Ocean Point

[kingofsimcity 5,739]

Oh and BTW, you should try Oneil_1's Lake Point, Western Investments and Carson Plaza. Those are really pretty, and I'm not sure if you could tell the differece between Maxis and his! They are really good for your coastline!

[RadioheadFan 1]

Are they skyscrapers? I don't know, I'd really like to see comdude keep the suburban feel of this CJ going, there's too many skyscraper forest CJ's out there.

RHF

[bobinator 0]

Date: 3/15/2005 7:27:33 PM Author: RadioheadFan Are they skyscrapers? I don't know, I'd really like to see comdude keep the suburban feel of this CJ going, there's too many skyscraper forest CJ's out there. RHF

quote>

I agree. Can't wait for the upcoming update!

[comdude21 6]

Thanks for all of the great replies! The table of contents:



Simguyuk: Thanks for the compliments.

DragonAnime: Also thanks for the compliments.

King: Thanks. The only problem with those buildings is that I only allow growable buildings, so I'd have to wait for them to grow. I actually downloaded the NDEX Atlantic Plaza which was made by Oneil and Equinox, and it grew in Ocean Point right on the beach (The only 4x4 High Density Residential lots in the region), but it abandoned soon after. But I will definately consider downloading the buildings you recommended, and see if they can grow. Of course, there's the old demolition trick that I've been using for practically two years now. That one works like a charm.

However, the number of skyscrapers in downtown Ocean Point will not increase, so that being said, it doesn't leave much room for upwards growth.

RHF: I agree with you that this CJ should have a suburban feel to it. Actually, my original goal was rural but that one went out the window a while ago.

Like I said, the number of skyscrapers won't increase from the few that exist in downtown Ocean Point. The only new skyscrapers would be possibly a stray residential tower along the immediate ocean. This is taken from the towers which line the Florida coast, and it would be realistic to have a large residential tower (High wealth) grow along the immediate coastline only.

bobinator: Thanks for the compliments.

To All: Sorry, but the Bay Cove update won't be ready tonight. It should be ready tommorow afternoon, but that might be stretching it as well, because I don't have that much time today or tommorow. So it might be Thursday before it's ready, but hopefully I'll be able to get it here tommorow.

[kingofsimcity 5,739]

Truly Magnificent City!  And Look! Page 14!

[comdude21 6]

King: Thanks for the compliments.

To All:

I've now decided the Bay Cove update should come tommorow. Possibly tommorow morning. Bay Cove is a nice town on the island, along the Marshland Bay's east shore. It's a pretty suburban/low-rise town. Anyways, just announcing that.

[RadioheadFan 1]

Can't wait to see Bay Cove. Sounds like a smaller version of Oceanside...

RHF

[your_adress_here 11]

I can't wait to see the city of Bay Cove!

[comdude21 6]

RHF: Thanks.

your_adress_here: Thanks also.

To All:

I'm sorry but I still won't be able to get the Bay Cove update yet. I can almost promise, though, that it'll be up sometime today. Don't worry, it will be a good one.

[Chris M 406]

Great I can't wait to see the next update.

[comdude21 6]

DragonAnime: Thanks.

This Smaller Town on the Island is One of the Nicest Places in the County

Bay Cove has it all. A little bit of sprawl, some exclusive developments, plenty of commercial growth and some industry. It also has several major routes going through it, these being I-268, Route 82, Route 28, Route 71, and the Ocean Point/North Beach Parkway (OP/NB Parkway).

Bay Cove isn't a very old town. It was founded in the late 1800's, and has grown substantially since then. There isn't much history to talk about here. The bay cove itself (Not the town, the geographical feature) is a portion of Marshland Bay which comes into the island. One would think that it would be a great storm shelter for mariners during storms, but two things make the small cove of the bay not too welcoming for boats and ships. One, being that Bay Cove is on the island, it isn't nearly as safe from flooding and extreme weather as the mainland is. And two, the water in the cove is fairly shallow, only about 2-6 feet in most places. Over the years, portions of the cove have been dredged out and the amount of water in the cove has increased. Also, the surrounding salt marshes were mostly filled in and developed on. Many of the houses in Bay Cove's bayside developments were built on what used to be a salt marsh. Only small pieces of the salt marsh remain, mainly along the north side of the cove.

