New shopping center in Des Peres not reachable by pedestrians, many to blame

I don’t get out to suburbia often but when I do I stop to photograph the new construction that I see. Recently I visited The Shoppes at Tallbrooke in Des Peres MO (11698 Manchester Rd): 

Pretty ordinary wouldn’t you say? These are a dime a dozen in auto-centric areas of our region.  What is consistent is the new sidewalk along the major road, in this case, Manchester Rd:

Projects that “we’re walkable” image.  But this sidewalk is only about image and not about actually being walkable.

You see the sidewalk runs along the side of the road but a pedestrian on the sidewalk doesn’t have a walk to use to enter the development to patronize the retailers.  The blame falls to several: the developer, the architect, the civil engineer and the City of Des Peres.

The site plan clearly shows the walk in front of the businesses but nothing connecting to the main road or either side road leading to the residential neighborhood to the south.  I expect the architects and civil engineers to include an ADA Access Route from the public sidewalk to the business entrances but all too often they don’t.

I am most angry with the City of Des Peres. I looked up their most recent Comprehensive Plan, from the 2003 document you get a sense that walkability was important but it is such a weak document it is no wonder all they got was the useless window dressing sidewalk that doesn’t connect to anything.  The following is selected text under the section “Planning Goals:”  (Bold added for emphasis)

Land Use
1. Attain the highest quality development for all land use classifications.
2. Enhance the value of residential properties.
3. Enhance community identity in the existing areas of Des Peres and develop that identity in newly annexed areas.
4. Guide urbanization consistent with the ecological capabilities of the land.
12. Limit commercial uses exclusively to the Manchester Road Corridor.

Transportation
4. Expand facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Urban Design
1. Increase landscaping on both public and private properties along the Manchester Road streetscape.
2. Enhance the pedestrian facilities along the Manchester Road corridor.
4. Improve the quality of signage along Manchester Road.
5. Enhance architectural standards for buildings along the Manchester Road corridor.
6. Provide more human scale elements to the Manchester Road streetscape such as street furniture, art, lighting and signage.

Economic Development
4. Retain the retail sales and service identity of shopping centers in the City.
5. Increase employment within the City’s business district.
6. Promote the development of business establishments that service the needs of the local population.

Good stuff, they want pedestrian & bicycle facilities and they want to serve the local population — the folks that might actually walk to the businesses.  They want to expand sidewalks:

Residential area:

Objective 1: Expand the network of pedestrian sidewalks in the area.

You might think the document is very general and not that specific — until you read further:

When redevelopment or rehabilitation of commercial properties takes place, it is important that they follow architectural guidelines established for all buildings in the commercial area. The purpose of such guidelines is not to impose a certain architectural style on the area but to ensure that the varying styles of buildings in the area will be architecturally harmonious and pleasing. There should be a mixture of styles, colors and materials for each commercial building in the district. However the diversity among buildings should blend well throughout the district. The whole should be greater than the sum of its parts.

When either a new building is developed or an old building redeveloped, their design should be reviewed in the context of surrounding buildings and the area in general.

Architectural guidelines should focus on eliminating two areas of the architectural spectrum. They must eliminate designs on the extremes and designs in the center. The extremes represent cheap or unusual building materials, wide use of bright colors and odd design schemes. These buildings draw so much attention to themselves that the rest of the commercial district recedes into obscurity. The center of the spectrum represents the conformist, cookie-cutter building found in any suburban community. These buildings draw little attention to themselves because they can be found anywhere. They don’t add character or identity to a commercial district.

A lot of attention to architecture but nothing about being able to get anywhere on the expanded sidewalks.  I kept reading:

Ground signs are a separate structure located in the front yard of a site along Manchester Road. They primarily relate to the streetscape and not the building. The critical element in the design of these signs is ensuring that they are human scale and do not dominate the streetscape. These signs should be at the eye level of the motorist or the pedestrian. They should also be easy to read and understand. Excessive messages, font styles, small-scale lettering and colors unnecessarily clutter the appearance of a sign and make it confusing to motorists.

Oh I see, pedestrians get human scaled signs at eye level.  That is so much better than being able to walk to businesses on a sidewalk.  It gets better:

There should be some improvements to both the hardscape and landscaping along Manchester Road. More human scale elements need to be inserted into the area to make it more inviting for pedestrians. Although there is a sidewalk along both sides of Manchester Road, some segments are missing. The sidewalk needs to be extended in these areas. There should be a continuous sidewalk along both sides of Manchester Road throughout the planning area. The sidewalks along the roadway should be accented with pedestrian plazas at strategic intersections along the corridor. These small congregating areas would be approximately 500 sq. ft. in size. The area would be hard surfaced with a decorative material such as paving stones or stamped concrete. It would contain benches, trash receptacles and street art. The hard surface area would be ringed by plant material and accented with decorative street lamps. It is important for all of these plazas to be similar in design and materials to create continuity throughout the corridor.

Are they serious? Decorative lamps and “inserted” elements?  Some planners got paid good money to write this useless phrasing.

Paving stones of a consistent style and color should be inserted in the area of the streetscape between the sidewalk and the street curb. These areas vary in width along the corridor from 2-10 ft. They usually contain either asphalt or sod. The asphalt is unattractive and lacks flexibility as a material. These strips usually contain underground utilities where excavations are necessary. Asphalt does not lend itself well to surface patching, as it tends to fade over time. Sod is more attractive but not hearty enough to survive the difficult conditions present along a major arterial roadway. Salt, exhaust, debris and other materials destroy the sod over time.

They can go into this level of detail but the idea of suggesting that developments along Manchester Rd actually connect to the sidewalk isn’t mentioned.  Instead they’ve covered all those things that help create the appearance of walkability without, you know, actually being walkable.  It is no wonder this new strip center is so disconnected.

– Steve Patterson