---------------- On 10/21/2003 2:55:43 AM Skippydam73 wrote: Here out in the suburbs of Portland Oregon there is a project that is going to be actually similiar to what you have been talking about. Its about 1600 acres of land that will transformed into different housing and a little center for shopping. Its not going to be like a mall type in there but more of your retail services. There is another project out here called Orenco Station that has been nationally recognized for creating a similiar neighborhood. They have the retail services on the ground floor with people living above. Just to the outside of that they have the neighboorhood of houses all close together. The only bad thing thats happening here is you do not have a big lot, meaning a very small patch of lawn. But they do put in a nice size park in the middle. Its difficult for someone like me who grew up in the country and now moving to our second home on a 5000 sq ft lot. There are trade offs between the two. Its not for everyone though. The reason for this type of approach though is to conserve rich farmland and control city sprawl. Until we are able to zone for mixed buildings, its going to be somewhat difficult to simulate the real life version. For any that are interested, here is the link for Orenco Station. www.orencostation.com---------------- Cool, a fellow suburban Portlander! I actually live about 5 minutes from Orenco Station! I applaud new urbanism, more as a tool to help strict urban growth bounries from turning home prices from going sky high. I would much rather keep our strict UGB and have pleasent, forested surrounding areas and greenspaces, than to see our city turn into another Los Angeles or [insert Texas city here].
