Life cycle neighborhoods, a community pool and connectivity
-- a planner's view of the proposed Curtis Park Village

By Andrea Rosen
Viewpoint Staff Writer

Viewpoint continues its occasional series featuring Curtis Park land use professionals and their perspectives on the proposed Curtis Park Village. Focus is on the land uses and circulation proposed for the development, slated to incorporate 239 single family units, 310 multi-family units, five acres of park space and 14 acres of commercial uses.

This month we interview Rob Sherry, planning director for the County of Sacramento. Rob lives on Third Avenue with his wife Barbara and two sons.

Rob Sherry, a self-described "people planner," wants Curtis Park to continue as a life cycle neighborhood. He thinks Curtis Park Village can help.

As the planning director for Sacramento County since 2003 and a county planner for 28 years, Sherry sees many positives with the proposed Curtis Park Village. This includes a boost to Curtis Park as a life-cycle neighborhood -- one in which a variety of housing types allow residents to move within the neighborhood as their economic and lifestyle circumstances change.

A native of Sacramento, Rob and his wife Barbara originally lived in Curtis Park before marrying. They subsequently moved to East Sacramento, where they intended to stay in their newly remodeled a home, but they found they missed the sense of community they experienced in Curtis Park. They moved back here for good 14 years ago.

Curtis Park has become an expensive and desirable place to live due to its proximity to downtown, its trees and its sense of community, notes Rob. When residents are invested in staying in a neighborhood, it's more likely they will help a build community, he says.

He views Curtis Park Village as providing an opportunity to offer a wide range of housing types to attract people wanting to stay in the neighborhood over the long term.

He'd like to see quality duplexes, triplexes and even four-plexes in the new development that offer additional housing variety , something he sees as essential to maintaining an economically integrated neighborhood now threatened by rising housing prices.

"Curtis Park Village presents a tremendous opportunity to be an asset to the neighborhood," said Rob. "It would be a big mistake to focus narrowly on minimizing the impact of this development. We should look at how we can maximize the benefits of this development. It's a very different mindset."

Rob feels strongly that Curtis Park Village should be an extension of our existing neighborhood and not a wall.

"Think about what it [Curtis Park Village] will be like in 50 years," he suggests. "The rail yard offers no benefit to the neighborhood as a fenced off yard of dirt. It could offer many benefits if well developed." Building infill is superior to suburban sprawl in his view.

Maximizing permeability and connectivity for both pedestrians and vehicles is essential in Rob's view. The development will bring more traffic and he thinks it is fairer to spread traffic evenly by having as many connection points as possible rather than funneling it in and out of two points.

Sherry gives the proposal pretty high marks for connectivity. (There are four planned connection points with Curtis Park and more under study in the alternatives analysis.) Streets internal to the new development, he believes, would traffic on 24th Street. He notes that our neighborhood is already seeing more traffic as suburban sprawl proliferates, with weekday traffic

on 24th Street a prime example of drivers looking to escape clogged freeways.

Current Curtis Park neighbors will need a reason to visit the new development, says Rob. Instead of simply designating park and open space in the middle of the development, he advocates a private community pool and clubhouse, perhaps run by SCNA and open to everyone within the Curtis Park neighborhood. The pool would provide a place for intermingling and neighbors could enjoy an amenity currently lacking in our neighborhood. He'd like to see the planned multi-family units front on the open space with the pool rather than be so isolated.

For updated information and maps of the proposed plans for Curtis Park Village, visit www.curtisparkvillage.net.

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