Here is an overview of Bay Cove, showing the cove, as well as downtown and the several major routes in the town.



Downtown Bay Cove grew rapidly along Route 82 (E/W Avenue). Decent sized commercial office buildings, retail stores and big box stores were built quickly along Route 82 once the lots were sold to developers. Since many tourists and beach-goers take Route 82 from the mainland and I-68 (The I-68 exit for Route 82 is on the mainland northwest of Marshland), and head for the beach at Oceanside or one of the other shore towns, the road sees extensive traffic and businesses do very well here. The surrounding area consists mainly of middle class residential developments.



The new I-268/Route 82 Interchange was built in the older section of town. The trees have grown back here, giving the area a very nice look. Plans to develop some of the land in this area have been turned down, as Bay Cove would like to keep suburban sprawl from completely engulfing the town.



The north-central area of Bay Cove is a very nice area. Most of it is middle to upper class residential, and many of these sims can easily commute North Beach, which borders the town to the north. The OP/NB Parkway is the avenue running N/S in this picture. It was the first main road that went directly from Ocean Point to North Beach. It has generally been replaced by I-268, but many cars spill over to it when traffic is bad on I-268.



The Cove District is a nice area along the bay. Along Route 71 (N/S Avenue), a main road which parallels the bay from Ocean Point to North Beach and continues right through the region's northern border, has had some commercial development. This area is one of the nicest spots in town, but during storms when the water in the bay gets high, look out. Your car may be underwater at high tide.



The northwestern section of Bay Cove is a very nice residential development. The developers came close, but not too close to the bay, so sims that live here have a nice view without having to worry about the flooding every time a storm comes. Some of the tidal marshes can be seen towards the bottom of the picture, along the bay.



Finally, here's a close-up picture of that area.



Well, that's it for Bay Cove. Hope everyone enjoyed it.

[kingofsimcity 5,739]

Cool! Awesome work on Bay Cove!

[swessel44 0]

Nice city! I just have one question: how come you don't use any streets, just roads?

[RadioheadFan 1]

Bay Cove looks awesome! I thought it would be a lot smaller though, along the lines of 15,000 people. I like how you develop your downtowns along major roads, most small towns are much like that. Keep it up, hopefully the links in our sigs will often be clicked on!

RHF

[your_adress_here 11]

Bay Cove is very nice! I like the suburban feel, yet without being suburbia! Very nice, and I'm looking forward to seing the next update!

[Jetty Jockey 186]

I just can't get enough of those tidal wetlands . Here's a realism tip if you don't mind ..... trees like oaks and maples don't live well in tidal marshes.  They either eventually hit salt water and die or , being rooted in soft ground, often topple in high winds.   Outstanding work as usual!

[Darmok 34]

Hi comdude,

Very good update!
Usually I don't like a grid pattern, but your city looks as if it has a certain grid, without being griddy if you know what I mean... (I'm not making much sense, am I!) So it does flow very natural and real. and I like it

And I do have the same question as weasel 24 about the streets.

Take care

[comdude21 6]

King: Thanks for the compliments.

weasel: Thanks. Although streets would be very realistic, three things about the game keep me from using streets. First, they have less capacity than roads. Second, they can't be built diagonally. And third, they don't show up in the regional transportation view. But other than that, they would have been better than roads for this region.

RHF: Thanks for the compliments. The downtowns are mostly inspired by where I come from, but they're probably like that all over too. Although we don't have any tall buildings where I live. But a lot of other towns in New Jersey, especially south, do look like that.

your_adress_here: Thanks for the compliments. And I'm really glad you like that suburban feel. Especially because that, not suburbia, is what I'm going for just like you said it is.

JJ: Thanks. As I was filling in the trees in Bay Cove (That took a while!) I got careless and treed in the tidal marshes. Thanks for the heads up, next time I'll destroy those trees because you sure are right about them. I've seen too many tidal marshes in my life to make that mistake, but oh well. Too bad they don't have cattails and low swamp grass in this game, that would be great for NJ type tidal marshes.

