1.12 Dyett EcoPlanning Lecture – A Great Green Cloud: The Rise and Fall of the City Elms.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History announced that the 2012 Dyett Ecoplanning Lecture, "A Great Green Cloud: The Rise and Fall of the City Elms, will be given by Thomas J. Campanella, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the University of North Carolina, on March 8th at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Decades before Olmsted park, Yankee villagers planted elm trees on their streets and commons to forge a union of rus and urbe, i.e. the rustic and the urban. The trees brought about "a kind of compromise between town and country," observed Charles Dickens, as if each had met the other halfway and shaken hands upon it. The result was that lost masterpiece of American urbanism, "Elm Street." Mr. Campanella will explore elm culture in the U.S., and how our love affair with this giant nearly brought it to the edge of disappearance. Reception to follow, free and open to the public. Thursday, March 8, 2012. For more information, click here.
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8.11 El Camino Real/Chestnut Plan Adopted.
On July 27, the South San Francisco voted unanimously to adopt the Dyett & Bhatia-prepared El Camino Real/Chestnut Area Plan. General Plan amendments and new zoning regulations—a mix of Euclidean and form-based approaches—were adopted concurrently with the Plan. D&B also prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), enabling development to proceed. To find out more about the plan, click here.
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5.11 Lodi General Plan wins Sacramento Valley APA Award for Comprehensive Plan: Small Jurisdiction.
Click here to learn more.
Santa Clara Station Area Plan wins Northern California APA Honor Award for Comprehensive Plan: Large Jurisdiction. Click here to learn more.
South San Francisco South El Camino Real Mixed Use Planning wins Northern California APA Award of Merit for Neighborhood Planning.
Click here to learn more.
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1.11 Honolulu Station Area Planning.
Dyett & Bhatia begins work on Honolulu's new rail system. Construction is expected to get underway in March on the new Honolulu rail transit system. At $5.5 billion, this would be Hawaii's largest-ever taxpayer-funded project, and the largest new urban rail system effort underway in the western United States. The new rail system is expected to substantially enhance mobility in the city, which experiences heavy congestion during peak travel-periods. Dyett & Bhatia is preparing transit oriented plans around six stations--the three Downtown stations, and three in Kalihi adjacent to Downtown, which may be some of the most transformative stations in the system. Under a separate contract, Dyett & Bhatia has also been retained by the City and County of Honolulu to make citywide recommendations for new transit oriented zoning. See news article on the subject at Hawaii News - Staradvertiser.com.
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12.10 Harvard Museum of Natural History Dyett 2011 Lecture in Ecoplanning, Science and Design.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History announced that the Dyett 2011 Lecture in Ecoplanning, Science and Design will be given by Anne Whiston Spirn, Professor of Landscape Archiecture at MIT on March 31st in the Garden Street Lecture Hall. Spirn has an international reputation as the preeminent scholar working at the intersection of landscape architecture and environmental planning. Her first book, The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design, won the President's Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1984, has been translated into two other languages, and remains a standard university text. Her new book, The Language of Landscape, sets out a theory of landscape and aesthetics that takes account of both human interpretive frameworks and natural process.
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11.10 Santa Monica Land Use and Circulation Element wins California APA Award for Comprehensive Planning: Small Jurisdiction.
Santa Monica is a community with a strong sense of place, distinction, and character. Santa Monica has been a leader in the development of new planning approaches that combine a concern for providing housing, transportation and other opportunities for a diverse population, while fostering pedestrian-scaled environments, sustainability, and preservation of the City's character and heritage.
Dyett & Bhatia led the first phase of the extensive public participation program. To date, approximately 2,500 community members have directly contributed their ideas by attending workshops and forums, participating in the youth program, and providing comments through surveys, and mailing in "Discover Santa Monica Guidebooks" sent to every household in the city. Click here to learn more
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07.10 Porterville General Plan wins Central California APA Award of Honor for Comprehensive Planning: Small Jurisdiction.
Porterville prides itself on having “The Good Life,” and the new Plan builds on the City’s civic pride, strong neighborhoods, and its natural setting. Dyett & Bhatia developed a plan that anticipates growth, provides guidelines for sustainable, compact development, and provides a strong open space network of protected land, agricultural lands, parks, and recreation areas. Click here to learn more
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05.10 Emeryville General Plan wins Northern California APA Award of Merit for Comprehensive Planning: Small Jurisdiction.
Emeryville's new General Plan, adopted October 2009, seeks to guide the next era of Emeryville's development—as a livable, walkable, sustainable, urban community. The plan emphasizes mixed-use neighborhoods, with all residents within a five-minute walk of neighborhood commercial amenities and open space. Plan preparation was accompanied by extensive community outreach, a three-dimensional computer model of the entire city, GIS-based walkability analysis, photo simulations for major transition areas, and a fiscal model to ensure balanced development. Click here to learn more
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04.10 Lodi General Plan Adopted. The Lodi City Council unanimously approved a new General Plan in April 2010. Centrally located, just a half hour south of Sacramento and 90 miles east of San Francisco, Lodi enjoys remarkable access and represents an ideal location for residents, businesses and visitors to the emerging wine-growing region. The General Plan outlines a vision for Lodi’s future, building on the city’s assets, including its historic downtown, parks, arts and culture, and sense of community. The Community Design Element of the Plan seeks to create more walkable, livable neighborhoods, through improved connections; mixed-use corridors and centers; and new public facilities, such as parks and trails. The Plan preserves the existing neighborhood character, historic districts, agricultural land, and industries, while also supporting new development and expanded employment opportunities. The Plan represents the culmination of four years of public participation from residents and businesses, technical analysis and scenario testing, and decision maker review and feedback. The result is a Plan that maintains Lodi as the most compact city in San Joaquin County and a model for a thriving, distinct Central Valley community. Read more about the plan.
