Village within the city
Evergreen plan touts development as city's 'greenest' neighbourhood
By Laura Keil, The StarPhoenix
May 25, 2009 11:24 AM
A neighbourhood of interconnecting parks bordering pristine marshland and constructed with minimal need for vehicle use: It's the modern suburb that City of Saskatoon Land Branch project manager Derek Thompson envisions for the new subdivision east of Silverspring.
He says the proposed Evergreen neighbourhood is modelled on a "sustainable urban village" -- a self-servicing community providing mixed housing and commercial zones.
"You can come home from the hospital and stay in this neighbourhood your entire life," Thompson says. "The possibility is there."
The neighbourhood, which will come before city council for approval June 1, will house some 12,600 people at full capacity and encompass two "suburban downtowns."
It's Saskatoon's "greenest" neighbourhood, Thompson says, and it will be a model for further developments in the city.
The design promotes a density of 8.7 units per acre, compared to 5.6 in Willowgrove and three units per acre in Briarwood. The highest density housing around the commercial centres will fade into lower-density housing moving outwards.
Condos, narrow-lot single family homes, traditional single family homes, apartments and seniors' residences will provide what Thompson says will be a vibrant, diverse community.
The 655-acre development will be flanked by Agriculture Canada lands in the south with McOrmond Drive the main artery connecting it to University Heights and bisecting the neighbourhood. To connect the two halves, and ensure the neighbourhood is walkable, a "green bridge" is planned. Residents, especially schoolchildren, on both sides of four-lane McOrmond Dr. will be connected via the landscaped bridge.
On collector streets, boulevard space with trees will separate sidewalks from roads.
As the developer, the City of Saskatoon Land Branch plans to build the neighbourhood in seven phases, spanning a dozen years, but it could start selling lots as early as fall 2010.
Evergreen models developments in other cities, such as East Clayton in Surrey, B.C., and Garrison Woods in Calgary, in environmental design.
Ryan Walker, assistant professor with the department of geography and planning at the University of Saskatchewan, says the new community moves in a sustainable direction, but he questions whether the plans go far enough.
"If this development is taken as an improvement to a conventional suburban design, then I would say it's a remarkable improvement. But if you evaluate this according to a standard of a hallmark environmental neighbourhood in Saskatoon, you've got to evaluate it at a higher standard."
Walker says he is concerned with the growth in the north of the city without viable rapid transit. He main criticism is that the plan still seems to prioritize the automobile.
"I would very much like to live in a community with green ambitions, but when I looked at this, I said I'd never live in this community, it's too far out."
Thompson says the neighbourhood is designed to minimize the amount of driving necessary. Residents can reach stores on the trail system that leads to the village centre or district village, and spend time in the village square. The 10 acres of institutional zone will provide a space for an optometrist, pharmacy, offices or bank, for example.
"We can't force people to walk, but we're offering them a place to go to and a pleasing way to get there," Thompson said.
He says the trick in creating a livable high-density neighbourhood is not "threatening" lower-intensity housing by inserting it into an "intense, commercial and multi-family area." This, he says, has helped the success of Willowgrove, which he also designed.
Thompson says the city will be looking later at incentives for Evergreen to become the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified neighbourhood in Canada, but sustainable building practices are already being considered. About 60 per cent of the houses will be within 20 degrees of south, enabling builders to take advantage of solar light and heat. Other sustainable building practices could include permeable paving materials to ease pressure on storm water drains, rain barrels and xeriscaping -- making use of native flora in public and private yards.
The interconnected parks will act as a storm water drainage system, funnelling excess rain water toward the marshland in the north.
Walker says the density targets are a good step, as are the green bridge and mixed zoning, but standards such as LEED must be enforced through regulation rather than incentives for builders.
"We've clearly reached a state in our urban evolution where there is certainty around the importance of environmental stewardship for the public interest."
Walker adds it will take a shift at city council and more consultation with all residents of Saskatoon before councillors will feel they have license to make dramatic changes to new neighbourhoods. He would like to see infill developments close to the city centre planned in direct ratio to suburban plans to avoid the costs associated with the city growing outwards.
Saskatoon Transit manager Mitch Riabko says travel times from Evergreen would likely be 35 minutes to the university and 45 minutes to downtown, running on a half-hour and hour schedule. Bus stops are planned to be within 450 metres of all housing, but will be closer to 250 metres around higher-density housing and 150 metres to care homes. No transit hub is yet planned.
The grading, water and sewer work will begin this year. Mayor Don Atchison has said he hopes the roads will be constructed out of recycled materials from demolished buildings, as the city estimates it can save up to 60 per cent of the cost of building from new materials.
To the north, the northeast swale -- the marshy remnants of an old river -- is a protected site that Meewasin Valley Authority hopes to promote with an interpretive centre. Brenda Wallace, planning manager for Meewasin, says the authority worked closely with the city to protect certain areas from disruption.
She says the engineered storm pond near the swale will drain out to the river if it reaches capacity.
The land north and west of the swale is currently home to a large variety of wildlife, including a healthy population of predators, she says, which indicates a healthy ecosystem.
Trails from the neighbourhood will connect residents to the Meewasin trail, Silverspring and neighbourhoods south for the use of pedestrians and cyclists.
Thompson, who keeps the red commuter bike he rides to work on in his office, says the new neighbourhood represents a permanent shift in the way cities are built.
"I don't think we are, as a society, in a position where we can look at designing solely for a pedestrian environment. But what has been lacking in perhaps the last 40 years has been designing for anything but vehicles."
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I think first the city needs to sort out its bus situation as well as cycling route situation meaning create better transit routes and add many additional cyclist routes and educate the public on cycling within the city
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