urbanSTL

Levees are built with tax dollars. FEMA is funded by tax dollars. Everyone who lives in a flood plain expects to be bailed out when the levee breaks. They don't just throw up their hands and say, "oh well, I shouldn't have built here, I guess it is my fault." They start b*tching about insufficient Federal and State response, they b**** about the Army Corps, they b**** because they didn't read their insurance policy carefully enough. I think that flood plains should be left alone for agriculture and natural hydrological/ecological systems.

Doug wrote:Risk assessment. The chances of a flood are rather low, thus no biggie.

Interestingly enough, the Missouri River at St. Charles is rising, this week, to levels not seen since 1995. As a result, I don't think I'll be biking the Katy Trail this weekend; a kayak may be more appropriate!



Hydrograph for the Missouri River at St. Charles

Bastiat wrote:

With our weather patterns becoming much more extreme and erratic

Source?

Please, please don't hijack this thread. [-o<



The streetcar idea is worthwhile, but one (I) wonders if it's sustainable. Streetcars were great in St. Louis City when density supported them. Is there really enough denisty at New Town and St. Charles to run 9 streetcars and maintain the system? I'd be amazed - but it wouldn't be the first time. BTW - if NT/St. Chuck can do this, then WHY, WHY isn't this in the works for South Grand/CWE/Northside to downtown - or a downtown circulator?!?!?!?

OK, now I get it. The streetcars aren't actually going to go anywhere!

well, streetcars (on devoted rows) used to run all over rural/ small town metro east...example, hartford, il south of wood river (in all its polluted glory) has the "5 minute walk " concept down, or at least did.

You're definitely right, but this was before car ownership skyrocketed and people became more and more separated from their places of work. The streetcars themselves are exactly what I'd like to see back on the roads - much more so than the smaller antiquey c. 1900 versions that Edwards is working with at the moment. Putting a few of these around New Town won't be all that difficult and not prohibitively expensive, putting them back in use as working streetcars is a whole other matter. Does anyone have a guess as to what a 7-mile system with 9 working cars would cost to build and operate? Maybe $500k/car to renovate, then all you have to do is purchase right-of-way, grade and build rail with multiple crossings and platforms, market the project and, oh yeah, hire people to operate the things! Maybe $50M initially and $15M/yr.?[/i]

Modern Streetcars are the way to go.



But New Town is trying to evoke the 'way-back-when' mentality. Which is why they chose the older more traditional style street cars.



I like the old streetcars, but you're right...they are gonna be expensive to remodel and maintain. What I don't get is why they need 9 of them?

This could be an interesting study to follow:

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stor ... st=b_ln_hl

The Saint Louis University School of Public Health will use $750,000 in newly received grants to determine whether neighborhoods designed for walking and biking, such as New Town in St. Charles, Mo., actually encourage residents to adopt a more active lifestyle.



The grants were from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the school said Thursday.



"These are the first large-scale studies in the U.S. to look at the effect of moving into a community that is structurally designed to encourage walking and biking," Ross Brownson, director of the Prevention Research Center at SLU's School of Public Health, said in a statement. He is the research effort's principal investigator.



The two studies SLU plans to conduct look at the activity levels of families who live in Whittaker Builders Inc.'s New Town, a new community designed with sidewalks and bike trails connecting residential neighborhoods to businesses and public buildings.

I'll be very interested in their findings.

has anyone been out there recently?

My mother lives in St. Charles a couple miles away. I can tell you for all they talk about living in a place where you can walk to coffee shops, stores, restaurants the truth is all of those things are being developed in strip mall fashion near the Elm Street and 370 interchange.

What a farce!

Arch City wrote:

southsidepride wrote:has anyone been out there recently?

My mother lives in St. Charles a couple miles away. I can tell you for all they talk about living in a place where you can walk to coffee shops, stores, restaurants the truth is all of those things are being developed in strip mall fashion near the Elm Street and 370 interchange. What a farce!

