Little used today,it could beredeveloped as the center of a transit-oriented village. City Architecture staff began turning our ideas into drawings. The base maps allowed us to begin thinking about locations for newhousing, commercial development, bike and pedestrian linkages to the Rapid station, and opportunities to improve green space. RTA is planning to rebuild the station in the next couple ofyears. If a new station can be surrounded by stores and housing, it can become a lively activity center.
Transit can be the catalyst for other development.
We realized that before such planning went too far we had to obtain more public input. So in December 1997 we invited neighborhood residents and interested design professionals from around the region to an all-day brainstorming workshop. More than 60 people gave up a Saturday to help us imagine what an ecovillage could look like. City Architecture then took all the workshop suggestions and created the conceptual plan drawings that are included as the centerfold of this issue. Included are ideas for more than 250 units of new housing, mixed-use commercial development clustered near the Rapid station, the possibility of building over the Rapid tracks, and places for habitat restoration and community gardens.