made in the Museum Reach and help build new and exciting neighborhoods in a relatively poorly developed area of downtown. If you have interest in the public process you can contact the Planning and Development Services Department to be put on the mailing list for future meetings. You can expect me to be there as this develops.