Monthly Archives: January 2011

The landscape architect

I’d like to thank my brother, Robert Anderson, landscape architect, for:

  1. pointing me to the Jefferson County Assessor’s web site,
  2. the (hopefully) tireless Q&A sessions about all manner of things relating to site development, and
  3. his demonstration of support for this project.

He does this while busy as a consultant and starting his own practice. I am undoubtedly leaving much out here, but that is only because he sometimes takes my calls during my odd little free moments during the day or when some off-topic thought* strikes me.

Notes:

*E.g. pre-fabricated sidewalks…

This map

I love maps. This one in particular.

USGS maps provide an interesting look at the land, in particular the manner of notation for structures. Unless the structure is notably large, it’s just a dot.

Yet, the dot speaks volumes. Sometimes a map simply shows the presence of a thing, not it’s scale. These dots do this. Their density is what matters here — not scale, not style (they could be round or square, it would not matter) — it is the simple presence and spacing which makes for interesting reading.

This is near to what Shepherdstown was for over 100 years: a tight core of dots in a wide range of widely spaced dots. It is a commercial center in a rural landscape.

We can not return to that paradigm. But we can learn from it. What many people like about Shepherdstown — their reference when they speak of character — is the tight grouping of dots. While many people live (and perhaps love living) in a suburban landscape (seen in an early example here at Mechlenberg Heights) I am aware of no one ever talking about capturing or extending the character of the suburb to the same degree as is wished for the character of the center of Shepherdstown.

How clear can this be then that it is not the architecture which rules the day, it’s just dots. You, they…we love the dots.

Extend Washington Street

It’s the last early draft to clear before I dive into my notebooks. It’s about Washington Street.

I lived for a short time on Back Alley, west of Duke Street. Even if one chooses to doubt the legality of the request to not drive through, living there meant I had a ready excuse for maneuvering to avoid the 4-way stop. And that was 15 years ago. The desire to avoid the 4-way stop has reached such a state that the bypass and return to the center of town via South Duke is a reasonable alternative.

Development to the west will occur, annexed by the town or not, and with it, additional pressure on the 4-way stop. Some talk at the recent annexation meeting involved the suggestion of a traffic light at West Campus Drive & the new entry to the Rumsey Development Corporation plat. I’m not a traffic engineer but no one else in the room spoke up to note same. Adding a traffic light is not the answer to what people imagine might be the problem — turning left to go west onto Rt. 45. The solution is additional paths out of what will amount to a suburban peninsula.

It’s back to the idea of distributed grids but, in this case, I am only asking for a meager addition to the grid: extend Washington Street.

The extension of Washington to the west side of Duke is already present. But it ends, you say. Yes, it ends at the point to where it needed to go. Should development occur further west, it should extend to that development. Without looking at the assessors map, one might even argue that it should have been extended for the benefit of the new Catholic church alone — here, a building which makes one remarkable gesture to town, is left in the unfortunate position of not having access to a back door*. Washington Street could be that access. And more.

Back Alley remains just that — an alley. Extending Washington Street west to the new development would change the dynamic of how traffic to any new development in that area would affect the 4-way stop. It becomes, in part, the giant traffic circle, where a second route of town traffic, which has no business on German Street, finds a way around the 4-way stop and German Street.

I suspect I am not the only driver who already takes part of this route, coming from 45 west to the 4-way stop, turning south onto Duke, turning left onto Washington, all to avoid German Street in town and the backup at Princess and Washington. Will we need some new form of traffic control at West Campus Drive? At Washington Street? Perhaps or no doubt — I can not say. As I noted above, I am not a traffic engineer.

Notes:

*I am aware that the church does own a sliver of access to West German Street. Fine. But let’s consider the other problem…the church does itself no good by sitting detached form the town as it does.

Who walks on Princess Street?

While Princess Street does bring plenty of traffic into and through town, many of the businesses on it are too easy to ignore. Why?

  1. No dual sided parallel parking. Little of the singular side is metered. Drivers are not compelled to stop.
  2. The corner with German Street does not entice pedestrians to turn the corner.
  3. The summer sun can be brutal. At least German Street has a shady side during the hottest part of the day.

And again, it’s a B side to the grid. But what the B side lacks in grandeur, it does, can, and should compensate for in character. An urban garden, a promising new shop in an unlikely space, interaction with alleys and some unique structures suggest that the potential is there.

Consider this a teaser…

Speaking of building sites

A new library is being planned. The site is a former town dump outside the western edge of town. It is within walking distance for some, although into an exurban* landscape which I would not generally considered walkable.

I’ve already looked at some of the moves afoot for additional development west of town. Expansion into this area makes sense. It is a continuation of near past growth and the land is build-able.

Shepherdstown is unique, but not

Many small towns feel the pressure of growth. And shortly thereafter, the pressure is felt on their institutions. Commercial business will lead the way (often well before town growth) but then churches, town halls, post offices and libraries tend to follow. The Corporation thoughtfully resisted this pressure in the building of the new town hall. That gesture will contribute a great deal to maintaining small town character, even with the inevitable pressures of expansion.

The library is feeling the pull of that western expansion. Better said, the need for a new library facility of a certain size limit available in-town options — and land is available to the west.

