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This transit-oriented development is important, and must become the dominant form of urban construction if Charlotte's transit-based vision of sustainable growth is to become reality, but TODs rarely deal with the most ubiquitous of sprawl-boosting development: building around freeway interchanges.
In an ideal land-use scenario, interchange developments would be severely restricted to redirect growth into transit corridors, but only a political revolution -- or a severe and sustained hike in gas prices -- will make them go away. So we conclude this survey of good development in our county by looking at three good models: Birkdale Village in Huntersville at Exit 25 off I-77 by the Crosland Group and Pappas Properties; Prosperity Church Road Villages, a Planning Commission vision for the junction between Prosperity Church Road and a future leg of I-485; and Ayrsley, a proposed development near the intersection of South Tryon Street and the outerbelt by Cambridge Partners and Henson-Tomlin Interests.
All parties tout their projects as "smart growth," but this is debatable. While mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly in themselves, all are in locations accessible primarily by car and served poorly by transit. However, if intensive development at freeway interchanges is inevitable, these three projects are head and shoulders above anything else in our region.
* Birkdale Village is on the ground already. Starbucks will soon be up and running on Main Street. This development is best described as "Phillips Place on steroids," a functioning "town center" for west Huntersville measuring several blocks in all directions. But Birkdale is much better than its successful SouthPark precursor. Whereas Phillips Place creates the image of a pedestrian "Main Street" it actually has a very weak mix of uses. There are a few apartments upstairs, but most residences are on adjacent land, sequestered behind heavy wrought iron gates. And it's impossible to walk there from any surrounding area.
Birkdale Village, by contrast, is the real thing, a densely integrated development of retail, offices and housing created around walkable, landscaped streets and plazas, and connected to adjacent housing by other attractive streets and sidewalks. Walking and biking to the shops or to the office are real options, not urban fantasies. Crosland, Pappas and their architects, Shook, have organized a masterful plan, and solved many tricky problems of urban mixed-use buildings.
The zoning regulations in the three north Meck towns actively support, even require, this type of more advanced development. When Ann Hammond (former Huntersville Planning Director) and I wrote the Huntersville zoning regs several years ago, we were determined to bring principles of good urban design to bear on large scale commercial developments, and to integrate them with housing. Crosland, Pappas and Shook have followed this lead with considerable flair; and they've made it work economically. A multiplex cinema anchors one end of "Main Street," and companies like The Gap and Barnes & Noble raise the retail stakes, attracting other tenants. Above this lively scene, people in cool apartments and offices can view pedestrian activity at stores and restaurants. Consumers are demanding places to shop with more character than tired old strip centers, and young professionals are attracted to an active urban environment. Birkdale Village satisfies both needs by good urban design.
The Crosland Group's project manager David Ravin admits the company could have made more money by building another simple shopping strip. But under new CEO Todd Mansfield, and with the help of energetic, young design-educated executives like Ravin, Crosland has taken the long view. This integrated development is much better for the community than conventional sprawl, and the expertise gained on this project will serve the company well in the long term, placing them at the forefront of progressive development nationwide. This is a far cry from the days when the name "Crosland" was a byword among Planning Commission staffers and neighborhood groups for behind-the-scenes developer influence and cookie-cutter design.
All in all, Birkdale Village and its connected residential neighborhoods comprise one of the most advanced developments on the ground anywhere in the Carolinas. It's a crying shame that this density of development isn't in the real town center of Huntersville. But until rail transit is an established fact of life, excellent developments like this will continue to be sited in the "wrong" places, still too dependent on the car.
* In contrast to Birkdale, Prosperity Church Road Villages are still in the early stages, a vision of a revolutionary new development pattern at the outerbelt. Faced with more interchanges on I-485 than transportation logic requires, the Planning Commission several years ago sought a new approach that would be more integrated, sustainable and efficient in its land use.
