Last week, I attended the San Joaquin Valley Housing Symposium. It was a well organized conference that was not only insightful, but inspiring. I have focused my review on topics, issues, and individuals that have a direct impact on our built environment. From the architecture field I noticed only Warren Thompson. There was also an architect from San Diego, Robert Apodaca, participating in the panel discussion on Compact development. For brief notes on the entire conference see Randy Nelson’s notes at http://list.mindhub.org/pipermail/mindhub-list_list.mindhub.org/2008-Jan...

Volunteerism
I decided to volunteer for this conference. I don’t have much expendable income these days, so I like to throw my energy at things I wish to support. My day began with helping with some minor setup at 7:15. I then worked the Registration table with Housing & Community Development staff and another volunteer. I think it was valuable to meet the attendees and hear their names as they entered and registered.

Keynote
Lynn Jacobs, Director of Housing Development Cooperation for the State of California was the morning keynote speaker. I stood in the back while keeping an eye on the registration table. Her talk was focused around current state efforts and funding for low income housing, including emergency shelters, transitional shelter, low income rental housing, and infrastructure grants. She gave props to PROP 1C and thanked to voters for passing it. www.hcd.ca.gov Her talk was more tailored many of the attendees involved with the administration of affordable housing.
One interesting thing that Elliot Balch pointed out was that at least 6 of the 40 under 40 honorees were present. www.40u40.com/Welcome.html This shows not only the validity of that list, but also the importance of this conference.

1st Workshop: Downtown Revitalization
Now this is a hot topic. It is one of my personal favorites, and one of the main reasons why I returned to Fresno. There is so much opportunity for design to make a big difference in this arena.

On the panel was: Nayiri Saghdejian, Development manager with Forest City and Fresno native. She spoke about their Uptown project in Oakland. I lived just outside of downtown Oakland not far from the Uptown project area. A young man was shot right in front of my neighbor’s house. That area has some serious issues to overcome.
As part of Mayor, Jerry Brown’s 10K plan, Uptown’s site was 5.5 acres. It featured $40 million renovation of Fox Theatre and $187 million total project cost. 25% of the housing units are affordable housing.
The project has been deemed a success because it has functioned as a catalyst for revitalization. New businesses it attracted include a Whole Foods and other retailers.

Reza Assemi, Developer
Progression of projects growing in scale beginning 7 years ago: Pearl Building, Broadway studios,
Vagabond Lofts, only possible because of strong a partnership. Utilized local architects, landscape architect, and artists to invigorate the area. Put eyes on Broadway via commercial store fronts and residential balconies.
H Street Lofts
Architect, Paul Halajian, used railroad as design concept see http://lateupdate.com/20080115417/lifestyle/apps-being-taken-for-latest-...
Jennifer Feaster, landscape memorial mound in honor of the Army Induction Center which once stood there.
Fulton Plaza
Architect, Warren Thompson designed with industrial concept. Includes 80 lofts, flats, and commercial space. Project will act as a gateway to Cultural Arts District and Downtown from the 180 Van Ness/Fulton off ramp.
Van Ness Homes
10 for sale single family 1,300 sq ft 3 storey homes. Style to blend with the historic North Park neighborhood. To be built on Van Ness between 180 and Divisadero on an acre empty lot.
His approach is to keep all the projects within walking distance. Essentially he aims to create a neighborhood. Each project builds on the success of the previous.
Throughout the projects Reza has been committed to using local talent. This can be seen in all aspects from the architects, engineers, landscape designer, and artists’ sculpture and murals.

Scott Johnson, City of Fresno, Economic Development Director. Mr. Johnson spoke about various projects currently underway. Hotel Virginia; Hotel Fresno; the Legacy Project with 168 lofts with commercial, retail, and an ice rink; Fulton Mall façade program, $60,000 seed money from city with $35,000 matching funds for each façade, also included is infrastructure improvements and new restrooms. He also mentioned Kern St. improvements, including landscaping, the 2039 Lounge; a possible Walk of Fame and interest from Hard Rock Café.
He pointed us to www.fresnostartup.com and www.fresnoez.com for info about business incentives. He stated that downtown is growing and will continue despite the current hiccup in the economy.

Questions to the panel: Why has Chinatown been left behind and why are large portions of land being given over to large developers while other smaller entities are left out? Scott Johnson did not have an answer.
Reza are you making a profit or is this a labor of love? Reza answered that the project are good and financially solvent for the most part but not great. Each project is dependent on the next.

Cynthia Sterling stated that we are in a great transition. And that it takes time and vision as well as political and developer will.

