Rout

e 52

9 St

udy

Presentation to Geneva City Council by:Pam Broviak, City Engineer Dick Untch, Community Development Director

A Historty of the pace 529 route along randall rd

Extended to the Randall Road Corridor in Fall of 2005

Hourly

79 minAurora St.

Charles

Monday Friday

9 miles

Existing PACE Route 529 Service Along Randall Road

Sullivan

Ice Cream Dr

Oak

Mid-Block/Dogwood

Mooseheart/Orchard

Wilson

McKee

Mill

Fabyan

Gleneagle

Christina

Kaneville/Keslinger

Delnor Hospital

S. of Williamsburg

Geneva Commons

IL 38

Judicial Center

10

8

26

5

2

51

48

60

13

1

23

0

35

0

5

116

225

Weekly Boardings

May 2009

Existing PACE Route 529 Service Along Randall Road

http://www.route529study.com/

•evaluate passenger accessibility to bus services

•develop general guidelines for land use and design

•recommend strategies to improve ridership

Purpose of the Study

Purpose of the Study — Evaluate Passenger Accessibility

Inadequate Infrastructure

Purpose of the Study — Land Use & Design Guidelines

Encourage Mixed-Use

Development

Photo from:http://www.flickr.com/people/aarongustafson/

Purpose of the Study — Land Use & Design Guidelines

Connect Residents to the

Corridor

Purpose of the Study — Land Use & Design Guidelines

Relate Buildings to

Randall Road

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/people/masteryofmaps/

Purpose of the Study — Land Use & Design Guidelines

Create Public and

Open Spaces

Purpose of the Study — Land Use & Design Guidelines

Recreate the Parking

Environment

Purpose of the Study — Land Use & Design Guidelines

Designing for the Pedestrian

Experience

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Bricher: Northbound—Add New Stop/Add sidewalks Southbound—Add New Stop/Add sidewalks

2

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Commons: Northbound—Add New Stop Southbound—Relocate Stop

1

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Delnor: Northbound—Relocate Stop Southbound—New Stop

1

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Fargo: Northbound—New Stop/Add sidewalks Southbound—New Stop/Add sidewalks

2

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Christina: Northbound—Add sidewalks Southbound—Add sidewalks

2

1

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Gleneagle: Northbound—Add sidewalks Southbound—New Stop/Add sidewalks

21

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

@Fabyan: Northbound—New Stop/Add sidewalks Southbound—New Stop/Add sidewalks

2

1

Purpose of the Study — Recommend Strategies

2

1

SHELTER CONSTRUCTION

@Delnore: NB & SB

@Fargo: NB & SB

@Christina: NB & SB@Gleneagle: NB & SB

@Fabyan: NB & SB

@Bricher: NB & SB

Stakeholder Input

Geneva’s Input

Land Use Development Strategies/Design Guidelines for Future Development along

the Randall Road CorridorEncourage Mixed-Use Development

Purpose and Intent:• Broadens housing options• Reduces auto dependence• Provides transit supportive land use• Creates a local sense of place/vibrant destinations

Geneva’s Input

Encourage Mixed-Use Development• Populates and activates neighborhoods during both

day and evening hours• Convert single store retail development to mixed-use

and new establish activity centers• Cluster redevelopment at key growth nodes and

coordinate with transit station location

Standards and Guidelines:• Encourage infill development along the corridor and

develop Form-Based Codes for growth nodes• Encourage adaptive reuse strategies and use of

White Elephant Ordinances

Geneva’s Input

Encourage Mixed-Use Development

Review comments:• Mixed-use development as a replacement for

recently built single-use commercial development will take a very long time to achieve due to retailer uncertainty and other factors

• Is there or will there be a market for higher density housing along Randall Road?

Geneva’s Input

Encourage Mixed-Use Development

Review comments:• Mixed-use development alone along the Route 529

corridor will not ensure transit viability (lack of an area-wide transit network, existing low density housing, dispersed commercial and employment areas, and diversity of trip destinations also discourage transit use)

• Does Geneva support mixed-use along the corridor as a desirable land use type? Form-Based Codes and White Elephant ordinances? Need for policy analysis and discussion!

Geneva’s Input

Encourage Mixed-Use Development

Connect Residences to the Corridor

Purpose and Intent:• Current residential uses physically turn their back on

the corridor

• Offer few public connection points to and from commercial uses

• Higher density housing and a range of housing options can provide greater opportunities for employees to live and work in the corridor

Geneva’s Input

Connect Residences to the Corridor

Standards and Guidelines:• Establish connections (streets, walkways, and

bikeways) that link residential and commercial uses

• Local governments – create a 2,000 foot overlay zoning district for mixed-uses and 7 d.u./acre housing to support transit services

• All new residential development – provide better pedestrian access to surrounding uses

Geneva’s Input

Connect Residences to the CorridorReview comments:• Orienting residential redevelopment at the edge of the

commercial corridor toward commercial areas can be mutually compatible, but many detailed design issues must be dealt with (design expertise, and cooperative retailers and developers required).

