Leeward City Part I

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Entry posted by sumwonyuno · October 23, 2009

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The 'Eva Plains is the largest flat expanse on the southern shore. It is also the driest area on Community Island. According to scientists, the plains were formerly coral reefs when the sea level was higher. When the ocean receeded, sediment from the Vai'anae Mountains accumulated onto the new land.

In the 19th century, a businessman named Pellcamb bought 41,000 acres of land from the Kingdom of Tavai'i in 'Eva. He originally wanted to start a cattle ranch, but he realized the dirt was rich, volcanic soil. To solve the lack of water, Pellcamb pioneered the use of artesian wells. He hired workers to dig through the soil, the coral reef remains and through caprock. The workers broke into one of the vast freshwater resovoirs under Community Island. This technology allowed the proliferation of planations throughout Paradise.

The early entreprenuer Madinghill had other ambitions for the 'Eva Plains. He wanted to create settlements for Sims to live. The water problem had been solved. But the distance to Capitalis was great. It took about a day's journey by horse. Madinghill saw an opportunity to overcome the distance problem. His Community Rail & Land Company (CR&L Co.) laid the tracks to provide efficient passenger and freight service between Capitalis and the rest of Community Island. It is here in the 'Eva Plains that the only surviving rails of this vast network are left unused.

Though, it would be over a century later that government planners would draw up policy that would bring Madinghill's original ambition to fruition. Fastforward to the second half of the 20th century, Pellcamb's decendants were following suit with other major landowners to urbanize its farmlands. Though the Pellcamb family did not want to create just another suburban Paradise neighborhood. The vision was to create a true second urban center on Community Island, the Leeward City. The 'Eva Development Plan is a City document that is the master blueprint for land use on this part of Community Island.

The easiest thing to build on the 'Eva Plains is housing, as residential is always in high demand.

However, infrastructure, notably roadway capacity, is often not proactively put in.

The prime case study of this is 'Eva Beach. It was a small neighborhood on the shore of the ocean. To the east was Fort Rewave, a military installation built to protect the western entrance of Diamond Harbor. The four-lane Fort Rewave Road connected the base and 'Eva Beach to Vaijatu.

In the boom years of Capitalis, 'Eva Beach experienced growth, but not on the scale of other areas of the island. The State did improve the connection of Fort Rewave Road to the P-1 Freeway. Though, further improvements were not needed yet in 'Eva because traffic was still light and resources were needed elsewhere on the island.

However, in the 1990's and into the 2000's, the real estate bubble influenced the State, City and developers to dramatically ramp up the building of homes along Fort Rewave Road. Today, 50,000 residents live along the 5-mile corridor, largely automobile-dependant, and with worst daily commutes in Paradise.

The State is in the process of improving Fort Rewave Road, and it is also building a second north-south road. Despite this, the 'Eva area population is projected to almost double, to over 90,000 residents, in the next 20 years.