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Planning for Choice:
Adding an Urban Option

Feb 13, 2010

The full transect of Fitchburg development, from the most rural to the most urban.

The full transect of Fitchburg development, from the most rural to the most urban.

Fitchburg has the unique advantage of lying between the time-tested urbanity of Madison and the inspiring landscape of the rural countryside. Citizens have access to either in a matter of minutes.

“But here is what’s missing,” said PlaceMakers project manager Susan Henderson to an audience of local residents and community leaders on Friday night. Behind her on the screen were images created during an intensive week of discussion and idea testing. They depicted a Fitchburg that not only enjoyed its current array of single-family suburban housing and commercial areas but also added to the mix the appeal and practical performance of more compact, walkable neighborhoods.

Making Fitchburg a more complete community with the full range of living, working, and playing environments “won’t happen overnight,” said Fitchburg Mayor Jay Allen. “This will build out over the next 15, 20, or 30 years.” But the drawings and plans the PlaceMakers team presented gave the audience a glimpse of how that build-out might look.

To see all of the slides in Henderson’s closing presentation and draft tables for a Fitchburg-appropriate zoning option, go to our Documents section in the toolbar above. Directly below this story are selected images illustrating approaches the project team proposed after studying the area and listening to citizens over the course of the last week. You can follow the progression of the week’s ideas in the chronological posts stacked in the left column of our home page. And you can measure the results of the effort against the goals in the project overview to the immediate right.

What’s next? The PlaceMakers team will prepare a “comment draft” of their report for City staff review by the end of April. Then, the team’s proposals will be submitted for comment and action through the City’s standard processes for public review. In the meantime, comments and questions are welcome here, in the space provided at the end of each of these posts.

While the Friday night presentation concluded one phase of planning for Fitchburg’s future, it signaled the beginning of others. Creating and maintaining a livable community “is not something you just do and then forget about it,” said the mayor. “You can’t just put it on auto pilot and expect it to keep going on.”

In fact, Henderson told the Friday night audience, planning and implementing plans are part of “an obligation a city has to its citizens. Cities have a moral obligation to plan for the future.”

ABOVE: Choosing the way we want to live shouldn't isolate us from the full richness of life. A complete environment, ranging from rural to urban in a single neighborhood, provides all scales of density in between and gives each access to the natural beauty or urban conveniences of the other. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: Choosing the way we want to live shouldn't isolate us from the full richness of life. A complete environment, ranging from more rural to more urban in a single neighborhood, provides all scales of density to suit all tastes and gives each access to the natural beauty or urban conveniences of the other. Click for larger view.

           

An aerial rendering of the shared septic hamlet.

ABOVE: An aerial rendering of clustered, rural T2 hamlet development on a small portion of otherwise agricultural land. Ranges from 6 to 18 lots. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: An example of rural clustering utilizing a shared septic system. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An example of rural clustering utilizing a shared septic system. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An example of rural clustering with individual septic fields. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An example of rural clustering with individual septic fields. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: A typical street scene reflecting the SmartCode's T3, Sub-Urban, transect zone. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: A typical street scene reflecting the SmartCode's T3, Sub-Urban, transect zone—customized to reflect Fitchburg's regional history and resident input. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: A typical street scene reflecting the SmartCode's T4, General Urban, transect zone. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: A typical street scene reflecting the SmartCode's T4, General Urban, transect zone—customized to reflect Fitchburg's regional history and resident input. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: A typical street scene reflecting the SmartCode\'s T5, Urban Center, transect zone—customized to reflect Fitchburg's regional history and resident input. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: A typical street scene reflecting the SmartCode's T5, Urban Center, transect zone—customized to reflect Fitchburg's regional history and resident input. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: One SmartCode-compliant land plan option for an existing northeast Fitchburg parcel. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: A SmartCode-compliant land plan option for an existing northeast Fitchburg parcel, based on a current neighborhood proposal. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: One SmartCode-compliant land plan option for an existing northeast Fitchburg parcel. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: A second SmartCode-compliant land plan alternative, produced by PlaceMakers for the same parcel. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: An illustrative rendering of the PlaceMakers-produced northeast neighborhood option. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An illustrative rendering of the PlaceMakers-produced northeast neighborhood option. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: A SmartCode-compliant variation of the current GreenTech development proposal. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: A SmartCode-compliant variation of the current GreenTech development proposal. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An illustrative rendering of the GreenTech development option. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An illustrative rendering of the GreenTech development option. Click for larger view.

           

ABOVE: A proposed land use plan for the current Fairways and Pines / Fitchburg Ridge property. Click for larger image.

ABOVE: A proposed land use plan for the current Fairways and Pines / Fitchburg Ridge property. Click for larger view.

ABOVE: An illustrative rendering of a proposed plan for the current Fairways and Pines / Fitchburg Ridge property. Click for larger image.

ABOVE: An illustrative rendering of a proposed plan for the current Fairways and Pines / Fitchburg Ridge property. Click for larger view.

           

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← Back to the Future: The Rural Hamlet
A New Option for Fitchburg:
First Draft of Code Released →

  • Our Task: To Code for Growth
    In Line with our Values

    We need rules that ensure our future growth is as inspired as the goals we've set out.

    That’s the simplest way to explain our ambitions to augment Fitchburg’s current zoning code to bring it in line with the City’s new Comprehensive Plan. That 2009 Plan is based on core principles of Smart Growth and on long-term sustainability on three levels – economic, environmental, and social. And the fact is, says Fitchburg Mayor Jay Allen, “our current zoning code does not adequately accommodate the values we want to shape our future.”

    Old-style zoning, created in an era when the object was to protect neighborhoods from dangerous industrial practices, focused on segregating building uses – offices, retail and residences – to keep people safe from noxious industry. But with the rise of the automobile, this seemingly practical approach began to super-size, devouring land out of proportion to our rate of population growth and creating ever-greater separation between the things we do and need.

    That’s taken its toll on our environment, our budget, our free time and our ability to be a real community. But now we have the chance to do something about it.

    Icon of Streetscape      

    Over the coming months, we’ll be exploring a new approach to zoning – one that focuses more on how buildings are arranged and less on how they’re used – to broaden our existing code to better foster the kind of growth envisioned in our Comprehensive Plan. We’ll look at setbacks and building frontages, the widths of streets and sidewalks, the interplay between private space and public space and the appropriate mixes of use in selected spots – all with an eye towards neighborhoods where residents can, if they choose, accomplish many daily tasks on foot.

    Through all of it, we’ll be customizing the code addition to the things we value. So the process will involve a lot of discussion about achieving the right look and feel in the right place.

    That means the process is committed to the same sort of public involvement as the process that created the Comprehensive Plan. At the heart of this effort is a public “charrette,” a multi-day collaborative workshop in which everyone is invited to join with a team of expert consultants to establish key components of any new zoning designation.

    That workshop will take place February 8-12. “All issues,” says the mayor, “are on the table, and anyone who wishes to participate in the process will have that opportunity. Together, we’ll look at ideas, ask questions, develop answers, come up with options, and choose the best direction. By the final night we will have a consensus on the first draft of this new addition to our code.”

    It’s a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says the mayor, “to create the tools we need to handle new growth without over-extending City services.”

    Check this site often to keep up with the process. Not only will you find an ongoing overview of where we are, you’ll also have opportunity to weigh in on the different issues being discussed.