While
shopping at the Whole Foods in Petaluma a few days ago, I noted a gate that had
previously escaped my attention. It was
a simple little gate, chain-link, self-closing, keyed from both sides. But it had a magical function.
The gate provided
direct walking access from a low-income, senior housing community to the front
door of Whole Foods. Even from the
furthest home, the walking distance to Whole Foods was barely more than 300
feet.
Many
seniors, whether because of declining health, waning skills, or reduced
finances, no longer have cars. At the
Edith Street Apartments, those seniors needn’t be dependent on others, or on
local bus service, for grocery shopping.
Some may
argue that Whole Foods is an expensive place for low-income seniors to
shop. My response is that spending an
extra dollar a pound for organic asparagus is a cheap trade-off against the
cost of owning and maintaining a car.
I was charmed
by the gate. And by the circumstances
that made it possible, those circumstances being adjoining sites with
different, but complementary uses.
Under a
conventional use-based zoning code, such as the one that covers the area of the
Whole Foods and the Edith Street Apartments, those kinds of adjacencies happen
once in awhile. But under a form-based
code, a form of land-use regulation that is a central tenet of urbanism, those adjacencies
happen far more often. Indeed, one might
argue that a well-administered walkability-focused form-based code allows the
market to naturally seek out complementary adjacencies, which is far better
than relying on the occasional fluke.
A most
recent tabulation of city Walk Scores makes the same point, noting a quick rise in the urban walkability of Miami
after the adoption of a form-based code.
Returning to
the Whole Food gate, applause goes to whoever spotted the opportunity and helped
make this gate possible, a list that likely includes Whole Foods, PEP Housing
as the owner of the Edith Street Apartments, and the Petaluma Planning
Department. But an ovation goes to those
who argue everyday for a land-use pattern in which opportunities like the magic
gate become increasingly frequent.
Taking
advantage of serendipity is a wonderful thing.
Creating a world in which serendipity is increasingly common is even
better.
Next time,
I’ll talk about convocations of food trucks, both as a concept with which Urban
Chat has been tinkering for the Fairgrounds reuse plan and as a concept whose
time has already arrived.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
I love that gate! I park my bike right next to it every Friday morning on my weekly WF trip for the family, and I love passing a brief word with one of the lucky folks who get to use it. I tell them they're "sneaking!"
ReplyDelete