Quote:
Originally Posted by Wasatch_One
I do not agree and Sandy does not have the infrastructure nor planning in place to create a walkable, vibrant downtown. It will never be anything but a suburb. It is too late to change that because they would need to tear so much down and basically start over with a walkable grid.
Sandy is a cluster...
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Present limitations never impede a city's potential. What exactly do you mean by "infrastructure and planning"? They have a light rail line, access to a 10-lane freeway, and will soon have a commuter rail line. When complete, this rail network will connect people from South Jordan, West Jordan, West Valley, SLC, the airport, Davis County, Weber County, and Utah County. The current roads in Sandy are plenty wide and should be able to accomidate increased traffic flows. The down town is walkable - it just needs a 24-hour population base, which this project could provide. What do they need to tare down? They can leave it as is - maybe tear up some grass and parking lot space to make way for more infill and dense development. Other than that, I don't see how it would be necessary to remove any of the exsisting low-rises.
I do agree with you guys that a 40-story tower is quite a stretch for present-day sandy. I would support more mid-rises (10-20 stories) at the moment, then get in some high-rises of 20-40 stories in a decade or so. I support the project design over all, though I do think they should shave down the floor counts to something in the 15-25 story range.
As I said before, I think this is a great step forward for the Salt Lake Valley and a wonderful opportunity for it to move from a traditional, mid-western set-up of a single urban core with sprawling suburbs to a more contemprary and cosmopolitan multi-core set-up. The point I think many of you guys (like Wasatch) are missing is that Sandy is never going to be a full-scale down town like SLC. It will have a handfull of high-rises sorounded by mid-rises and low-rises. It will be about a thrid the size of down town SLC when everything is done. Cities across the valley and up and down the WF are urbanizing into small clusters. Sandy will be somewhere between a large urban cluster and a down town. I think fear is driving people's resistance against the project, though, if you read my previous post, I really don't think this will kill down town because of the reasons I previously posted. I would be willing to compromise the "mega theater" to SLC, but I would still push for the rest of the project to go forth. Due to the fact that this theater is the center piece of the project, it would most certainly be difficult to sacrifice.