I asked Reza, what have the benefits been of using local architects? He said it is the accessibility, knowing our city’s patterns and the ability to blend with them.
I also asked Nayiri Saghdejian, what is the architectural vision or concept behind the South of Stadium Development? She answer, respect of the history, modern spaces, and sustainability.
Zoning question to Scott. He answered: provide the ingredients, match zoning to the need, mixed use, and side walk dinning.
Do the homeless fit into the plan for downtown? Cynthia, though not on the panel answered that the City and county along with Philip Mangano, the federal "homeless czar" are no forming a task force to write a 10 year plan to end homelessness.

2nd Workshop
Making Compact Development Work for you Community
Moderator: Augie Dent, of KB Homes
Danny Espitia, Councilmember, City of Wasco
John Arriaga, League of California Cities, Latino Caucus
Problems with housing market have to do with supply and demand as well as a widening affordability gap. Density addressed the affordability gap.

Kate White, Executive Director of the Urban Land Institute. ULI is a 40,000 member organization, aiming to foster leadership, and sustainability through responsible land use.
Demographic shift desiring more choices of housing types.
Traditional families now only make up 23% of households. While married without children are 28% and women living alone is 18%. These two populations prefer condos, apartments, and lofts. 60% of them prefer compact development

Robert Apodaca, architect with McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners architecture, planning, and interiors based in San Diego.
Opposition to compact development comes from middle class neighbors saying Not In My Back Yard, and working class neighbors worried about gentrification. WE live in a litigious state that requires a 10 year warrantee on buildings. Insurance to cover that warranty for condos can cost $30,000-$35,000 per unit. Large scale developers can secure lower rates to make condos profitable.
Robert’s principles are: creating a sense of place, public space and private space relationships, using planning as a catalyst for development, adaptive re-use of existing buildings. The case study that Robert presented was in Logan Heights, San Diego. Built on San Diego Unified School District surplus property. Project led by a partnership of 3 non-profits. 214 units in a blue collar neighborhood. Existing 3 story concrete building reused.
Used community design charrettes to guide project. Design concept was to create a unique neighborhood. The tools used were plazas, fountains, signage and colors.
Design can foster pride of ownership. It is important to use modern design that also reflects culture. It should also aim to be sustainable through lasting impact and changing lifestyles of occupants.

Questions to the panel: Does universal design (accessibility) work in dense environments? Kate says it can work especially with “granny flats” and infill. Robert: Living in smaller spaces can be beneficial for elderly and handicapped because there is less maintenance and everything within the home is closer at hand. Also accessibility to public transit is better in dense areas.
Can density work here? There is a compact development being designed in Firebaugh. We need to break down misconceptions about density, and not just give our same old practices a green lining.

Side note about design: I was looking at the cover design of the Conference booklet. It is the same image on the website (see www.sjvhousing.com ) plus photos of a couple in front of a home and some building plans. To me this design suggests imagining more single family housing on agricultural land. This seems contradictory to many of the discussions of the conference. It got me thinking is this image showing the direction we are headed or where we’ve been? Is it inevitable or do we have a choice?

Lunch
During lunch I was invited to sit with City Council President Blong Xiong and his Chief of Staff Miguel Arias. We talked on allot of different subjects including the Tower District Design Review Committee that Blong appointed me to last year. A recent Tower boutique hotel project has been in the news. www.businessstreetonline.com/news.php?ax=v&n=&id=12&nid=615 , www.fresnobee.com/business/story/322790.html Who’s the architect you may ask… I don’t know and the Bee and Business Street fail to mention. But that is a topic for another time.

Miguel showed me a photo of his daughter playing in courtyard from his family’s recent vacation in Mexico. The floor was tile and the wall was painted an unmistakable orange. I tell you this because the photo instantly evoked the feeling of Mexico for me. What was it in the photo that could instantly fill me with a sense of place? It was the vibrant colors, orange, blue and yellow; the urban walls front the street with and the lush tiled courtyards within. As we think about regionalism, authenticity, and Fresno’s sense of place, we need to keep in mind what colors, what materials, and what forms are uniquely Fresno? Have they even been defined yet?

