Comments about the ambiance of Fairhope, raised at the February 7, 2007 meeting of
Citizens for Responsible Government
Harvey Joanning, President Edward Lawrence, Secretary
929-0136 928-4646
joanning@iastate.edu edfairhope@bellsouth.net
Ambiance or ambience. From the French “ambiant”. The special atmosphere or mood created by a particular environment. A general impression produced by a predominant quality or characteristic. The totality of surrounding conditions and circumstances affecting growth or development.
Ambiance is one of those elusive concepts. We know it when we experience or see it, but it is hard to define. City Council President, Bob Gentle, asked the members of Citizens for Responsible Government to attempt to develop an operation definition of ambiance that could assist in planning Fairhope’s future. The following is our first attempt.
Ambiance is
defined as surrounding or pervading atmosphere or a particular mood or feeling
about a person, place or thing. When applied to a specific geographical place,
such as Fairhope
The first criterion that was raised was scale. There was consensus that we want to retain small scale for Fairhope. We do not want high rise buildings; the maximum should be three stories.
We also want
small scale in our retail outlets – especially in downtown Fairhope. We
want independent stores rather than chain stores. It was noted that Sanibel
Island,
There should be an effort to discourage downtown sites from remaining vacant for a significant length of time. This might be done with zoning or tax policy disincentives.
It was also pointed out that we need a correct relationship in scale between buildings, street width, and trees. We no longer want wide streets with deep set backs; we want narrower streets with less set back to the housing. Having alleys for parking access and garbage pick up allows for narrower streets.
The second criterion raised was that of walkability. The design of the community should encourage people to walk rather than drive whenever possible. An important factor that would contribute to this would be having a store providing our daily needs, such as groceries, within walking distance of every home. Sidewalks and bicycle & walking trails would also contribute to this goal.
The third criterion discussed was connectivity. Streets and sidewalks should connect from one neighborhood or subdivision to the next one. A grid-iron street pattern gives greater connectivity, and provides alternate routes for walking, thus making walking more interesting and desirable.
An effort could be made to encourage green building construction and sustainable development.
Another
element of the ambiance of Fairhope that people felt was important is the fact
that Fairhope is an artistic community. This is demonstrated in the many
art galleries, the annual arts and crafts festival, the
The compact traditional downtown of Fairhope is perhaps the most important factor contributing to the ambiance of the community. It was suggested that we stop expanding downtown by rezoning residential areas on the edge of downtown to business, as is apparently being done for example on South Section Street. We should avoid the mistake many cities have made: converting their main street to a pedestrian mall and encouraging store entrances to be in the rear, closer to the parking.
We want to allow a mixed use community. It exists in the downtown area, and can be encouraged in outlying areas by the use of planned unit developments. Parking is important, but we do not want excessively large parking lots that reduce the attractiveness or walkability of the community.
We need a mixture of housing types in Fairhope, especially housing for students, seniors, and lower income people. This could be done by permitting apartments on the second floor of downtown retail stores and by allowing granny flats (or accessory dwelling units) above garages or in the back yards of existing homes on large lots. It may be worth considering incentives, such as low interest loans, to encourage apartments on the second floor of downtown commercial buildings.
It was felt that there should be more lower cost housing and more families with children. Perhaps subdivisions should be required thru inclusionary zoning to provide a certain percentage of their housing units to serve the lower income market. It was pointed out that restaurants are in a crisis situation because prospective workers cannot afford to live in Fairhope. Allowing higher density would make lower cost housing more feasible. Perhaps local colleges could work with building owners to make student housing available in existing buildings, with the college taking responsibility for monitoring the rental to students.
It was suggested that there might be an advertising or marketing program to promote the “Fairhope Vision”. Green industrial development should be encouraged on the edge of town to encourage jobs and tax revenues. Although nobody opposed the one downtown hotel that is proposed, there was question as to whether any more will be beneficial.
A major lack
in Fairhope and the entire