Downtown Redevelopment - All Comments

re: Update on Round Rock's Downtown Master Plan process, schedule

Will Hampton — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:50:28 GMT

@JFerris and @gperks,

Thanks for your comments. You might want to consider speaking at future public hearings the decision makers, i.e. City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission, can hear from you directly.

Next opportunity will be Nov. 10 at Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 221 E. Main St.

Regarding street lighting, we've had some discussions with the good folks at Hendrix Engineering, a firm located in downtown, no less, about that aspect of the plan. We'll definitely look into Dark Sky lighting. Thanks for the suggestion!

re: Update on Round Rock's Downtown Master Plan process, schedule

gperks — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:40:01 GMT

Ditto JFerris' comments. Getting sick of stop signs and red lights. Roundabouts are far nicer to drivers and other road users, as well as allowing some greenery: plants look better than yet another concrete slab, and roundabouts don't need electricity like lights do.

re: Update on Round Rock's Downtown Master Plan process, schedule

JFerris — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:24:20 GMT

It is disappointing to me to slow down the roundabouts. They are very effective traffic tools that keep people moving. But I do understand a lot of people have resistance to them because they haven't had to use them before.

Also, I would like to see/recommend one thing. All installed street lighting should be "Dark Sky" lighting. Nearly half the light projected by a normal streetlight is wasted because it does not shine where it is needed. The "glow" of the unused light outshines the stars. And, well, you know what they say...The stars at night are big and bright...Dark Sky lighting is more cost effective, uses less energy, and I would like to see those big bright stars again...

re: Day Two was just as good at Round Rock's Downtown Master Plan Open House

Dale Ricklefs — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:01:18 GMT

Chicago's Millenium Park is great. It has an emphasis on arts and culture. Even the single sports oriented activity-- the miniature golf course-- was heavily treed.

Regardless of that great park which is part of Grant Park, there was a small pocket park next to the Harold Washington Library, located about 6 blocks away. The area was about 2/3 of the current green space at 205 E Main. On that site was tiered planting, and a low granite curved seating area that ran the width of the property. On that granite was carved quotes from literary masters. This mini-park was across the street from the library. People were sitting on the low wall, eating, talking, chillin' big time as the El clanked by.

I, like almost all the others who commented on the use of 205 Main, prefer that there be some green right there. Planning Director Jim Stendebach's idea of small kiosks or small little buildings offering simple retail options is pretty good, but I'd retain at least 2/3 of the existing green. If there were trees and park benches right now, more people would be out there. Saw kids playing soccer on there once. This is especially true if we get more retail and even eat-and-go restaurants, where such a green space would be a welcome respite among the growing concrete of our 100,000+ community.

re: Analyses of proposed changes to downtown streets

Will Hampton — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:45:32 GMT

@elab -- Just changing the timing of the lights won't improve the efficiency of the intersection. Adding dedicated left turns is needed *before* the signal timing can be changed.

Our mission is to create a vibrant downtown that is a destination for shopping, dining and cultural arts. We are very much focused on doing all we can to make it easy to get there and, once there, easy to walk.

Thanks for taking the time to offer your concerns about our proposals. We are planning an open house for later this month and would love to discuss this matter with you further. I'll have details in a future blog post as we finalize dates and times.

Will Hampton

Project Manager

re: Analyses of proposed changes to downtown streets

elab — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:18:35 GMT

I concur with the business owner. If changing the timing of the lights would make up for loss of capacity, why not change the timing now? I don't believe the consultant, and I will avoid the downtown area of Round Rock if I can't get there. Here we have a consultant who wants to justify his plans (and fees) without regard to the consequences other people have to suffer.

re: Analyses of proposed changes to downtown streets

Brooks Bennett — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:09:38 GMT

I went out kayaking on Brushy Creek last week and got re-energized about downtown.

If anyone wants to get an "up close and personal" feel for how awesome the creek is, get a small canoe or kayak and drop into the creek at Veteran's Park.

