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CNU NEW ENGLAND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Developing the New Urbanism II
The conference is being held at the Doubletree Riverfront Hotel in Lowell MA
Friday, March 30, 2007
Registration table opens
breakfast & coffee available
CNU New England members meeting
Join CNU New England membership for a review of the past year and discussion of the Chapter’s future. All are welcome to attend; however, only Chapter members may participate in discussion and vote.
Members Meeting Agenda:
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The Business Plan for Smart Growth What is the size of the Smart Growth real estate market and who are the market leaders? This session provides an overview of the state of Smart Growth from a real estate and capital markets perspective, and presents a business case as to why builders and developers should consider the Smart Growth market to stay competitive in changing times. Topics covered will include placemaking & design, market preferences, price premiums, shifting demographics, and infrastructure cost and phasing. |
LEED-ND (Jr. Ballroom)
The U.S. Green Building Council has partnered with the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council to certify projects that integrate the principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building. The LEED for Neighborhood Development establishes a national standard for neighborhood design and urban development practice. The LEED-ND Pilot Program was issued in February 2007. In response, several projects have submitted or are preparing their submissions for LEED-ND certification, and to participate in testing the program’s strengths and weakness through actual application. This session will present an overview of the LEED-ND program, process for certification, and to respond to questions from the attendees. It is intended to be an interactive session to provoke ideas and stimulate interest in submitting projects to be selected as a LEED-ND Pilot Project from CNU-New England.
Moderator: Michelle Lambert – Elkus Manfredi
Daniel Hernandez – Topology LLC, LEED-ND Core Committee Member
New Housing in Historic Districts (Ballroom 1)
This session is a case study of the opportunities and challenges of redeveloping housing in historic districts. The development team from 30 Market Street (Trio) and 61 Market Street (the Birke) in Lowell will discuss their two projects in detail and describe the issues they faced during the design, permitting, construction, and leasing/sales phases. It is an opportunity to not only showcase and celebrate success stories from the host city, but discuss in a broader context the necessity of residential redevelopment focused in our older city centers.
Moderator: David Grissino – Goody Clancy
David Silverstein – Phoenix Real Estate
John Wardwell – Phoenix Real Estate
Jon Whitney – Janovsky Hurley Architects
Adam Baacke – City of Lowell
Zen and the Art of Development and Community Process (Ballroom 2)
Traditionally in New England, communities immediately assume the “warrior” pose against developers, and government has a difficult time positioning itself to help. For very large developments, there is money to spend to navigate the community process with mitigations that often do not serve the overall quality of life for the community. New Urbanist development projects are more innovative and already bring to the table a more holistic view to growth and community development. How can you as a developer better navigate the community input process? What does the community desire? How can you together with the community discover what opportunities are available? The speakers on this panel will each provide their experiences through the lens of transportation. A lively discussion will certainly follow.
Moderator: Jeff Rosenblum – Livable Streets Alliance
Chris Hart – Adaptive Environments
Bhupesh Patel – Design Tank
Kenneth Kruckemeyer – Transportation Strategist
Stephen Burrington – Smart Growth and Livable Communities Strategist
New Urbanism 101 (Hamilton Room)
The rediscovery of traditional development patterns has invigorated the planning industry and given hope that we can create wonderful places again. The session will highlight the basic elements of New Urbanism: harmonious mixed-use neighborhoods, attractive public spaces, walkable interconnected streets, and excellence in architecture and design. Numerous images of recent projects will be used to illustrate the principles of good design.
Introduction: John Stitzer, PE – Fort Point Associates
Michael Behrendt – City of Rochester, NH
Public Art: The Art of Creating Sense of Place (Ballroom 1)
New England has a well-known history of town and city-building, from its civic greens to its brick townhouses. Yet as suburbs sprawl, the region's built environment is losing its distinctive qualities. Well-planned public art can counter this trend by reconnecting us to our communities' special histories and presents. The CNU advocates for design embracing traditionally-successful elements of our built environment, and a well-appointed public realm can contribute to this sense of place. Public art augments this through an endless variety of formats: creative informational displays and wayfinding systems, distinctive sculpted landscapes and built forms, and surprising sound installations and performance pieces. The panel will present case studies of successful public art and cultural programming, beginning with local examples that have played a prominent role in Lowell's renaissance. Presentations will be followed by a mediated discussion of art and its context, focusing on how they succeed, or fail, in creating a genuine sense of place.
