CORTEX TOD Study From October 2012 Now Online

Last month I wrote Cortex District Needs A Pedestrian Circulation Plan Before IKEA Is Built knowing a master plan was in the works, or had already been approved.  Still, I couldn’t find a copy online. I began emailing CORTEX directly, and then others, until January 10th when I got the response I was looking for:

Good morning, Steve:

John Hoal forwarded me your query about the Cortex Station Area Plan report. I spoke with SLDC, who confirmed that the report was not, in fact, posted on-line. The report has since been posted to SLDC’s website, and the link to the report materials is included below.

http://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/sldc/documents/CORTEX-Transit-Oriented-Development-Study.cfm

Thanks, Steve. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or require further information.

Best regards,

Timothy Breihan

H3 Studio

Turns out the report was finalized in October 2012! Fifteen months later, after my inquiries, it was made available online.  This work was funded by tax payers and should’ve been made available when finalized:

The work that provided the basis of this publication was supported by funding under an award with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through East-West Gateway Council of Governments. The substance and findings of the work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government or the East-West Gateway Council of Governments. (Page 2)

Ok, it’s online now so let’s take a look:

From the objective at the start:

Originally developed as a light-industrial enclave, the CORTEX district faces major challenges moving forward to make itself feel welcoming, pedestrian-friendly, and fundamentally connected to its surrounding neighborhoods and amenities. (Page 6)

[snip]

The Transit Oriented Development Study (TOD) for the CORTEX District (the Study) seeks to establish projections for net new riders on the MetroLink light rail system over a 20-year planning horizon resulting from the construction of a new MetroLink station in the CORTEX District. This Study is focused on proposed ridership projections based on planned investments in CORTEX and the surrounding areas. Metro Saint Louis Transit and the Bi-State Development Agency (Metro), owners and operators of the MetroLink and MetroBus transit systems, have established target thresholds as goals for proposed stations.

This station will be an invaluable asset in the future development potential of both the CORTEX district and the region-wide MetroLink system. The proposed station has the potential to function both as a transit option for current and future area residents and employees, as well as a major amenity and connective element for the surrounding neighborhoods and residents. In order to capitalize on years of public and private investment and attract and retain the best and the brightest, it is imperative that development in the CORTEX district unlocks the latent potential present in the district’s enviable location in the heart of Saint Louis. The City of Saint Louis, Metro, and CORTEX possess a significant opportunity to recreate the district as a key link between surrounding neighborhoods, with the ability to tie these neighborhoods together with public spaces, great pedestrian streets, mixed-use development, and multi-modal transit access. (Page 6-7)

The first “consensus issue” surrounding CORTEX is listed as:

1. Forest Park Avenue is perceived as unfriendly to bikes and pedestrians for east-west travel and crossing. (Page 11)

Really? The planning process gets into trouble when too much weight is given to public input. Forest Park Avenue has what they want to create one block south on Duncan Ave.; on-street parking which separates traffic from pedestrians, tree lawns with mature trees, etc. But a few neighbors that probably don’t walk indicated they don’t like Forest Park Ave., possibly because they were steered that way, so it’s dismissed as an east-west pedestrian route.  The crossings do need to be improved to get people into the CORTEX District and to/from the proposed MetroLink station.

Under “scenerio 1” to increase transit ridership they list:

Focus TOD residential and mixed-use development between Sarah Avenue and Vandeventer Avenue and extend planned Duncan Avenue streetscape improvements east to Vandeventer. (Page 14)

But the proposed IKEA will prevent the new pedestrian-friendly Duncan Ave from reaching Vandeventer Ave, occupying most of the residential/mixed-use development area. Will this plan be amended to deal with that new reality? This is why major streets (Forest Park Ave.) shouldn’t be ignored in favor of expendable streets (Duncan Ave). Are ridership projections still valid with a large mixed-use area on the east side of the proposed station?

Let’s continue:

4. ENSURE PEDESTRIAN AND BIKE CONNECTIVITY, SAFETY, AND COMFORT

Transit-oriented developments and districts rely on safe, comfortable, walk-able and bike-able streets and public spaces to provide access to transit. In the CORTEX district, streets are currently designed to give preference to vehicular traffic; most streets have only a 36-foot curb-to-curb width, which accommodates only two travel lanes and two parallel parking lanes. In addition, sidewalks are only 4- to 5-feet wide, pedestrian right-of-ways are often obstructed by utility poles and other infrastructure, and there are few street trees or other pedestrian amenities. Given limited right-of-way width and vehicular traffic restrictions, enhancing bike and pedestrian connectivity, safety, and comfort will need to occur on some streets while vehicular service requirements are accommodated on others. Actions to achieve this strategy include:

• Create “pedestrian first” streets and vehicular-centric streets through the district.
• Repair all sidewalks and maximize sidewalk width in all locations.
• Provide planting strips and/or tree lawns on all streets.
• Relocate utility poles and other infrastructure out of pedestrian right-of-ways.
• Provide lane-width, shared lane markings (“Super Sharrows”) on all streets.
• Provide parallel parking on all streets.
• Provide street trees on all streets with a maximum spacing of 40-feet on-center.
• Provide pedestrian-scaled street lights with a maximum spacing of 80-feet on center.
• Provide trash receptacles, benches, bike racks, safety call boxes, and other street furniture.
• Provide ADA-accessible curb cuts, oriented perpendicular to the street, at all intersections and crosswalks.
• Provide pavement changes at all crosswalks. (Page 22)

Well “pedestrian first” is mentioned earlier (p13) and later on pages 69 & 119, yet nowhere does the report define “pedestrian first”.  To be fair, “vehicular-centric streets” isn’t defined either,  but I think St. Louis has that one down.

