I'm as angry about the sprawling of St. Louis as anyone but criticizing New Town makes no sense to me. I've yet to hear one valid complaint about New Town that doesn't apply to the rest of suburban sprawl.
A big one is that, unlike most suburban residential sprawl, New Town is in a flood plain. It's one thing to have Wal-Mart's, soccer parks, casinos and outlet malls in a flood plain, where you literally anticipate that eventually they will be flooded. It's another to have thousands of people's primary residences there.
At some point a large population of people is going to be very screwed and they and FEMA are going to pay a very high price for it. But until then, New Town's great! Just like any other suburban sprawl, maybe even better!
If it remains loved by well off people, it will endure, but if the luster tarnishes as buildings and infrastructure ages and taxes go up, and there's the next new exclusionary thing on the edge luring them, it could fall.
The solid urban form is likely to keep this from happening, or at least make it much less likely compared to the stroad adjacent cul-de-sacs endemic in the rest of St. Charles County. Say what you will about its location but New Town has created a relatively unique place worth loving.
The biggest problem with our suburbs (a problem that has been identified and is being addressed as we speak) is that the suburban form prevents people from feeling attached to their environments. That is why we are seeing new urbanism explode in the form of downtown Chesterfield and the Streets of St. Charles, it's simply more sustainable in the long run than classic sprawl.
I'm as angry about the sprawling of St. Louis as anyone but criticizing New Town makes no sense to me. I've yet to hear one valid complaint about New Town that doesn't apply to the rest of suburban sprawl.
A big one is that, unlike most suburban residential sprawl, New Town is in a flood plain. It's one thing to have Wal-Mart's, soccer parks, casinos and outlet malls in a flood plain, where you literally anticipate that eventually they will be flooded. It's another to have thousands of people's primary residences there.
At some point a large population of people is going to be very screwed and they and FEMA are going to pay a very high price for it. But until then, New Town's great! Just like any other suburban sprawl, maybe even better!
It's actually not though. Based upon the FEMA maps, New Town itself is outside of and built a few feet higher than the flood plains that are north of it.
I'm as angry about the sprawling of St. Louis as anyone but criticizing New Town makes no sense to me. I've yet to hear one valid complaint about New Town that doesn't apply to the rest of suburban sprawl.
A big one is that, unlike most suburban residential sprawl, New Town is in a flood plain. It's one thing to have Wal-Mart's, soccer parks, casinos and outlet malls in a flood plain, where you literally anticipate that eventually they will be flooded. It's another to have thousands of people's primary residences there.
At some point a large population of people is going to be very screwed and they and FEMA are going to pay a very high price for it. But until then, New Town's great! Just like any other suburban sprawl, maybe even better!
It's actually not though. Based upon the FEMA maps, New Town itself is outside of and built a few feet higher than the flood plains that are north of it.
It actually is though. According to the maps currently on FEMA's website (https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home) all of New Town is in a 500 year flood plain. Here's a screen shot:
As you can see, the canals in New Town are 100 year flood plain and the rest is 500 year flood plain. The entire area is a ticking time bomb. It's okay for businesses to take that calculated risk. But not the right place to encourage development of primary residences and for thousands of people to move.
A big one is that, unlike most suburban residential sprawl, New Town is in a flood plain. It's one thing to have Wal-Mart's, soccer parks, casinos and outlet malls in a flood plain, where you literally anticipate that eventually they will be flooded. It's another to have thousands of people's primary residences there.
At some point a large population of people is going to be very screwed and they and FEMA are going to pay a very high price for it. But until then, New Town's great! Just like any other suburban sprawl, maybe even better!
My comment was more in response to Q's criticisms that he frequently applies to the rest of suburbia. I'm obviously not supporting floor plain development.
My original response also applies to the recent "white people dystopia" comment. How does that apply only to New Town where there's a much greater diversity of housing than the rest of american suburbia. Yes, it's still overly conservative white people. No it's not perfect. No i'd never live there or suggest anyone living there unless they worked nearby. But the urban form is good. People say it looks like an amusement park as if pedestrian oriented oriented urban form is somehow a bad thing.