Moderator: Justin Crane – Cambridge Seven Associates
Christina Lanzl – UrbanArts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Janet Siebert – City of Austin, TX
Liesel Fenner – Americans for the Arts, Washington, DC
Paul Marion – University of Massachusetts, Lowell
New Directions in Design Guidelines (Ballroom 2)
New England communities increasingly seek to promote attractive pedestrian-friendly downtowns and town centers that appeal to residents, businesses and visitors alike. They are turning to Design Guidelines to guide streetscape and building development and stimulate new business growth. This panel shows the importance of design guidelines and, using case studies from the region, three different ways of creating and implementing them; grassroots; municipality-driven; and developer/owner self-imposed.
Moderator: Darlene Wynne – Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
Douglas Storrs – Cornish Associates
Chuck Parrott – National Park Service
Ann Sussman, AIA – Community Planner
Parking & Streets: Getting it Right (Hamilton Room)
Panelists will explore how context appropriate street design and inventive parking strategies can energize both old and new urban places using case studies for three innovative New England cities. The session will also include a discussion of the current revolution in street design guidelines, in particular, detailing how Burlington, Vermont is adapting these guidelines to enhance livability.
Moderator: Jonathan Ford, PE – Morris Beacon Design
Lucy Gibson, PE – Smart Mobility
Wesley Marshall, PE – University of Connecticut
Gilbert Hansen, PE – University of Connecticut
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Developers’ roundtable |
Greening Historic Communities: Whitinsville Mill (Ballroom 1)
Where the Whitinsville Mill once was on the cutting edge of technology by harnessing power before the industrial age, it is once again on the cutting edge. Work is underway on converting this community treasure into a mixed use, sustainable site, that will combat rising oil and gas costs with a combination of solar, geothermal, and hydropower energy. The complex, which is within walking distance to downtown Northbridge, will now house a multitude of uses that include a restaurant, residential units, a museum, a performing arts and artists space and a large plaza at waters edge for community ice skating and concerts. The project’s developer and architect will discuss public funding for its green initiatives, the challenges of a historic building reuse into a mixed use complex, and sustainable techniques in utilizing local and natural resources.
Moderator: Andrew Consigli – Elkus Manfredi
Dennis Rice – Alternatives Unlimited
Jonathan Austin – Austin Architects
A New Urbanist Plan: Champlain College (Ballroom 2)
Many master plans are created to look into the future in order to accommodate growth in enrollment. This 21.8-acre urban college’s master plan is different. The plan, created through an inclusive process with its host city and neighbors, sets a course for this 2,000-student institution to make the transition from a commuter campus to a residential one, in ways that respect and enhance one of the Burlington, Vermont’s most treasured residential neighborhoods. The college made a commitment to work with its neighbors and use its growth and change to enhance the campus and the neighborhood. This commitment will lead to the creation of a vibrant pedestrian environment supported by state-of-the-art transit facilities and management techniques, shared open spaces, and streetscape improvements that will enhance the character of this historic neighborhood.
Dennis Swinford – Goody Clancy
David Provost – Champlain College
Amy Kohn – Goody Clancy
Redeveloping the New England Village: Bar Harbor, Maine (Hamilton Room)
Bar Harbor , Maine is the quintessential image of New England’s traditional village district. The principles of New Urbanism are intertwined in this historic world-renowned community. It’s walkability, vibrant neighborhoods, classic main streets, mixed use districts, transit stops, village greens, shore paths and waterfront parks all come together as the original model of a New England Village that we are trying to create elsewhere in our region. The redevelopment of a major resort complex along the waterfront brings the developer’s perspective of invigorating New England communities while allowing for change. Components of the development included the redevelopment of the historic Bar Harbor Club, redevelopment of major hotel and restaurant districts and neighborhood streetscapes and pedestrian waterfront access.
