CNU’s John Norquist To Speak at APA Workshop

John Norquist, former Mayor of Milwaukee and currently President & CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, will be in the St. Louis region on Thursday March 30th. Norquist will participate in a tour of New Town at St. Charles as well as speak at an evening workshop:

Mobile Workshop
The mobile workshop features a tour of New Town, the region’s largest new urbanist development. Plenary speaker John Norquist will join a tour featuring speakers from the City of St. Charles, Whittaker Homes and the Missouri Department of Conservation. Participants meet at Powder Valley and travel by bus to New Town.

Planning Workshop
The evening begins with a reception and presentation of the 2006 St. Louis Metro Section Planning Awards. Encouraging and recognizing excellence in planning has been an important component of the American Planning Association since its inception. Categories for nomination are Outstanding Planning Awards for a Plan, for a Project, Program or Tool, for a Community Initiative, for a Student Project and for Implementation, the Dwight F. Davis Award for a Citizen Planner, and Distinguished Leadership Awards for a Professional Planner and for an Elected Official The plenary session features John Norquist. President and C.E.O., Congress for the New Urbanism, addressing the challenges of incorporating New Urbanist concepts in city and regional planning. Norquist led the revision of Milwaukee’s zoning code and reoriented development around walkable streets and public amenities such as the city’s 3.1-mile Riverwalk during his tenure as Mayor from 1988 to 2003.

Workshop sessions follow three tracks: New Urbanism, Legal Issues and Innovative Practices. Six workshop sessions provide useful information and thoughtful discussion to assist in enhancing and developing successful St. Louis Region communities. Join fellow citizen and professional planners at the 2006 Planning Workshop to work toward improving the quality of our communities!

For additional information on place, date, time, content and cost please download the 2006 St. Louis APA Planning Workshop Brochure.

More information from the St. Louis APA here. Hopefully this will inspire me to finish a post on New Town.

[UPDATE 3/29/06 – 9am, corrected that Norquist was mayor of Milwaukee, not Minneapolis. ]

– Steve

ULI Competition Finalists Presentation on Friday

A few weeks ago the four finalists in the 2006 ULI Urban Design Competition were selected by the jury. I reviewed these on March 6th (read review). At the time I voiced my approval for the Berkley proposal and my complete shock at how un-urban the Columbia University proposal was.

This Friday all four teams will be in St. Louis to present their projects to the jury. Here is the official announcement:

THE CHALLENGE – PLANNING, DESIGN, AND DEVELOPMENT AT GRAND BOULEVARD ALONG THE CHOUTEAU GREENWAY ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Teams representing Columbia University, Harvard University (two), and the University of California, Berkeley have been selected as the finalists for the fourth annual ULI (Urban Land Institute) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The finalist teams are charged with the design of a development site in the city of St. Louis. The competition is open to graduate students who are pursuing real estate-related studies at a North American university, including programs in real estate development, city planning, urban design, architecture and landscape architecture. The four finalists were chosen from 81 teams comprised of more than 400 students representing 30 universities in the U.S. and Canada. The competition is designed as an exercise; there is no guarantee that the students’ plans will be implemented as part of any development of the site.

This year’s competition site intersects with part of the proposed Chouteau Greenway, a development project spearheaded by McCormack Baron Salazar in St. Louis on behalf of a coalition of public and private sponsors in the city. It involves creating a greenway from Memorial Park on the Mississippi River westward to the city’s 1,300-acre Forest Park, over a course set to include 195 acres of public space and 2,000 acres of mixed-use redeveloped space adjoining the greenway.

The schedule for the final competition is as follows:

Friday, March 31, 2006

8:30 am to 12:45 pm Team Presentations

12:45 to 2:00pm Break

2:00pm Announcement of Winner

Location:
Pere Marquette Gallery
Dubourg Hall
Saint Louis University
221 North Grand Blvd.

Here’s the link to the website http://udcompetition.uli.org/.

I’ll let you know Friday which team won the competition.

– Steve

CCBF REALTORS® Showcase Sunday April 2nd

The Carondelet Community Betterment Foundation, better known as CCBF, is holding their annual REALTORS® Showcase this Sunday, April 2nd. CCBF, located at 6408 Michigan St. Louis, MO 63111 (map), is the starting point for tours of homes for sale. I will have a listing of mine open at 6600 Pennsylvania during the Showcase hours of 11am to 3pm (view MLS listing w/pictures).

Carondelet is a great area with a wide variety of architecture. Plus, for those that think St. Louis is flat then you need to go for a walk in the area.

Be sure to check out the grounds of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. I don’t know if they will have the motherhouse open for tours on Sunday, most likely not. If you’ve not seen this stunning facility then you should check it on the first or third thursdays of the month at 10am. Reservation information is on their webpage linked above.

Further south is the St. Boniface National Register Historic District.

On a related note, the Dutchtown South Community Corporation (DSCC) is holding their “Discover Dutchtown Home Showcase.” on the last day in April. This real estate open house will be from 1pm to 4pm on Sunday April 30, 2006.

– Steve

Lafayette Walk On Preservation Board Agenda, Again!

In February the Preservation Board meeting was a long one, lasting until 10:30pm after starting at 4pm. This month the agenda is much shorter but a the most controversial issue from last month is back once again: Lafayette Walk. More discussion of utilities and transoms over doors.

Also of interest is a new cultural center to be built at 6166 Delmar in the ever expanding East Loop. This is on the site where a building collapsed a few years back during renovations as well as the renovation of the adjacent church as part of the project.

Like last month the Preservation Board will review a case where an owner replaced windows (prohibited vinyl) in a house without a permit. People, if you do work please check to see if you need a building permit. If you live in a historic district please follow the rules or move somewhere else. The Cultural Resources staff has better things to do than chase down people installing cheap windows in historic districts without a permit!

The Preservation Board will also look at a couple of cases of inappropriate fencing in a historic district. Once again, should be a fun one. This time I’m bringing water and munchies.

– Steve

Downtown Partnership Ditches Old Website

Downtown St. Louis has a fresh new website. The look is fresh & hip and it includes a directory of businesses. It still lacks any RSS feeds for updates but you can sign up to receive updates via email. Click here to see the new site.

Meanwhile Downtown Now!’s site is still behind the times with the “What’s Happening in 2004?” link to nowhere.

– Steve