Monroe North Specific Plan

[winjer]

Knape has posted the new Monroe North Specific Plan, an elaboration on the city master plan that addresses the problems and potentials of Monroe North. Here it is:

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/documents/200...monroenorth.pdf

I've looked through it; it's full of New Urbanism goodness. There's a lot of attention on creating vibrancy, walkability, respect for the river and public space, and creating connections with nearby areas. They want to connect Trowbridge to Ionia, turn Division/Ionia north of Trowbridge into a boulevard, move the Consumers Power substation off the riverfront, and lots of other cool stuff. Check it out.

[GRDadof3]

It is pretty cool. I haven't studied it in complete detail yet. The one thing I don't understand is the height regulations, and the different "massing" scenarios they looked at. Why is there even a height restriction in Monroe North along the riverfront, as they propose?

[tamias6]

...Why is there even a height restriction in Monroe North along the riverfront, as they propose?

[Rizzo]

Not the people on the hill. The people who did this study realized that for the sake of property values across the street and the entire neighborhood the height needs to be restricted. For the good of the many, some properties must be kept green or low height. The document details that very question for those interested.

I think the folks working on this nailed it right on.

[bwindi25]

It is a pretty comprehensive and well thought out plan. As Rizzo stated, the height restrictions had little if anything to do with the Lookout folks, and more to do with North Monroe property values and massing in relationship to the river.

It would have been nice if their planning team could have been more inclusive and participatory in the process. I know several groups and individuals felt excluded and were limited in being able to give input. I'm curious to see who will "own" this plan moving forward.

[gater]

I hate to bring up an old thread, but the link to the plan is broken and i can't find it anywhere. does anyone have the document saved? it would be 20070629monroenorth.pdf