The big pedestrian push is Duncan Ave., which will terminate unceremoniously into the side of the IKEA:

A potential major east-west corridor within the CORTEX District is Duncan Avenue, which runs from Sarah Street and Vandeventer Avenue to the east and the Central West End MetroLink Station and Barnes Jewish/Washington University Medical Campuses to the west. Where Duncan Avenue intersects with Boyle Avenue is the heart of the CORTEX District with the CORTEX building to the north and the Solae building to the south. (Page 78)

It does include a list of existing conditions.

ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING SIDEWALK AND STREET PAVEMENT CONDITIONS

BOYLE AVENUE CORRIDOR

• Overall, the street pavement is in poor to fair condition with alligator cracking, sections where base pavement is exposed, and numerous patches of pavement.
• Curb material varies with either granite or concrete curb. Concrete curb is usually in sections where sidewalk has been replaced.
• The standard curb height of six inches occurs mainly in sections where sidewalk has been replaced. Remaining sections of curb are less than six inches due to overlaying of street pavement.
• The sidewalks are mainly in poor to fair condition with broken and uneven pavement. Numerous patches occur in the sidewalk pavement due to underground utility improvements. In areas where new construction or street improvements have occurred at street intersections, the sidewalks are in good condition.

TOWER GROVE AVENUE CORRIDOR

• Some sections of Tower Grove Avenue have been newly overlaid with asphalt leaving them in good condition. Most other areas of the street pavement have alligator cracking, sections where base pavement is exposed and numerous patches of pavement and should be considered in fair to poor condition.
• Overall the sidewalks are in poor to fair condition with prevalent pavement cracking and uneven areas. Some sections of sidewalk have been replaced at intersections with road improvements. Where new building has occurred, new sidewalk has been installed.
• Curbing in this section of Tower Grove Avenue is mainly granite curb with concrete curb occurring at street intersections. Overlaying of the street pavement has reduced the height of the curb to less than six inches.

NEWSTEAD AVENUE CORRIDOR: FOREST PARK PARKWAY TO CLAYTON AVENUE

• The street pavement is in fair to poor condition with numerous patches, large amounts of alligator cracking, and sections of exposed base pavement.
• The sidewalks are in fair to good condition. Decorative medallions have been added to the sidewalk. A short section north of the MetroLink tracks has uneven and cracked pavement, and the east sidewalk from Forest Park Parkway to Duncan Avenue has some remnants of a sidewalk in places.
• Curbing material overall is composed of granite, but some areas closer to Forest Park Parkway are concrete.

DUNCAN AVENUE CORRIDOR: NEWSTEAD AVENUE TO SARAH STREET

• The street pavement is in poor condition with numerous patches, large amounts of alligator cracking, and sections of exposed base pavement from raveling top mat of asphalt and potholes.
• The sidewalks are in fair to poor condition. There are several sections of sidewalk which have been replaced, and those are located on the north and south sides of Duncan Avenue at the CORTEX and Solae Buildings and parking lots as well as the West End Lofts parking lot near the intersection of Sarah Street and Duncan Avenue.
• Curbing material mainly is composed of granite except in the sections of the CORTEX and Solae buildings. (Page 82-83)

No mention of the problem at Duncan & Newstead.

HIERARCHY OF STREET USAGE BY PEDESTRIANS AND BIKES

From Stakeholder meetings with neighborhood committees and residents, City agencies and other concerned parties a hierarchy of primary pedestrian and bike routes were determined to help aid in the development of a Street-Level Connectivity Plan.

East-West Pedestrian Corridor: Laclede Avenue and Chouteau Avenue (Most Preferred) Forest Park Parkway (Least Preferred)

North-South Pedestrian Corridor: Newstead Avenue and Euclid Avenue (Most Preferred) Boyle Avenue and Taylor Avenue (Least Preferred)

East-West Bike Corridor: Chouteau Avenue (Most Preferred) Duncan Avenue (Least Preferred)

North-South Bike Routes: Newstead Avenue (Most Preferred) Vandeventer Avenue (Least Preferred (Page 85))

Hopefully you’ll be able to find detail I missed.  To me this is a plan filled with buzz words that’s already being ignored a year later, business as usual. I’ll repeat: CORTEX needs a pedestrian plan because this isn’t close.

— Steve Patterson

Lindell & Euclid: Worth the Wait

In April 2006 it looked like Opus Development would be moving forward on a high-rise condo tower at the NE corner of Lindell & Euclid. They’d revised the base and been granted a variance to permit the height. However, the project was abandoned even before the economy crashed.