I am sure you will be impressed with the natural beauty and wildlife.

re: Analyses of proposed changes to downtown streets

psparks — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:50:59 GMT

The solutions proposed by the consultant team for improving pedestrian traffic in Downtown are well developed and appropriate. The city should move forward with implementation. This is a good plan.

re: Comments, questions from Downtown Round Rock charrette midpoint presentation

Candy Moseley — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:30:47 GMT

I attend the meetings in January.

I heard a lot of input and suggestions.

How many changes were generated/inplimented to the original city plans.

re: Downtown charrette update 3: Main Street ballfields meeting recap

SWark — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:54:25 GMT

Hi! I think this is a good place for this comment--it goes along with the public park space idea from this meeting.

Our "Sports Capital of Texas" campaign draws a lot of out-of-towners to the far edge of town, Dell Diamond and Old Settlers. As we redevelop downtown, can we plan spaces to draw some of those recreation dollars into the area? Our family has been brainstorming, and here are some ideas we thought we'd share:

Why can't Round Rock promote big road events, and plan the downtown road improvements to also be friendly to bike/running races? Austin is booting races out of the city as quickly as it can, mostly because of excessive road closure issues. But Austin is finished building itself; Round Rock is a work in progress, and if we think through the issue in advance, we can make our city a natural host for all of the events Austin can't accommodate.

So maybe we could consider building roads and trails with races in mind, so we can embrace the big races and enjoy the finacial benefits of them without -- and here's where the planning comes in -- inconveniencing the locals too much. It's a matter of thinking through safe routes for the racers, and alternate routes for the smooth flow of traffic.

For triathlons, in the downtown area we have the Lake Creek Pool (an underused facility with good bones), the small lake at Memorial Park (maybe?), and Krebsbach pool might even work if the trails/roads are friendly enough.

Marathons and half-marathons could bring steady streams of visitors for all of our cool-weather months, and RunTex's 20-miler, a staple in the Austin Distance Challenge, always needs a new home--why not show off downtown?

And every year when our family rides the Outlaw Trail, we wonder how much longer those roads east of town will be safe to host this wonderful biking event--why not make safe links from Old Settlers back towards downtown, and incorporate some of those miles into the event?

Athletes would pass local businesses, and may make a note to come back for lunch after the event (honestly, doesn't every runner who passes Kerby Lane Cafe in the morning promise himself he'll be back soon?). And some of these events will have lots of spectators who will want a snack. And if we have great trails and roads, training groups will come to town, too (witness the many training groups that meet at the Brushy Creek trail, plus the Sunstroke race series there every summer).

We have awesome weather here Oct-June (well, okay, we usually have a couple of rough weeks in January), and July-Sept is bearable if we can find places with shade and water. We can take care of our trees and creeks, and plan for porches and fountains, and make this a truly welcoming places for athletes.

I don't know how much of this is workable, but it's worth tossing around. And having big parks in downtown would be a benefit to the small downtown neighborhoods, sure, but it could also benefit us all. Gathering places build community, parks and trails build healthy people.

re: Share your thoughts on new City Hall design concept

SWark — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:25:26 GMT

Hi Will! Thanks for your encouragement to catch the update on the plans. I love the web access.

After our last exchange, I thought really hard about what it means to have this sense of place. It looks like the architects were thinking likewise. Here's what I thought:

One of the things Central Texas does best is sunshine. The recent city buildings, so flat and white, are actually kind of painful to look at in our bright light. Stonework that has texture, and therefore has light play as well as shadows, works better here.

Also, patios/porches--places where we can enjoy the amazing weather we have Oct-June, but escape the blaze of July-September. You were right, I did like the patio/open spaces of the proposed designs! Give us an excuse to linger in an area, to move slowly through a space when time permits and perhaps meet our neighbors. Dashing quickly to our cars to escape the heat or the glare doesn't foster community.

I also like the way overhangs are once again fashionable over windows. Buildings that don't respect our environment, that are insufferable and unsafe when the AC goes out, are bad ideas. I'm very pro-AC, just amazed that we toss out commonsense ideas about building in harmony with the natural characteristics of our area.