Victor Rydlizky – Saratoga Associates
Anne Kreig – Bar Harbor, ME
Bob Baldacci – Ocean Properties
Creating Value: Development and the Appraisal Process in Storrs Center, CT (Jr. Ballroom)
Storrs Center will be a mixed-use town center and main street corridor at the crossroads of the town of Mansfield, Connecticut and the University of Connecticut, representing an assemblage of parcels amounting to approximately 45 acres. The approximately 15-acre development area largely overlies previously or currently developed property and will be comprised of mixed-use and residential areas. The Storrs Center development team will trace the path of this New Urbanist development project, discussing opportunities and challenges faced during the evolution of the project with special focus on the appraisal process and project marketability.
Dean Amadon, MAI – Amadon & Associates
Patrick Pinnell – Architect & Town Planner
Macon Toledano – Leyland Alliance
Tom Cody – Robinson & Cole
Smart Growth Advocacy Roundtable (Ballroom 1)
Leading Smart Growth advocates from across New England will discuss the role of non-profit advocacy organizations in the development process. The session will be a moderated lively discussion with input from attendees highly encouraged.
Moderator – George Proakis, City of Lowell
Karen Wiener – Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance
Scott Wolf – Grow Smart Rhode Island
Noelle MacKay – Vermont Forum on Sprawl
Overcoming Regulatory Obstacles to New Urbanist Development (Ballroom 2)
This session will address in a roundtable format how effective Southern New England state and local land use policies are at promoting "smart growth" development in general and New Urbanist development in particular. The panel will discuss how municipalities can adopt zoning for compact, mixed-use development and, specifically, form-based codes. The panel will also discuss whether, because of their unfamiliarity and perceived complexity, form-based codes might discourage municipalities from adopting them and developers from working in communities that use them. The panel will also discuss whether form-based codes might have an unfavorable impact on affordable housing. Participation from the audience will be encouraged.
Moderator: James O'Connell - Massachusetts Zoning Reform Working Group
Attorney Joel Russell - Land Use Consultant
Attorney Robert Ritchie - Massachusetts Attorney General's Office
James Stergios - Executive Director, Pioneer Institute for Public Policy
Attorney Robert Sitkowski - Robinson & Cole
The Power of Agriculture to Shape Urbanism (Hamilton Room)
Robert Orr, AIA – Robert Orr & Associates
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Copernicus Goes to Suburbia New Urban philosophy and practice are based largely, if not entirely, on a belief that suburban sprawl and urban blight have stemmed from a confluence of familiar factors: zoning laws, automobiles, anti-urban mortgage policies, excessive highway building, cheap gasoline, racism, America’s blessing of open space, excessive individualism, and so on goes this well documented list. In this provocative Powerpoint presentation, Matthew Frederick poses a more fundamental query: What generated this lengthy list in the first place? Mr. Frederick argues that the conventional explanations for “disurbanization” fall short of identifying its root cause, and merely list the mechanisms and expedients we have used to organize physical reality in the way we believe inherently correct. These notions of reality have provided the basis for Western consciousness for five centuries. By extension, they underlie New Urbanist thinking, and thereby suggest that our culturally embedded, background understandings of reality may ultimately undo our more deliberate efforts to restore urbanism. |
Lowell Revolving Museum, 22 Shattuck Street
$25 admission includes hors d’oeuvres and open bar
Join us directly after the closing session at the Revolving Museum for cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and the second annual CNU New England Chapter awards ceremony! The Revolving Museum is a short walk from the Lowell Doubletree and will be featuring an exhibit entitled "The Art of Light and Illumination". $25 admission includes food and open bar. You do not need to attend the conference in order to attend the awards ceremony and cocktail party.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Lowell Tour
Meet in lobby of the Doubletree Hotel
Tour by George Proakis – Chief Planner, City of Lowell