^I'm not incredibly familiar with New Town particularly, but the amusement park criticism does not seem inappropriate to New Urbanism generally. Not only do the two share a more than superficial similarity, as they both aim to recreate an idealized past, but clean and from new materials and without the messy history, but they both owe a great deal to a particular prophet. You cannot discuss either without discussing a particular futurist who, to paraphrase a prominent YouTuber, traded in nostalgia: Walter Elias D. Who knew Robert Moses and I believe also Fred Trump. And worked with them both. But still somehow wanted to banish cars from his environment. (And who always did love trains.) And who desperately wanted people to live on his properties full time, so long as he could pick the people and reshape their car-free urban environments at his whim. I don't think you can really discuss New Urbanism without discussing Disney. He, and his company after him worked hard to create seemingly spontaneous urban environments that are dense, walkable, and entirely curated. We think more about the amusement parks, but they've done a lot of housing development as well. There is a very real sense in which places of that sort really are, quite literally, amusement parks. For better or for worse. Amusement parks to live in. This doesn't mean that walkable form is bad. But it does mean that there's more to it than that. That when you build an idealized version of something it's at least as important what (and who) you omit as what you include.
By request, here are the drone photos of the New Town development. Height was limited to 120m due to being in the Lambert flight path. The drone went over 1 mile away from me in the video, so that's just the scale of it.
The difference between New Town and the Charlestown Crossing subdivisions is interesting to see from above. McBride's broken ground on yet another phase of Charlestown Crossing on Highway B and Consort Homes has started moving dirt for their subdivision next to Herman's Farm on Borschertown. In a few months you should go back and fly over the Merz tract where Whittaker is moving earth now for the next official New Town phase. Will be fun to watch that empty field (which you can see in the top right corner at the beginning of the video) get transformed into the next set of canals and lakes.
Honestly, if we are going to have suburbs, this is what they should look like. Well done. I heard rumor that some of the homes have been having foundation troubles. Anyone able to confirm that?
^No. The only thing I've heard is that some of the very very original homes built back in like 2004 didn't have a tall enough basement pour, but everything done in the last however many years has been fine. They did discover some weak spots around the Beach District lakes, and have drained down the water level to remove some stones, fix the structural rock foundation, and then replace the stones. But that's all I've heard and seen.
Looks like New Town is still working with DPZ. As a New Urbanism fan, this is exciting (and unexpected).
Finally filling in some land around the amphitheater and chapel.
I like what DPZ proposed for Kirkwood a couple of years ago. Not just a vu-graph presentation, they made proposed edits to Kirkwood zoning code. They said Kirkwood has plenty of parking if folks would walk one block. And proposed a boutique hotel next to the train station among other things. Also proposed a height limit for house rooflines instead of rooftop, to end new homes with squatty roofs to accommodate 9’ ceilings and deep pour basements.
More housing planned for St. Charles' New Town community
ST. CHARLES — A developer has plans to build duplexes in St. Charles' New Town neighborhood.
Creve Coeur-based TriStar Properties acquired land earlier this year in the southwestern area of New Town, a planned community north of Highway 370 and Elm Street, according to St. Charles County real estate records.
The company plans to start construction on 40 duplexes this summer. The duplexes will be marketed for rent, said Principal Michael Towerman.
New Town opened in 2005 and boasts shops, restaurants and parks. The community has narrow streets aimed at promoting walkability in a style known as "new urbanism."
TriStar's duplexes won't be the first rental properties in New Town. Investors rent several single-family homes in the area, and the Promenade at New Town offers apartments for rent.https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... b3e13.html
I was just in New Town yesterday, the central area is built really well and now that the street trees have matured the ambiance is much better.
They really need to finish developing the lots around their "Civic Circle." There is nice little retail all around it on Rue Royale and Domain Streets, but it's missing the actual town center to tie it together.
Houston Homes, LLC. dropped a mobile office off and has 33 homesites available in New Town. That makes three developers (TriStar, Houston Homes & Whittaker) working on the development.
For all of the criticism, people seem to love the concept as it is expanding faster than ever.
Hopefully they can finish getting New Town linked in to the Katy Trail network. The Boschert Trail is literally one highway interchange (3rd street) away from linking up. On the New Town side I have no idea why there isn't a trailhead within the development. It runs directly south of the development but doesn't actually go in. Still very possible to run it though greenfield and get a trailhead within a couple blocks of the center of town.
While I'm sure golf carts are the preferred means of non-car transportation in New Town, it's really perfect for cycling. It's totally flat, most people could accomplish daily tasks or visit friends with single speed beach cruisers.