I like the way you're combining public spaces for the arts and events, path access, and city business.

I don't know if I missed this part of it, but businesses that would be a natural fit for this area would be drop-in spots for quick snacks, smoothies/drinks, and sandwiches.

re: Q&A from final Downtown Master Plan charrette presentation

Will Hampton — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:08:59 GMT

Cathey Carter, a downtown area resident who participated in last week's charrette, sent me the following in an email. She said posting it to the blog would be fine.

Will,

Thank you for arranging the Master Plan charette sessions last week. I found it very interesting and encouraging. I apologize for the length of this letter but hope my comments may be helpful. Feel free to share any of this with anyone.

1. Developing a social services center on East Main Street. I like both of the sketches Torti Gallas produced and think either would be a good use of the site. I am aware that at least one vocal person remains very opposed to the shelter. I hope the Community Foundation would consider two ideas: First, in seeking PUD approval they should approach the entire neighborhood, not the few members of the Heart of Round Rock Association. Starting from the attendance lists of the charette itself might be a good way. Second, if the neighbors simply won’t agree to the shelter as part of the PUD, then do a PUD for the four acres that need it for Headstart and the adult daycare only, with some park. Then put the shelter on the two acres zoned commercial with no neighborhood cooperation required.

I don’t think many residents of downtown actually know what the shelter is proposed to be. If this was presented to the neighborhood association it didn’t get dispersed to anyone else. I would certainly appreciate hearing more about it. Is the purpose to protect people from freezing weather, with no questions asked? Or is the purpose related to rehabilitation with a no-alcohol policy? How many adult men, how many adult women and how many children are typically there? What is the average length of stay? What is the most common next place a resident goes? How many of the adult residents would be likely to have a car and a job? Would the shelter operator be willing to show downtown residents their existing shelter?

2. Existing Owner-Occupied Houses. The Torti Gallas folks obviously relied on aerial photos to try out some of their ideas. I think street-level façade pictures would be a good supplement, combined with a list of which houses are owner-occupied. I’m aware of at least six owner-occupied houses in very good condition on Pecan and Fannin plus another three in-fill houses on other streets that are no more than five years old. There must be many others that I don’t know. These good quality owner occupied houses should be kept as part of the master plan.

3. Affordability. I would love to see a commitment to keep at least a certain number or percentage of residential units very affordable. Round Rock is not just a city of small businesses. The big businesses like Dell, HEB, the school district, and the hospitals each need a big supply of local minimum-wage workers to empty the trash cans, wash the dishes, run the laundry, sweep the floors, etc. There’s no public transportation network to import these workers from somewhere else, and the jobs at the bottom don’t pay well enough for people to commute to them from far away. Our middle-class teenagers living with their parents can run the cash registers at the stores, but they aren’t going to ride the Waste Management truck twice a week. This isn’t just a matter of Christian charity or courtesy to the neighbors we already have – it is an economic necessity for the big businesses and for all of us. If the low-income workers aren’t going to be able to live downtown, where will they live in Round Rock?

4. Lot sizes in the redeveloped area. I was disappointed to see that the lot sizes in the redeveloped area seemed to be consistently tiny. Please provide more variety. Some people want to garden and need more room. Round Rock already has many, many neighborhoods that fill the need for consistent small lots. Include both large (1/2 acre) and small lots in downtown.

5. Heights of multi-family buildings close to the creek. Please consider limiting these so that no one on a roof deck can look directly into the backyard of the nearest single-family house. A three-story could be okay if there’s no house in the same block, but two stories should be the limit adjacent to or immediately across the street from a house.