Lunch Keynote
Peter Katz, founding executive director of the Congress for the New Urbanism, and author of The New Urbanism: An Architecture of Community.
Peter spoke extensively about Form Based Codes (www.formbasedcodes.org ) and there potential to harbor a much healthier and vibrant city of neighborhoods

Density = Destiny, Density is our Destiny
New urbanism, compact development, the ‘D’ word
Past planners strived to keep density down and the poor out.
What is good growth? Smart growth. Making great places. Mr. Kratz stated that successful places become gentrified. I think I could have discussed that one topic with him for an hour. I don’t agree. I think that redevelopment can be successful without forcing out the communities that have made the neighborhood home, vibrant, and diverse.
Bill Fulton “The affluent increasingly desire an urban lifestyle, the poor increasingly desire a suburban lifestyle.” Peter then stated that the poor might not want a suburban lifestyle but have to. I again wanted to dwell on this topic, but his talk continued.
Stewart Brand author of Whole Earth Catalogue says this about planning:
1. Planning feedback loop too long. Shorten, clarify, and amplify long feedback loops. Fight desire for instant gratification.
2. Link long and short feedback loops. Dental example, flossing and brushing
Show local/neighborhood benefits to good planning. Sprawl vs. real neighbors.
Regionalism, what does it mean? Different per region, hot arid climates arcades vs. trees. Trees use allot of water. In desert like locations, building should create self shaded corridors utilizing arcades and courtyards.
Second pass at development infilling suburban shopping malls to form urban street side façade. Massing is very important.
To make all these things happen, Peter argues that changing policy is not enough. He says that we should embrace a form based code system of planning, development, and building.

“A method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based codes create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form primarily, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county regulations.
Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The regulations and standards in form-based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only distinctions in land-use types. This is in contrast to conventional zoning's focus on the segregation of land-use types, permissible property uses, and the control of development intensity through simple numerical parameters (e.g., FAR, dwellings per acre, height limits, setbacks, parking ratios). Not to be confused with design guidelines or general statements of policy, form-based codes are regulatory, not advisory.” www.formbasedcodes.org/definition.html

3rd Workshop
Regional Initiatives
Rollie Smith, San Joaquin Housing Trust and Allysunn Williams of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Affordable Communities Initiative gave a fun interactive presentation about housing choices. They have been giving this presentation throughout the valley to gauge what different communities’ preconceptions are about housing types and density. They also hope to educate the public and break down many of the false preconceptions as part of the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint.
The Blueprint is an action plan to build our regional voice and make informed decisions about growth. With a 16.4% growth rate, the regional population will reach 9.4 million by 2050. We want to have a world class region, bringing together the strengths of Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern Counties. They said our main challenges are our air, water, jobs, and energy. We need to preserve farmland and be innovative in the urban pattern and form. We will grow sustainable cities that aim to be economically competitive in a global market.

Where will we house our growing population? How and where do we grow? Rollie quoted Jamie Lerner saying “The city is not the problem, it is the solution.” We need to use smart growth principles: Diversity, Density, and Design. It is important to link housing to jobs with transit, and smart land use.

Mingling
With any conference half the action happens in between the scheduled workshops and speakers. Networking is essential.
Christine Floriani, Marketing Director, PLM Landscape. PLM Landscape recently grew to include Landscape Architects. Christine and I talked about including PLM in ArcHop and also the possibility of interviewing the CEO and or Landscape Architect for this blog.
Preston Prince Preston is the new executive director of the Fresno Housing Authority. He is energetic and eager to learn more about Fresno and its homegrown design professionals.
Cynthia Sterling said it is important for young people like myself to get active and excited about our city. She was also interested in ArcHop but not able to attend the last two.
Katherine Perez, Vice President of Development, Forest City West
Forest City has opened a small office in Fresno. It is a suite within the Chamber of Commerce offices. It seems that this massive multi phased project in the South of Stadium area is moving along. The Environmental Impact Report process will begin shortly and is set to be complete in September. January 29th they are scheduled to give a progress report to City Council. I am curious how the details and building designs will develop. And the question that is always at the back of my mind: What architecture firm will be tasked with this creative undertaking, and will they be local?
The Urban Land Institute awarded John Wright, City of Clovis Planning Director and Edward Kashian ( www.lance-kashian.com ) with the ULI life time achievement award. After the conference during the reception I was talking with Edward Kashian. This guy is power house of development. Ed bought me a drink. Talking with him and drinking my rum and coke, I’m thinking what does this guy think about architecture? Could he use high quality architects? Would he use quality architects? River Park has always been such a point of contention over quality planning and architecture. Well he bought me a drink, so I can take another open minded look at the building designs and planning of his developments. Perhaps, I’ll post a review in this blog.

That wraps up my experiences at the San Joaquin Valley Housing Symposium. Kudos to the City of Fresno, Housing and Community Development department, and everyone who had a hand in the organization and execution of this event.
I walked a block to the parking garage where I left my car early that morning. $11 what a bargain. The bill would be $30-$40 in San Francisco. Why is it that I find parking in Downtown so simple and painless yet it is one of the more common complaints of downtown?

I think I just about covered. If you read all the way through, you deserve a prize. Thanks for your attention.

Kiel Famellos-Schmidt