A late addition to the Regina Planning Commission's Wednesday March 12 agenda was recommended for approval. It was the concept proposal for the “Grasslands” commercial/retail centre in the Harbour Landing Subdivision. The centre is to feature a mix of retail, restaurants and other consumer services as well as two Big Box stores.
Oh, and it will also boast the most parking per square metre of any shopping centre in the city.
Among the reasons given for recommending approval is that as presented the development conforms to the Harbour Landing concept plan, it will not detract from the city’s goal of making the downtown the main hub for office and entertainment, and that the developers have made efforts to make the Grasslands pedestrian friendly and have built in pedestrian linkages to surrounding neighbourhoods.
Also, the plan includes an “urban village” or “lifestyle centre” in the northwest quadrant.
From the report these “lifestyle centres” are characterized by “smaller, open-air clusters of shops, professional and personal services, restaurants, entertainment and leisure establishments, all with direct frontage or convenient access to a pedestrian-oriented ‘main street’ or central square which in turn incorporates open space, enhanced sidewalks and ‘on-street’ parking.”
To view the plans for the Grasslands “lifestyle centre”, click on that image accompanying this post and it should blow up to a more readable size. Or you can go to the city’s website yourself and download the full report here.
Now, I suspect this development is going to be pitched as a step forward in urban commercial design and an success in terms of being “pedestrian focussed”.
Personally, I’m thinking, is this the best we can do?
Of major concern with this development is the amount of parking. The designers seem to be once again going for the “Tiny Atoll of Retail Buildings Surrounding a Massive Parking Lagoon” look.
The ratio of built-space to parking will be on the order of 0.229 to 0.293. That means less than one third of the entire area of the development will be retail space. The rest will be surface parking. There are no parking garages mentioned in the plan.
Presently in Regina, the lowest ratio of built space to parking is 0.269 for the Southland Mall. And if you've ever tried to cross it on foot, navigating that parking lot is not unlike playing Frogger on the hard setting.
Well, judging by these plans, Grassland could potentially be worse.
It’s worth noting that in other similarly zoned commercial areas, the ratio of built space to parking is higher -- ranging from 0.313 to 0.81.
City administration even concedes in its own report that “the amount of on-site parking provided on all four parcels appears to substantially exceed what may be reasonably required to serve the present proposal.”
Now, to mitigate this morass of asphalt, pedestrian ways are planned, but when you have a look, they seem perfunctory and not terribly useable. One pedestrian cut-through zig-zags between blocks of parking. Two of the intersections have cross walks that lead to sidewalk-free corners. Those sorts of things.
Also of concern is that all of the sidewalks in this development are designated as private sidewalks. This is probably pretty standard within shopping areas like this. But it undermines the idea of this “lifestyle centre” being some kind of community gathering place or local main street in an urban village as any use of that space that’s deemed unacceptable to the surrounding business owners can be stopped immediately as it’s occurring on private property. Great if you want to stop sketchy individuals from dealing drugs in your “lifestyle centre.” Bad for those who, I don’t know, want to stage a protest in the main square of their “urban village.”
In short: more sham public space in the midst of parking sprawl.
Another concern is that the developer has indicated that many elements of this proposal should be considered conceptual in nature and as the site is developed over the years parts of it may change. The only thing the report mentions is a lock to go forward are the two Big Box developments.
In other words, we may only ever get Big Box stores. The more progressive elements of this site plan may yet be abandoned at a later date.
The few progressive elements included here seem the only reason to okay this project. (And again, I have to ask, is this really the best we could have hoped for?) And yet, considering the current economic climate, they are also likely to be the first things to get ditched as being not economical. A cynical reporter might think things like the “pedestrian focus”, the “transit integration” and the “urban village” are just there so the project will win approval. Getting approval for changes can always be sought later.
This project is not yet a done deal. It still needs final approval from city council which it will likely get at their March 23 meeting. Don’t mean to sound pessimistic or anything.
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