Darmok: Thanks for the compliments. Like I said to weasel, the streets would be more realistic and better for the region, but the game's constraints on them prevented me from using them. That was mostly the absence of diagonal streets. But I can still change some of the roads to streets where they're not diagonal.

[oroen 0]

I like the partially limited-access setup to the OP/NB Pkwy. Excellent work, as always!

[jacqulina 162]

great update

[comdude21 6]

oroen: Thanks. The limited access road was what I was going for, it's something I've always liked using. Even if the sims don't use it that much.

jacqulina: Thanks.

To All: The next update should come later today and will probably be on the town of West Bay, which is on the northern border of the region. It is on the west shore of Marshland Bay, due west and a bit north of North Beach. It's a nice little town, and the update should be good.

[RadioheadFan 1]

I thought North Beach was the most northern town in the region, lol.

RHF

[comdude21 6]

RHF: Not only that, but West Bay isn't the furthest west, and East Point isn't the furthest east. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

To All:

Speaking of West Bay, its update should come later today or tonight. West Bay is one of the smallest towns in the region, and its separate from the sprawl of the region, so it is a pretty nice town.

[Chris M 406]

 I love the suburban feel of Bay Cove. The houses look great around there. Can I buy one right on the beach ?

[Zagreus 0]

    Although I was first sceptical about this region, it is starting to grow on me, and I am now appreciating the complexity of the roads. Being from Miami which - except for the much older and wealthier parts such as Coral Gables and Pinecrest - is a strict grid city, I am not used to having so many random streets. Although they do look good in your city, I find that in real life, they are frustrating complicated and difficult to navigate. Here in Miami, we go by streets that unless they are old or too winding have mainly numbers. I like this last city, Bay Cove. Reminds me of the wealthy coastal communities where I live.

Thank you and keep up the good work.

Here is a view of a portion of Miami. As you can see, most of the road is a grid. The portions that aren't numbered are usually older roads and highways (I-395, I-95, US 1/SR-5/S DIXIE, SR-836). The slanted grid towards the coast is to accommodate the shape of the coast and because of US 1 and I-95 being slanted as well. Notices how even though some streets have names, all of the grided streets have numbers. Except for Coral Gables (not shown), which is exclusively names, all grided roads have numbers. If you look the bottom-left edge of the picture, you can get a little glimpse of Coral Gables, but not a good one.  Because of this, driving through Coral Gables, a multi-million-a-house neighborhood, is nice, but very, very confusing.

Notice also that STREETS exclusively run NORTH-SOUTH and AVENUES run EAST-WEST. DRIVES and ROADS are diagonal. An avenue will NEVER intersect another avenue, and the same for streets. This is great when trying to find something.

Also note the numbering. Everything NORTH of FLAGLER STREET and WEST of MIAMI AVENUE (far right) is considered NW. Everything SOUTH of FLAGLER and EAST of MIAMI is SE, and so on. The eastern portion of the city, which is on an island not shown, is the bulk of the SE and NE portions. The CENTER of the city is right where it says MIAMI: where FLAGLER and

MIAMI AVE

intersect. This is somewhat like the city ORIGIN. That is where the two letter abbreviations in front of

ALL street

numbers come from.

http://image.maps.yahoo.com/mapimage?MAPData=kH3d6Phyzy01JC1jCcdvK6GkqE9gF7cWPWpvtOIosE_JuJ59QyOJ.wUsmzHjhMXhbJe6ODUvZCXWEBYcA.p2LWIDM6aQ67Z9ngxWXrs8t3Dq28ugXnYRZcW9tPSvpGi6qNzUrlIx width=600 border=0 name=map>

Thanks again for this CJ, and looking foward to more posts!

[bobinator 0]

Wow! It's just so realistic! Especially that downtown pic! Looks awsome!

[RadioheadFan 1]

Hmm...I don't think I'd like to live in Miami. Sure the city is thriving, blah blah blah, but the roads are so...boring! I'd rather live out in the burbs and drive to Miami once in a while.

