03-12-2019, 09:31 AM
The article features this quote: "So, there will not be a behemoth, solid, cement-wall parking garage looming over these residential houses" and mentions that according to the plans, one resident would have been able to touch it from their backyard.
If (an important qualifier) that's an accurate description of what was proposed, then I think it's a good thing to establish relatively early in our intense growth period that isn't acceptable to abut a residential neighbourhood. My yard backs onto commercial space, but it isn't 5 storeys tall, nor can I touch it from my yard. It's a loading bay and there's enough space for 18-wheelers to navigate to it. That space makes a big difference and I don't think it's unreasonable for residents to insist that developments maintain a human scale where they are right up against two or three storey neighbourhoods.
I am generally in favour of this development, and increased density along the LRT but there are ways to do it that aren't just creating a massive wall of buildings right beside single-dwelling homes. I think the intensification of midtown along Caroline is doing a fair job. The street itself provides a strong separation between largely single-dwelling homes, and a lot of the buildings have townhouse-like looks, retail or other residential on the ground floor.
I don't think it's fair to tell people that the official plan is to keep an area mid-density then as soon as a massive international corporation wants to come in and build a giant wall turn around and throw that plan out the window and tell people they're anti-progress. There's a middle path, and I'm hopeful - not terribly optimistic, but hopeful - that however Perimeter navigates the opposing wishes of the residents and Google sets a strong president for figuring out human-scale ways of blurring the lines.
If Google decides to pack their bags and leave because they couldn't integrate with the area then that's not necessarily a bad thing. We are a strong, attractive community and if one of the world's wealthiest corporations wants to come and benefit from everything that's offered here it's worthwhile for us as residents to set the terms of that relationship. They're an extraordinarily wealthy organization and I'm strongly against rolling over simply to get them to stay.
Google won't pack and leave though, they're actually trying to be engaged in the community and knowing what I know of the local leadership they actively want to be good actors and neighbours but historically the organization has challenges with that. They cut into roads all over Louisville to experiment with shallow-buried fibre and after two years are pulling out, leaving scarred infrastructure everywhere. They encourage gentrification by bussing employees from very dense population centres to their suburban campus. They aren't particularly evil, but they make a lot of mistakes and it's really fine by me if we push back to feel confident that they aren't making one here.
If (an important qualifier) that's an accurate description of what was proposed, then I think it's a good thing to establish relatively early in our intense growth period that isn't acceptable to abut a residential neighbourhood. My yard backs onto commercial space, but it isn't 5 storeys tall, nor can I touch it from my yard. It's a loading bay and there's enough space for 18-wheelers to navigate to it. That space makes a big difference and I don't think it's unreasonable for residents to insist that developments maintain a human scale where they are right up against two or three storey neighbourhoods.
I am generally in favour of this development, and increased density along the LRT but there are ways to do it that aren't just creating a massive wall of buildings right beside single-dwelling homes. I think the intensification of midtown along Caroline is doing a fair job. The street itself provides a strong separation between largely single-dwelling homes, and a lot of the buildings have townhouse-like looks, retail or other residential on the ground floor.
I don't think it's fair to tell people that the official plan is to keep an area mid-density then as soon as a massive international corporation wants to come in and build a giant wall turn around and throw that plan out the window and tell people they're anti-progress. There's a middle path, and I'm hopeful - not terribly optimistic, but hopeful - that however Perimeter navigates the opposing wishes of the residents and Google sets a strong president for figuring out human-scale ways of blurring the lines.
If Google decides to pack their bags and leave because they couldn't integrate with the area then that's not necessarily a bad thing. We are a strong, attractive community and if one of the world's wealthiest corporations wants to come and benefit from everything that's offered here it's worthwhile for us as residents to set the terms of that relationship. They're an extraordinarily wealthy organization and I'm strongly against rolling over simply to get them to stay.
Google won't pack and leave though, they're actually trying to be engaged in the community and knowing what I know of the local leadership they actively want to be good actors and neighbours but historically the organization has challenges with that. They cut into roads all over Louisville to experiment with shallow-buried fibre and after two years are pulling out, leaving scarred infrastructure everywhere. They encourage gentrification by bussing employees from very dense population centres to their suburban campus. They aren't particularly evil, but they make a lot of mistakes and it's really fine by me if we push back to feel confident that they aren't making one here.