- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
While I appreciate the photo contributions from fellow bloggers, we seem to be getting almost daily pictures posted of this site. Different angles but virtually the same thing.
Stephen Ave
Active Member
I like the steady updates even if there isn’t much change.
JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
I guess the photos are a reminder for me of how irritating this site has become. Does anyone drive along 12 Ave as far as Macleod Tr during the morning commute to work? For no apparent reason, the outside lane between 1 St SE and Macleod Tr is blocked to traffic. This is in addition to the bike lane which is already restricting traffic flow. The eastbound traffic plus cars turning left from 1st SE onto 12 Ave have to merge into one lane for LH turn only, and one through lane. Who's bright idea was that to allow that lane to be close during rush hour? If it needs to, at least wait until after 9 am.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
Yeah the have the south lane closed, so you have to merge to the left to turn right on MacLeod (I do this every morning) and then they have the 2 south lanes closed east of 1St SE, makes traffic brutal there first thing. I've actually been cutting through the Esso to get to SB MacLeod.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Not sure if we've seen these renders of the street level here...
Platopos
Active Member
A very clean(but not sterile) design. Actually looks quite "livable" despite being modern. I especially like the rock paneling they have going on and the little patches of grass in front of the bench areas on the second pictures. Very nice little details.Not sure if we've seen these renders of the street level here...
maestro
Senior Member
The lighting is perfect. The render people are stunning and plentiful. The plantings are the lushest greens.
My concerns are the entire stretch looks exactly the same. The half storey raised retail is unfortunate as well. The benches are a neatly integrated feature but, may prove to be a barrier over anything else between the retail and sidewalk. The hard surfaces are all poured concrete. This compared to the Chinatown proposal.
My concerns are the entire stretch looks exactly the same. The half storey raised retail is unfortunate as well. The benches are a neatly integrated feature but, may prove to be a barrier over anything else between the retail and sidewalk. The hard surfaces are all poured concrete. This compared to the Chinatown proposal.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Being on a flood plain, what alternatives do you suggest?
Crazyeamon
New Member
Was on site today.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
If we compare what is presented here to what we find a block south on the 2009 version of this kind of thing: Nuera and Stampede Station on 14th Ave SW. Where to begin...
The Good:
- Unless my eyes deceive me, retail on both Stampede Station and Nuera along this block are both at grade with no flood-steps. Nice (although strangely on the other sides of Nuera and the Vetro towers to the south are all 4 or 5 steps up. Local flood-plain nuance or general ¯\(ツ)/¯ design because its 2009? Neither would surprise me.
The Bad:
- How you can so permanently and badly ruin a pedestrian right-of-way a block from a train station in an urban neighbourhood is beyond me. We got concrete planters reducing visibility and acting as a barrier while being ugly. We got surface parking curb cuts (multiple for no reason). We got signs in the middle of the sidewalk. We got private company parking meters in the middle of the sidewalk. We got what looks like a storage shed cutting into the sidewalk. We got random poor-quality and undulating pavement just in case someone with a mobility device managed to get through the Omaha Beach of pedestrian right-of-ways.
- Oh ... and the other sidewalk doesn't exist.
MichaelS
Senior Member
Just as a bit of background information on the post by CBBarnett, 14th Avenue is kind of a unique "road". I use quotation marks, because it actually isn't dedicated public right-of-way. I am not sure why this is, but it is. When you look at any of the City's GIS maps, they show the property lines for those 4 adjacent properties as extending all the way to the centre of "14th avenue". There is a public access easement over it, as shown here in the "My Property" map:
Further to this, as visible in the streetview link CBBarnett posted, 14th Avenue was significantly raised at the time Sasso was built. Hence why it and Nuera don't need to have steps up to their commercial bays, the road was raised already.
Because it is private property, it explains why there are private company parking machines for the on-street parking, not CPA ones.
None of this explains why it is a terrible urban realm design, with all of the flaws identified. Perhaps, because it wasn't public ROW, the City couldn't enforce a better design?
Further to this, as visible in the streetview link CBBarnett posted, 14th Avenue was significantly raised at the time Sasso was built. Hence why it and Nuera don't need to have steps up to their commercial bays, the road was raised already.
Because it is private property, it explains why there are private company parking machines for the on-street parking, not CPA ones.
None of this explains why it is a terrible urban realm design, with all of the flaws identified. Perhaps, because it wasn't public ROW, the City couldn't enforce a better design?
maestro
Senior Member
I don't know. Someone must have a less impactful solution than this Streetfront residential is built higher to provide privacy and a buffer. Commercial should be at grade. It's proactive for the city to do this. It's not good for the urban experience to have retail disconnected from streetlevel on a street without a gradient.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
Thanks for posting MichaelS, this is fascinating and would explain a lot of the "weirdness". I had no idea it wasn't a public right-of-way. I did a quick scan of the historical aerial and seems the funny business went down between 1979 and 1982. Pre-1979 the street was identical to all around it and was full of houses, 1982 the lots were cleared. I suspect the timing of the Red Line LRT construction - cutting off 14th through to the east - and first phases of BMO Centre are not a coincidence here as both were completed during this timeframe. I do wonder if private owners don't have the same sidewalk clearance requirements as the public right-of-way.