6. Walkability of Highway 79. This wasn’t officially in the study area, but it is a big and solvable problem. I see people walking along 79 from Mays to A. W. Grimes, in daylight, and in the dark. I see people crossing 79 on foot, sometimes one adult and several small children. Crossing Mays or Round Rock Avenue is safe and easy compared to crossing 79. This is dangerous now and will sooner or later be tragic. The lights near Grimes are a big improvement. We need lights and sidewalks on both sides of the street all the way to I-35. We also need at least two places with safe pedestrian crossing, preferably at Mays, Georgetown, and Grimes. I am open to anything that works: traffic circle, overhead crosswalks, under-road tunnels, variable signal schedules, raised medians, anything. I’m willing to pay a special tax just for this. Moving the grocery store back to Mays would also help, but isn’t likely to happen.

7. What I liked best about the plan so far: a central square, the big expansion of Veterans Park including the floodplain part of my backyard, the Brushy Creek pedestrian bridge, and the Lewis-Spring triangular park.

Thanks again,

Cathey Carter

re: Q&A from final Downtown Master Plan charrette presentation

SWark — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:38:19 GMT

Okay, one last thing. At the charettes, the name on the 79/Mays plaza was "Citi Centre." I hope Citi Centre is just a working name--it's a fine working name, but for a permanent name of a prominent city feature, it's awfully cute, and reminiscent of CitiBank.

City Center, City Centre maybe, Round Rock Square/Plaza/Hub, whatever...we need to brainstorm a big list of names to find a winner for this key feature of our citi, er, city.

re: Q&A from final Downtown Master Plan charrette presentation

SWark — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:16:33 GMT

Hi! We've loved being involved in the charrette process, to the extent time allowed. After visiting the display at McConico, our family continued to brainstorm, and we thought we'd submit those ideas as well:

1) Architecture--I know this will be addressed separately, but we wanted to drop in our 2 cents already. The newer city buildings--flat, straight walls, no shade for passersby--really don't reflect our town's unique place: Central Texas. We need to think in terms of native stone/rock, balconies and shaded porches, reaching back into our history farther than the flat-faced frontier style to more of a hacienda look.

2) Greenscaping--smart and beautiful water collection/runoff management, such as at the Lady Bird Wildlife Research Center, is the way of the future, and is cheaper to incorporate at the design stage than to retrofit. Georgetown is doing a great job in its new areas by showing how native/xeric plants can be used to make beautiful landscaping--if our city takes a similar lead, we can encourage families to build beautiful yards that benefit our native ecology rather than the traditional, resource-intensive lawns that have become the norm.

3) The towns we love to visit in Colorado--Crested Butte, for example--have many reasons to come downtown, including quick and unique breakfast/lunch places (oriented more towards spur-of-the-moment meals and snacks rather than planned sit-down meals that will take at least an hour, which is what the downtown RR eateries are) interesting public art, and comfortable places to curl up with a chatty friend or a good book. They are great places to go for a cheap afternoon of bumming around. A great book on building communities is available at the public library: The great neighborhood book : a do-it-yourself guide to placemaking / Jay Walljasper Gabriola Island, BC : New Society Publishers, 2007.

4) Physical activities--we bill ourselves as the sports capital, and draw a lot of out-of-town dollars to Dell Diamond and Old Settlers, which are far away from the heart of the city. Can we designate areas that could function like Zilker Park in Austin, to draw families into downtown for games and activities? Families could park the car for the day, then slip around downtown on paths or bikes or shuttles. Sports events and similar activities would benefit downtown businesses as families get hungry and thirsty, need items they forgot to bring, see cool shops that they want to make a return visit to, etc.

re: Comments, questions, issues from Day 1 of Round Rock's downtown charrette

Will Hampton — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:01:02 GMT

@Bob-o This is from Gary Schatz, our transportation engineer on the project:

"The Downtown Master Plan is being approached through the tenets of context sensitive solutions (CSS). A critical aspect of CSS is inclusion of all stakeholders. We are in continuous consultation with all City of Round Rock staff. We are also consulting with TxDOT; at our Wednesday evening meeting a representative of TxDOT was present and spoke regarding the merits of our efforts. Where there are differing viewpoints, we and our planning team will work to reach consensus for mutually acceptable options."