Now Opus is back with a new proposal for the corner, Ald. Lyda Krewson tweeted on December 6th “Lindell Residences proposed for Lindell/Euclid – 217 first class apts.” with this pic attached:

Back in 2006 the historic code required heights to be relative to other buildings. The language, like many of our historic codes, was poorly written. Today the Central West End’s form-based code isn’t wishy-washy: maximum of 12 stories at this location.

The new form-based code and the mixed-use project one block south with apartments over a Whole Foods likely renewed interest in this conner. Ok, it is apartments instead of $300k condos. No big deal, when I rented an efficiency in The President 2 doors to the east in 1990 an A.G. Edwards VP rented the large apartment next door! Rental apartments aren’t a bad thing at all.

While a tall tower makes the skyline more interesting, the latest proposal will have a bigger positive impact. The decision to go underground with most of the parking makes the base more appropriate.

I’m glad the 26-story building proposed in 2006 didn’t happen, the new proposal was worth the wait.

— Steve Patterson

Roberts Market Place at Kingshighway & Delmar Hostile to Pedestrians

The Roberts Market Place has opened at Kingshighway & Delmar, the site of a former Schnucks. Discount grocer ALDI, the only business so far, is the anchor. Unfortunately, it is designed to be driven to, not walked to.

Seriously? The one minimal pedestrian route from a secondary road is blocked by a bollard!?! As I mentioned in April, the site has been divided into three parcels.

It would’ve been relatively easy to plan a north-south sidewalk through the site connecting Enright to Delmar, with a perpendicular walk connecting to the bus stop on Kingshighway. This would’ve provided a pedestrian route to all three adjacent streets and to all three parcels. Instead we’ve got another development that ignores pedestrians almost entirely.

The #97 (Delmar) bus and #95 (Kingshighway) bus generate lots of pedestrian traffic at this location. Many customers & employees of ALDI, a new drive-thru, and a third place will arrive on foot. Development in our neighborhoods should be designed to welcome motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. This must be mandated, developers aren’t going to do it on their own — especially not in low-income areas where they do as little as possible.

— Steve Patterson

Competing Visions for Forest Park Avenue Corridor

Forest Park Ave from Kingshighway to Grand (map) is 1.6 miles long with the potential to be a dense urban corridor. Developers, however, would like to make it a typical low-density big box chain retail corridor. I’d like to show you why I believe two big box retail developments at Forest Park Avenue & Vandeventer are out of character, why these will undo the work others have done recently.

I had enough photos of various buildings along Forest Park Ave to write this post, but Saturday I spent about 90 minutes taking around 150 photos as I traveled the entire length in my wheelchair. Why go to such trouble? I believe cities can’t be properly understood driving through in a car, or worse, relying on Google street view. You’ve got to hit the pavement to really get what an area is about.

I got off the bus on Forest Park Ave at the first stop east of Kingshighway and returned downtown from the Grand MetroLink station, about 2 miles of travel.  Don’t worry, I’m only going to show you a small percentage of the images I took.

As you can see each block for the last 1.5 miles from Kingshighway has buildings fronting Forest Park Ave, nearly all 2 or more floors. Seems like every decade since the early 20th century new buildings have followed this pattern. But now Pace wants to change the pattern drastically, a new vision.

Pace Properties wants to build a retail center, called Midtown Station, on Forest Park Ave. between Vandeventer and Spring.

Pace says the site is ideal because of its proximity to St. Louis University and Washington University, as well as major employers like Ameren Missouri, BJC and Wells Fargo. (KSDK)

From the development flyer:

Next to Saint Louis University should be walkable retail shops, not the blank walls of the back of big boxes. I’m not opposed to retail, I’m opposed to the form these developments will likely take. I’m gathering examples of how this could be done much better, look for another post next month.

I don’t want this new suburban big box vision to reverse the urban corridor.

— Steve Patterson

Accessing Metro’s Transit Access Center Not Straightforward

Seniors (65+) and the disabled can ride Metro for half price, but a reduced fare permit is required. Seniors have several options on obtaining such a permit, the MetroRide store downtown, for example. The disabled, like myself, must visit Metro’s Transit Access Center at 317 DeBaliviere. Let’s pretend we’re newly disabled and need to get a reduced-fare permit, for the first time. We arrive on the #90 (Hampton) MetroBus or via MetroLink at the Forest Park station.  Remember this station opened twenty years ago, and was altered significantly in 2006 when the extension to Shrewsbury was built.

We get off the bus or come up from the platform on the east side of DeBaliviere and head north to find our destination.

I’m not sure how long the Transit Access Center has been a tenant in this building, at least 4 years. The building was built in 1988, two years before the ADA and five years before the MetroLink opened. But for the last twenty years this development adjacent to a light rail station hasn’t been very accessible.

Again, this is the location every disabled person that seeks a reduced-fare permit must go. Granted, access from disabled parking is easy enough but many who need the permits can’t drive. For the disabled, independence is very important.

 — Steve Patterson