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03.10 South San Francisco: South El Camino Real General Plan Ammendment, Zoning Regulations, and Design Guidlelines Adopted. The South San Francisco City Council unanimously adopted the South El Camino Real General Plan Amendment and new Zoning Regulations and Design Guidelines to target higher intensities and mixed-use development in the South El Camino Real Area. With its location at the center of the city, and proximity to adjacent neighborhoods and the South San Francisco High School, the area offers tremendous opportunity for reuse and revitalization with vibrant uses that capitalize on the area’s setting, visibility, and transportation proximity. The General Plan amendments, Zoning Regulations, and Design Guidelines will work together to foster a new identity for the area – an urban, pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented corridor for residents to live, work, shop, and play. This vision reflects the City’s support of the Grand Boulevard Initiative which encourages compact mixed-use development and high-quality urban design along El Camino Real. This vision will also allow the City to proactively address issues identified in the State of California 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) and the States greenhouse gas emission law (SB375).
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10.09 Emeryville General Plan Adopted. After four years of hard work, Emeryville adopted a new General Plan in October 2009. The Plan will guide the next era of Emeryville's development—as a livable, walkable, sustainable, urban community. The plan emphasizes mixed-use neighborhoods and walkability, with all residents within a five-minute walk of neighborhood commercial amenities and open space. The city will be knit together by new and “complete” streets, and a multi-modal transportation system. The plan triples the amount of open space, identifying two new large parks, pocket parks, and plazas, and a system of greenways and green streets linking them. Emeryville will have the highest employment density of any Bay Area city (25,000 jobs per square mile), and overall population density (14,000 people per square mile) rivaling that of San Francisco. Read more about the plan.
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10.09 Avondale City Center Specific Plan wins Arizona Chapter APA Award. The Avondale City Council has established the goal of creating a premier destination for shopping, restaurants and entertainment, with mixed use development to include hotels, higher density housing, and professional office space in a pedestrian-oriented environment. The Avondale City Center Specific Plan shapes a new downtown—on land that is currently cotton field—for this rapidly growing city. The Plan covers approximately 272 acres. Click here to learn more
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09.24.09 Leslie Gould to speak at the Fourth Annual TOD Marketplace 2009: San Jose. Leslie will be speaking about the Milpitas Transit Area Specific Plan during the "How-To TOD: Best Practice Case Study" session on Thursday morning, September 24, 10 am. Click here to learn more
The Milpitas Transit Area Specific Plan will transform an older industrial area near light rail and BART into a vibrant high-intensity transit-oriented district with over 7200 new residential units.
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07.09 Milpitas Transit Area Specific Plan wins California APA Award for Comprehensive Planning: Small Jurisdiction.
The Milpitas Transit Area Specific Plan is a plan for transforming a 440-acre underutilized industrial area near BART and light rail stations into a transit-oriented development with over 7,200 residential units and 4,200 jobs. An Environmental Impact Report, and Implementation and Financing Plan, and new zoning districts were also part of the project.
Click here to download a PDF about the project (7 MB)
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05.09 Milpitas Transit Area Specific Plan wins APA Northern California Section Award.
The visionary Milpitas Transit Area Specific Plan, prepared by Dyett & Bhatia, was awarded the 2009 Award of Honor for Comprehensive Planning by the American Planning Association Northern California section. This project entailed planning and urban design of 365-acres surrounding two new operating light rail stations and a proposed BART station, in an area with older industrial uses. The Specific Plan will transform the area into mixed-used districts and neighborhoods, with new streets, parks, and homes and businesses. About 7,200 new housing units—the largest increase around a BART station in the Bay Area—are anticipated around the station, in buildings ranging in height from two stories to 20+. The Plan portends a sustainable, walkable urban community for the 21st Century, with the quality of life that Milpitas’ residents desire.
In addition to the Specific Plan, D&B prepared complete new zoning for the area, which is now in place, and also an Environmental Impact Report on the project. The Specific Plan was adopted unanimously by the Milpitas City Council. As of March 2009—just nine months after plan adoption—there are already applications for over 3,000 new housing units in the Planning Area.
Click here to learn more about the project
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04.30.09 Vivian Kahn contributes to new APA-ABA book on Federal RLUIPA.
Associate Principal Vivian Kahn FAICP is co-author of a chapter in RLUIPA Reader: Religious Land Uses, Zoning, and the Courts, published by the American Planning Association and the American Bar Association. The book, which made its debut at the 2009 APA National Conference, provides general background on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 and provides advice to attorneys, planners, and applicants about its requirements. Vivian served on the APA National Board from 1994 to 2002 and is a long-time member of the Board's Amicus Curiae Committee.
Click here to purchase the book
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04.30.09 Dyett & Bhatia presents Abu Dhabi Downtown Plan and zoning at the National American Planning Association conference.
Leslie Gould will speak at the National APA Conference about the firm’s work for the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, as part the Otak team presentation regarding Abu Dhabi's first Development Code. Her presentation “From Form to Regulations” will focus on the Central Business District, highlighting strategies for transforming the public realm, and zoning regulations for building design and other key issues.
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04.14.09 City of Antioch Adopts Hillcrest Station Area Specific Plan!
In a 5-0 vote City of Antioch moves eBART project forward. For more information please visit: http://www.contracostatimes.com/
Click here to read the East County Times article