• A new Corridor Overlay Zoning District allowing mixed-use, 7 d.u./acre multi-family housing would be a major land use policy shift for Geneva. Requires further analysis. Compatibility with the rest of Geneva, traffic impacts, and fiscal impacts need to be understood.

• Diminished value of existing development is assumed?

Geneva’s Input

Relate Buildings to Randall RoadPurpose and Intent:• Building frontage should be oriented toward and located

close to Randall Road• Developments should enhance access for existing

residences along the corridor

Standards and Guidelines:• Locate buildings at setback line• Retail use entrances should face street• Avoid blank windowless walls• Develop street corners as public spaces

Geneva’s Input

Relate Buildings to Randall Road• Shared driveways, parking areas, plazas and

walkways

• Loading/service areas away from public view

• Service areas, garbage receptacles, meters, utility equipment screened from public view

• Use rear or side access roads for service and loading areas

Geneva’s Input

Relate Buildings to Randall RoadReview comments:• Overall Standards and Guidelines are sound• Bringing buildings close to the street and locating parking

lots in back creates a more active streetscape and sense of vitality

• However, retailers don’t like retail use entrances facing the street and located away from parking lots in rear (often results in confusing dual frontage buildings)

• Will residents want to live in mixed-use buildings next to Randall Road?

• Will “right-sizing” by retailers reduce opportunities for mixed-use development?

Geneva’s Input

Create Public and Open SpacesPurpose and Intent:• Develop a comprehensive open space network using

plazas and other open space to connect users

Standards and Guidelines:• Minimum 10-20% of (re)development for public and

open spaces• Develop plazas and courtyards with walkways and

bikeways• Outdoors areas – make them visible from streets and

trails and accessible from surrounding land uses and streets

Geneva’s Input

Create Public and Open Spaces • Provide seating areas with landscaping, lighting and

views of focal points

Review comments:• Overall, standards and guidelines are sound• However, large parking lots and associated access drive

systems inherently conflict with walkability goals• Pedestrian access between commercial areas and

abutting neighborhoods pose conflicts with commercial service/loading areas

• Long-term pedestrian use of plazas and seating areas is dependent upon nearby retailer mix

Geneva’s Input

Recreate the Parking EnvironmentPurpose and Intent:• Large parking areas between stores and transit stops

discourage pedestrians, raises safety concerns and provide no clear way navigate areas

• Reexamine parking requirements for the Randall Road Corridor

Standards and Guidelines:• Don’t put parking at property corners and don’t

separate buildings with parking areas• Put parking at side and rear of buildings

Geneva’s Input

Recreate the Parking Environment• Maximum instead of Minimum parking requirements• Encourage shared parking• Convert parking lots to infill development sites• Consider underground, structured and roof parking • Landscape/screen parking lot edges, apply

stormwater BMP’s, and use native plantings and shade trees

• Landscape interior of parking lots• Install sheltered bicycle racks and make bicycle rack

areas clearly visible

Geneva’s Input

Recreate the Parking Environment Review comments:• Overall, Standards and Guidelines are sound

• However, the pursuit of underground/structured/roof parking is tied to development intensity and market competition. Also, major land use policy issue

• Parking at the side and rear of buildings is not always possible and marketable

Geneva’s Input

Designing for the Pedestrian Experience

Purpose and Intent:• Must provide and safe/pleasant walking environment• A well-connected system of sidewalks and crosswalks

should be required

Standards and Guidelines:• Connect transit stops and public sidewalks to the

front door of each building• Provide signage to guide pedestrian to/from transit

stops

Geneva’s Input

• Provide attractive, well marked, safe pedestrian links

• Clearly mark pedestrian drive crossings, and use different pavement materials

• Introduce pedestrian amenities, and landscape elements to define pedestrian paths

• Walls, landscaped and paved areas - well maintained

• Signalized intersections should have well-defined pedestrian crossings, and use refuge islands/medians to minimize pedestrian exposure to traffic

Geneva’s Input

Designing for the Pedestrian Experience

Review comments:• Overall, Standards and Guidelines are sound

• Placing buildings close to Randall Road may not always be practical or marketable

• Refuge islands/center medians along Randall Road are only marginally effective in minimizing pedestrian exposure to traffic (Randall Road intersections are often 10 lanes wide, and some will be 12 lanes wide in the future)

Geneva’s Input

Designing for the Pedestrian Experience

Final Comments

• Application of the Recommended Standards and Guidelines can improve (re)development along Randall Road

• However, the Randall Road environment is complex and many other factors are at work that impact land uses, and development planning/design like:

-Residential and commercial markets -Desired building floor area of developers -Land, building, improvement costs

Geneva’s Input

Final Comments- Retailer preferences on bldg design/orientation- Size of retail stores- Developer sophistication and financing capability- Randall Road traffic volume, speed, noise- KDOT access constraints and pursuit of optimum

roadway levels of service on Randall Road - Municipal tax base needs and competition

Geneva’s Input