RHF

[comdude21 6]

DragonAnime: Thanks. Sure, you can live there. That's if you're willing to shell out the $1,000,000+ you'll have to pay to buy one of those houses.

Zagreus: Thanks for the compliments and the great input! I love Florida, what a great place. Although I haven't been to Miami yet. Anyways, I find that very interesting, about the transportation layout in Miami. The way the road names were made sounds pretty ingenious. Up here in New Jersey, its a much older area and the road names don't have any pattern, although I don't live in an urban area at all. I'm not suprised, though, that Miami generally has a grid except the older/wealthier parts, which differs greatly from Ocean Point. Florida is flat as a pancake, as is Ocean Point, which makes grid much more practical. In the beginning, my goal was to have a large, spread-out network of small towns, but I've changed plans and Ocean Point has grown into a major city. For its size, the city of Ocean Point probably should have pretty much an all-out grid layout, but its too late for that. Downtown Ocean Point does have a grid layout, and its one of the most realistic parts of the region.

Bay Cove and North Beach have taken on that exclusive high-wealth coastal town look much like Coral Gables, and that's exactly the effect I was looking for. Most of the Florida coast, Ocean and Gulf coasts included, is lined with towns like Bay Cove and North Beach, with lots of gated communities and really wealthy areas. So I'm really glad that Bay Cove reminds you of the Floridian coastal areas that you live in.

Bobinator: Thanks for the compliments. Glad to know you like that downtown, I made sure that would be realistic.

RHF: Forget the streets, I don't think you'd survive the heat in Miami being that you're from Northern Ontario.

To All:

Now on to the update........

Even if it is a Good Drive from Ocean Point, this Little Town is Doing Very Well

West Bay is an old town that was founded on the basis of commercial fishing. Settlers moved into the area in the mid to late 1700's, although the commercial fishing business didn't reach its heyday until the late 1800's and early 1900's. Today, West Bay is a very nice town which has retained its history though preservation and plenty of effort.

West Bay always tends to get hit hard from storms. This includes nor'easters, tropical storms, and hurricanes which have impacted the region. The town can completely flood when Marshland Bay comes through, and the results in the past have been devastating. For this reason, much of West Bay has been built with the weather in mind.

This map shows Pinewood County, with an enlarged map showing West Bay. The area enlarged is shown as a white box on the main Pinewood County map.



Here is the town of West Bay. It has a large industrial park in its northern sections, and commercial zones mainly along the main road, Route 19 (The Avenue in the picture).



Here's a close up of downtown West Bay. This area is doing very well, and a new hotel has been built here. The many travelers on Route 19 come through this part of town, and there is plenty of business here.



The industrial park in West Bay is almost completely made up of high-tech industrial buildings. It has seen great development, and many of the town's residents came to West Bay to work here.



Forest Bay Inn and Resort was built right on Marshland Bay. It attracts many sims from Ocean Point looking to get away from it all for a little while. Needless to say, during storms this place isn't too popular. Marshland Bay comes right through and usually takes out Route 19 as well. Luckily enough, the building has stayed safe because it is built on pilings, but the tennis courts and resort grounds have had to be repaired many times after coastal storms.



The salt marshes were filled in for this development south of downtown, on Marshland Bay. Most of the houses are on pilings and survive generally unscathed when storms come through, but if you want to live here, make sure you have flood insurance.



Finally, here are some very nice houses on the bay, in the southern portion of West Bay. Some of these houses have their own seawalls for protection of storms, and most of them are built on pilings as well. If you're going to spend this much on a house, it better be at least somewhat safe from the effects of Marshland Bay from a storm.

[juantrev 0]

I love me some subrubia....

 

great job with the realisticly suburban feel.  Love the strip of commercial in there too...

[RadioheadFan 1]

Date: 3/17/2005 8:12:10 PM
Author: juantrev

I love me some subrubia....

great job with the realisticly suburban feel. Love the strip of commercial in there too...

quote>

I think you said it all for me. Another great update, can't wait for more suburban goodness!

RHF