Naw. Elm Street and 370 is not considered New Town. Yes, there are strip centers and warehouses/commercial buildings in the area you suggest, but New Town is like 2 or 3 miles away.

well that's sort of my point. All of the businesses that residents of New Town are expected to utilize are being built 2-3 miles away. Weren't these things supposed to all be within walking distance?

I visited New Town a few weeks ago. The business district is starting to fill in now, and a few of the shops are open. There's actually quite a few buildings going up with retail on the first floor, and residential above. In fact, most of the current construction seems to be 2,3, and even 4-story multi-family buildings.



It's still really eerie, though. Hundreds of units are being built, very densely packed together, yet there's still very few people out and about (at least on a Monday afternoon).



The main thing to keep in mind is that New Town is still very early in it's development. Five years from now it should be bustling.

There is one non-retail mid-sized business located inside New Town (that is not related to the builder). They are a film/commercial production business that employs 25-50 people. IMO, there needs to be a mix of retail and non-retail business, bringing more people into New Town to make the retail side work. And even though Charlestown is not part of New Town, by the time New Town and New Town Gateway is built out, there will be approximately 17k-23k people living between the three.

digitalcaffeine wrote:And even though Charlestown is not part of New Town, by the time New Town and New Town Gateway is built out, there will be approximately 17k-23k people living between the three.

Wow! I never thought about the number of people living in the area once all these developments are built out. This has all been annexed by the City of St. Charles, eh? If so, that might secure Saint Charles' status as the area's largest suburb once these developments are built out in a few years along with other dense developments like the Noah's Ark site, although the current population is around 60k and O'Fallon has over 70,000 residents the last time I checked.

They may not be in a big hurry, but IMO this had better be built out as soon as possible. In addition to the current housing slump, housing trends have a way of changing and the new urbanism/planned community may be on its way out. We'll have to wait and see, but I'll be somewhat shocked if all that has been advertised is ever built. It may be a great plan, but can they sell 5,000 more homes?

Has the slump hurt New Town? I think they can do it and I hope that they stick to the plan that they have. I love the houses there and love what it is supposed be but I don't think that I would ever move there. Not a fan of St. Charles but I would be closer to my family. However, I want to be close to downtown so I won't be buying a home there. It is fun to check it out once in a while but that is about it. I can get the some feelings in the city. If I can ever get downtown I will have the shopping, nightlife, grocery store, and the real urban lifestyle most within walking distance.

New Town itself is quite impressive IMO.

A little antiseptic, but that's because it's a new development.

It's the strip retail that's growing like a weed at Elm and 370 that bothers me about that area. So far it seems as though New Town has a few boutique businesses but most of the practical retail that the thousands of new residents in that area will be utilizing will be at that sprawling intersection.

my bro sent me a link the other to this place being developed on the front range in CO. i wonder if both of these projects are related... it's even called new town.



http://www.prospectnewtown.com/ProspectStory/Main.asp

Prospect is another new urbanist-styled community designed by DPZ, which is the same company that designed New Town at St. Charles. I believe Prospect has been around since 1995. There appears to be a much wider variety in housing styles in Prospect than New Town.

Any recent udates on New Town? Anyone here live there?

I live there. Several new businesses have opened inside of New Town. New homes are still being built. It does look quite a bit different than it did this time last year. I think the trees in the first area (the Theatre district) definitely look fuller and the area looks more lived in. And it is great to see so many people out walking and biking.



That being said, there are homes on the market that have been on the market for over 6-10 months and empty storefronts. It's the same problem that these types of communites have, until there is a critical mass of population or something that entices people from outside the area to come in, there just isn't enough depth and breadth to support most businesses.



We currently have a bar, wine bar, diner, pet groomer, ice cream shop, dessert store, small grocery market, a couple of salons, a couple of insurance companies, a couple brokerages, interior decorating company, dry cleaner, several churches, engineering company, media agency. and all the companies that belong to the primary builder.