Figure 36 Alleys
Figure 37 Houses facing parks.
Figure 38 Greenspace and parking
network of alleyways for garages and service vehicles. The network of alleys helps to take traffic pressure off the main rights of way and further breaks up the block structure to create a more extensive, connected network of roads. Green Streets Properties is also working with the local neighborhoods to try to connect roads to adjacent subdivisions where ever possible in order to increase the project’s connectivity. An interesting component of the design is the relationship between seven of the parks and the adjacent homes. The homes adjacent to these parks, face the parks instead of the street. Four of those parks the homes face directly toward the center of the blocks, as if the greenspace is a street. Although the parks may still be part of the public domain, this design feature is very similar to Radburn, NJ, where homes face a center park and turn away
and reject the street. Green Street Properties’ plan for Mixson Avenue still retains a connective street fabric, unlike Radburn. The Green Street Properties plan also contains a diverse mix of uses and lot sizes. The plan includes Condos, Apartments over ground floor retail, townhomes, live-work units, common buildings, and 5 different sizes of lots for single family homes to produce diverse housing options through varied dimensions, forms, and styles. The one area the plan lacks in sustainable, new urbanist form is with surface parking lots, which dominate a central area of the plan. Without utilizing parking garages, the surface parking lot create unfavorable urban conditions. It also has a lower density than the
original plan as it will have around 566 units instead of 950, creating a density of 12.9 units/acre, which is still much higher than Calhoun Homes. Mixson Avenue produces a great example of a suburban neighborhood retrofit. Developers were able to purchase the land needed to build the project, provide assistance for the displaced residents, and connect with the surrounding community. While the original plan for Mixson Avenue was highly praised, the current plan still produces good urbanism with its greenspace, connected street network, high density (even though its lower than the original plan), and diversity of uses and housing types.
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