With changes afoot at the the south end of Princess Street, the mind drifts naturally to to an alternative site. A great deal of human energy has already been invested by the library board and staff  on groundwork to build to the west, on land that is a former town dump. Even then, the Knode parcels are too interesting to ignore.

Not all is said an done on this issue and, at our home, we tend (to a fault) to work with options open until we’re nearly ready to cast things in concrete (sometimes literally). It is not an efficient way to work and I am not suggesting that the library adopt this way-of-thinking.

But I do wonder what went into the process of choosing the proposed site. Did it choose them?

Notes:
*Exurban, in more common usage today refers to the areas beyond what we ordinarily call suburban — the wealthier developments beyond the DC suburbs, for example. But here, it is simply meant as the are outside of what feels “urban”.

Theme change

I had not realized until just yesterday that the links to categories and tags on a WordPress.com site link to all WordPress.com blogs using those same tags. That made the tags pretty useless. So I dug about a bit and found a theme which does not include those tag links. I’m not completely happy with the current theme but it does have some other advantages over the previous theme. I’ll stick with it for now.

The Knode parcels

I started this weblog with the intent of writing specifically about Princess Street. The closing of Southern States was the springboard. Like any effort at the scale of planning towns and cities, waiting for change and reacting often means being too late, although I hold out some hope in this case because of the slow economy. Five years ago, a change at that property might have happened in a real-estate-scaled blink of an eye.

But the entire parcel in question there (about 7.5 acres)  is different and difficult. It is part flood plain, wet when not in drought, abuts the railroad, was a filling station &c. Many discussions of the site degrade into opinions that the land is a toxic brownfield. It might be, although I personally have little issue with the idea for, if it is a brownfield, then so is my property.

In one of my casual chats with Harvey Heyser, we discussed possible uses for the Knode property, some mentioned to him by townspeople, some shared thoughts, some my own. One problem which will arise soon to any would be development, is that the parcel(s)* are part within Shepherdstown Corporation limits and part within Jefferson County.

Among the offerings for use by others:

  1. Parking lot
  2. Library
  3. Distributor/night club**

Many more opinions will undoubtedly arise as the calendar marches forward — a calendar marching more slowly as it reads 2011, not 2006.

For my part, the most important thing about this land is that we preserve the existing spirit of use on the site while enhancing Princess Street as a secondary commercial corridor. One might also consider the parcel as a “gateway” into town, which might carry some weight of its own.

The library is an interesting idea here, but not necessarily at the expense of the local-scale commercial (not catering to tourists) and small industry uses already present. Even there though, another domino is falling: on an adjacent parcel, Shepherdstown Hardware will be closing at the end of January. Dan Tokar would like to maintain his blacksmith shop at this address but even he notes that his age means he will be changing the scale of his commissions, reminding us that he will not be present beyond another 40 years. A 40 year timeline might seem too lengthy but, then again, how long was Southern States there?

Parking, as it stands, is already and important existing use — check beside the tracks on a Thursday night. Any land use, regardless of ownership, would be a poor neighbor if it did not allow for this off-hour presence.

Opening things up a little then…these are not necessarily single uses but might be part of a mixed-use strategy:

  1. Craft studios
  2. A garden center (perhaps associated with community gardens or a cut flower/produce grower).
  3. A butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker.

I’ve often imaged the state stepping in here as well, taking land to make changes to the intersection at Washington and Princess.

Something will change here. The town would do well to be ahead of the change, not reacting to proposals for it. How to do that is a good question which I might have an answer in coming weeks. Or not.

*I’ve seen the tax map; it’s complicated.

**I’ve lumped these together. Although not specifically an either-or, I do know an and-or was mentioned. This use is only viable if it takes place within the Shepherdstown Corporation limits.

Corner of Princess and High, Shepherd campus

While checking to see if I would be taking The Boy™ to pre-school, I came upon the link to the Shepherd University master plan of 2004, by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. I am pleased to see in that plan, a structure at the corner opposite Blue Moon Café, one of the weaker corners in the architectural fabric of Princess Street.

It was either 9 or 15 or 18 years ago when I first started thinking about this corner, imagining a structure which echos the simple industrial language of Blue Moon, a former filling station. I imagined an aesthetic matched to some artists studios for the University. The new arts center renders that suggestion moot. The idea was not for studios alone, but to play upon the rough-and-ready nature appropriate for studios with parking above — after all, building in that location takes precious space from that ever expanding need.

Traffic flow in and out of that part of town is, however, problematic but so is access and use of the admittedly limited businesses on that section of Princess Street, never mind the river. A small parking deck*, with the potential that it meet up with the grade as vehicles enter from East High Street (imagine at the corner, for example, a ground floor lower than the sidewalk), might still be appropriate, especially if the university joins the growing trend as a private services provider. Imagine a combined retail space (geared toward river visitors, perhaps) instead of studios with commercial paid parking above.

The rock ledge along Princess Street as it descends toward the river is formidable. How much of that edge along the campus could be given over to any construction would remain to be seen.

*The university master plan shows a proposed rectangular structure with the long frontage on High. I imagined a much longer rectangular structure with it’s long side on Princess. With the intended effect of shielding the parking area from neighbors on the south side of Princess Street.